There are many things that were important to the Ibo societies in Things Fall Apart. The village that took the main importance and events was in Umoufia, an Ibo society in the lower Nigeria of West Africa. Between the 1800's to the 1900's, the British arrived to colonize the African tribes. They settled in the villages and proclaimed their God arrogantly, defying the Ibo's religion. The author, Chinua Achebe was born and raised in Nigeria, which happened to house one of the first Christian missionaries in Africa. Therefore, many of the actions and behaviors of his characters may be what he witnessed in his own tribe or surroundings when the white man first imposed himself on the tribe. Through an authorial voice, Chinua becomes more trustworthy as the reader becomes aware that he has learned the Ibo traditions, way of life, and culture through his personal experiences.
In the beginning, Achebe unfolded the story gradually to introduce the reader about the culture, life style, and beliefs of the Ibo societies to gain the reader's trust. The years before the white men arrived to the Ibo societies, they lived their lives the traditional way- following the customs of their fathers who lived and died with the beliefs their fathers taught them. But with the arrival of the missionaries, they brought with them their God and religion to convert from what they consider the villagers as "primitive, uncivilized tribesmen". On page 162, Obierika explained this: "But he says that our costumes are bad The white man is very clever He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart." Obierika implied that the white men present themselves as rescuers to save the villagers from the heathen customs that their fathers taught them, giving them the answers to what they were misled to believe. Such as when the missionaries asked the clansmen of Umoufia for a land to build their shrine on; the tribesmen allowed them to build in the Evil Forest, so reassured that the white men wouldn't last for long, but they lived.
