Throughout history many countries have shown their superiority by travelling the world and colonizing the weaker nations. Mostly it was the European nations that went about and colonized other countries. The point of this colonization was to become even more powerful and to convert the so-called “heathens” so they could be more civilized like the White man. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart a similar situation is created when a tribe in Nigeria is inhabited by white missionaries who say that they come only to live in peace with the native people. However, according to “Cultural Studies: Postcolonialism..” “Each society or culture contains within itself a dominant cultural group which determines that culture’s ideology” (234). Before the Ibo culture was the dominating culture in Umofia but as the missionaries came and resided in Umofia they began to attract followers. Most were outcasts that were not thought highly of in Umofia but soon others of rank began to join. The missionaries tried to show the tribe that their religion was wrong and that they should only worship one God-the God that the white man worships because that is only God there is. They begin to invoke “European religious beliefs” (236). When the missionaries came into Umofia they started off with little else but a plot of land and a few supporters but slowly they grew and all of Umofia changed. Umofia “[gave] up [it’s] raw materials in exchange for what materials the colonized desired or were made to believe they desired by the colonizers” (236). Soon the people of Umofia adopt some of the ideas of the missionaries such as trading centers in which they could buy and sells items of value. Slowly they begin to do things the European way instead of the way that it has always been done in Umofia. The missionaries start to change the way of life of the citizens of Umofia and the people of Umofia don’t seem to have a problem with it. Except, of course, Okonkwo. The missionaries just start off as harmless neighbors who want nothing more than to intergrate into the society but soon enough they begin to show that what they believe is wrong and that they do not know any better. They try to educate the people of Umofia using their way of life and showing them that the way they have been living is completely wrong. The Ibo culture starts to fade because its supporters are now becoming avid members of the Christian church.
