"They offered them as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. And to their greatest amazement the missionaries thanked them and burst into song...At last the day came by which all the missionaries should have died. But they were still alive, building a new red-earth and thatch house for their teacher, Mr. Kiaga. That week they won a handful more converts" (Achebe 149-151).
According to the text(s), what effect did imperialism have on people who lived through it?
In Chapter 17, we rehash on how Nwoye came to join the white men and follow their faith. The people of Mbanta decide to give the white missionaries a section of land after they ask for a place to build their church. They think they are being clever by giving them all of the Evil Forest because of their predisposed beliefs about the evils it entails. They believe that the white missionaries will be dead by a certain time but not one of them had died. The white missionaries in fact gain converts and even gain their first woman convert. Nwoye joins the white men after he was seen among the Christians by his father's cousin (Amikwu). Okonkwo becomes furious and beats his son. His uncle stops the beating and Nwoye escapes and is never heard from again. Okonkwo questions why he was given such a despicable son and even goes as far to question whether the child is even his. He later realizes it is because of his personal god or chi, which explains his great misfortune and his exile from Umofia. The white missionaries have a great impact on the village of Mbanta, as they gain more and more converts which creates a divide within families. Imperialism also makes people question their faith, for example, when the Evil Forest doesn't kill any of the missionaries the people begin to question if their faith and beliefs are realistic.
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