Things Falling Apart Essay

Insist dead, when they 2 first arrived, the white men seemed harmless and weak to the Bib people. † ‘T hey want a piece of land to build their shrine,' said Quenched to his peers when they cons eluted among themselves. ‘We shall give them a piece of land, let us give them a portion of t he Evil Forest. ‘ † (149) The chief priests and elders suggested this plot of land because it was believed that someone who went and lived in the Evil Forest would die within four days. Who en the missionaries were still alive after the fourth day, everyone was astonished an d confused.It caused some people to think that if this belief wasn't true, perhaps other thin gas in their culture might not be true. As time went on, the missionaries who had come to Jump via harmless and powerless began to gain more converts and more control. The missionaries s coffee at traditions and beliefs that the Bib people had practiced for years. In Bib religion n it was believed that twins were evil, so they put them in pots and threw them into the Evil For est.. The seminaries were horrified by this idea. â€Å"It was true that the missionaries were e rescuing twins from the bush†¦As far as the villagers were concerned, the twins still remain d where they had been thrown away' (154) At first the missionaries' strange beliefs and cacti ions didn't really bother the villagers, but as timed went on they became a more concerned. â€Å"T he white men had not only brought a religion but also a government. It was said that they h ad built a place Of judgment to protect the followers Of their religion. It was even said that the eye had hanged one man who had killed a missionary. (155) Hearing these stories made the boo people worried, but they did not act to stop the Europeans.When his people did not attempt to put an end to the white man's power, Awoken became frustrated; he wanted to fig HTH back. â€Å"l cannot understand these things. What has happened to our peo ple? Why have e they lost the power to fight? † (175) Before, Bib tribes had constantly been fighting trying to secure their power, but now they let the Europeans take over without even putting up a if get. 3 If the foreigners had come to Nigeria with an army and tried to force the anti e people to adopt their religion and culture, the Bib people would have felt threatened and would have united to defend themselves.