Keyword Guide · chapter-summary
Chapter 17 marks a turning point as new religious ideas enter the Igbo world. The chapter focuses on the arrival of Christian missionaries and their impact on Okonkwo’s family, especially his son Nwoye.
While living in exile in Mbanta, Okonkwo hears that Christian missionaries have arrived in the village. They preach a new religion that challenges traditional Igbo beliefs. The elders, skeptical and dismissive, give the missionaries land in the Evil Forest, expecting them to fail or die.
Nwoye is drawn to the missionaries’ message, which offers comfort and answers to doubts he has long carried. Their teachings resonate with his feelings about violence and loss within his culture. This emotional pull marks the beginning of his separation from his father.
Okonkwo reacts with anger when he realizes Nwoye is interested in the new religion. He sees Nwoye’s behavior as weakness and a rejection of masculine and cultural values. Their confrontation ends with Nwoye leaving to join the missionaries.
Chapter 17 shows how colonial influence begins at a personal level before spreading wider. It highlights generational conflict, cultural change, and the early cracks in Igbo society that will continue to grow throughout the novel.
They believe the forest is cursed and assume the missionaries will not survive, which allows the elders to avoid direct conflict.
The new religion offers emotional comfort and a moral system that aligns with Nwoye’s doubts about violence and tradition.
It deepens Okonkwo’s fear of change and loss of control, especially within his own family, intensifying his inner conflict.
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