The Igbo tribe begins to break apart when the Christian missionaries arrive and upset their balance of life. After the missionaries survive in the Evil Forest, the clan members of Umuofia begin to take notice, and several outcasts join the Christian church. As the church continues to grow, the European colonists begin establishing institutions and trading posts, which attract more members of Umuofia who wish to become educated and earn money. Under Mr. Brown's leadership, more and more clan members join the church, which creates dissension among the Igbo people.
The situation for the native Igbo members takes a turn for the worse when the zealous Reverend James Smith replaces Mr. Brown. Reverend James Smith is intolerant and encourages his more zealous converts to oppose the heathen clan members. After Enoch unmasks an egwugwu, the villagers retaliate and burn the church. The Europeans end up arresting the elder clan members and abuse the leaders of Umuofia before they are bailed out. The entire tribe of Umuofia is in a state of mourning and confusion when their leaders finally return. The leaders end up holding an assembly to decide what action to take against the white colonists and Okonkwo is ashamed that they will not fight. When a messenger from the European court arrives to stop the meeting, Okonkwo ends up killing him. Rather than face retribution and embarrassment from the Europeans, Okonkwo chooses to hang himself. When the District Commissioner arrives at Okonkwo's compound, Obierika tells him,
That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself and now he will be buried like a dog (Achebe, 84).
Overall, the arrival of the Europeans, their successful missionary endeavors, and dissension between the clan members and Christians creates conflict, which allows the Europeans to retaliate with violence.
In Chinua Achebe's classic novel Things Fall Apart, there are two major factors that contribute to everything in Okonkwo's life and his home of Umuofia "falling apart." First, Umuofia changes drastically with the arrival of white Christian missionaries. These colonial representatives bring with them not only a strange, alien faith, but also European models of governance. This pervasive colonial influence is one of the major factors that cause everything in Okonkwo's life to fall apart. Toward the end of the novel, the narrator acknowledges how the white settlers have changed the region:
"There were many men and women in Umuofia who did not feel as strongly as Okonkwo about the new dispensation. The white man had indeed brought a lunatic religion.... And even in the matter of religion, there was a growing feeling that there might be something in it after all, something vaguely akin to method in the overwhelming madness" (178).
Next, Okonkwo's own rigid, staunch, brutally masculine values that are steeped in Umuofian tradition prevent him from successfully adjusting to the alterations that white settlers bring to the region. Indeed, things start falling apart for Okonkwo because his pride and stubborn nature do not allow him to adapt to the significant changes in Umuofia after he returns from his exile:
"Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women" (183).
Here, Okonkwo is incapable of accepting the changes that stem from colonialism, and he considers his clan a lost cause because they no longer share his rigid values.
For me, these are the two major factors that contribute to the tragic events that unfold throughout the novel.
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