Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart is a Nigerian classic, depicting the life of a tribal society and its eventual destruction by external cultures. This great change is pivotal to the outcome of the novel, in which the Ibo society is crushed and Okonkwo, a microcosm of the tribe, commits suicide as a symbol of his disapproval of change. In particular, the change that occurs is a result of the imposition of British culture and the influence of Christian missionaries. Consequently, those that could not face the sweeping changes were destroyed, yet those individuals that could accept change gained prosperity.
Structurally, Part 1 of the novel shows the traditional Ibo life, with no intervention from external sources. Achebe positions the reader to feel as though the Ibo society is a sophisticated society, with a council of tribal elders who make decisions for the rest of the people. Therefore, the introduction of British culture begs the question whether installing a new religion and Government, would in fact be detrimental to the Ibo culture which had been presented as such a strong and close-knit society, perhaps more than the British culture.
The imposition of the British culture on Ibo society brought significant change, both good and bad. This change is seen in Things Fall Apart through the imposition of British law, Government and a new Economic system. The introduction of white culture into this somewhat sophisticated Ibo culture causes the tribe to diverge into smaller groups; those that welcome change and those that don't. When Okonkwo returns to Umuofia after living in exile for seven years, he questions "Does the white man understand our customs about the land he [white man] says our customs are bad", thus highlighting his scepticism of the impending colonisation.
Unlike Okonkwo, there were many men and women in Umuofia who did not feel as strongly about the new religion and Government.