Introduction-[1]

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achibe is an important African novel which  involves the class of cultures and belief systems, as colonization affects the people.The story  takes place in a Nigerian village of Umuofia in the late 1880s, before missionaries and other European colonisers arrived.The Ibo clan practiced common tribal traditions such as the worship of gods,''ancestoral feasts'' and sacrifices, communal living, war, and magic. They determined leadership  based on a man's personal worth and his contribution to the good of the tribe. Okonkwo, the man mentioned at the begining of the story ''had brought honor to his village'' and therfore stood  out as a great leader of the Ibo tribe.He was  respected  for his ''personal achievements.'' Eventhough Okonkwo was revered,he gets punished for his accidental shooting of a young tribesman. The Ibo ban Okonkwo from the clan for seven years. Upon his return to the village, Okonkwo finds a tribe divided by the influence of missionaries. Will there be a cultural clash? Will the people of Umuofia loose thier culture? The story addresses the personal hardships of Okonkwo in connection with the Ibo culture and its disintegration.