Things Fall Apart Notes Chapters 22-33

Chapter 22 Reverend James Smith, replaces Mr. Brown; he is a different man who sees black as evil. He demands obedience to the very letter of the Bible and does not tolerate Mr. Brown’s way of conducting his church. Overzealous converts are happy to be free of Mr. Brown. One of them is Enoch, who is extremely devoted to his new religion. It is Enoch who sets off the great conflict between the church and the Umuofia clan. Enoch commits a great crime and unmasks an egwugwu in public and by doing so kills an ancestral spirit.

Chapter 22 The next day, the masked egwugwu meet in the marketplace and then make their way to Enoch’s compound and burn it to the ground, then head for the church. Ajofia, the head spokesmen for the egwugwu, speaks and tells Reverend James Smith that he will not be harmed, but the church the white man has built must be destroyed in order to cleanse the village of Enoch’s incomprehensible sin.

Chapter 22 Smith refuses to leave and forbids them to destroy church. Okeke Smith’s interpreter, changes the reverend’s statement fearing what might happen to Smith. The egwugwu ignore Smith and burn the church.

Chapter 23 Okonkwo is happy again. The District Commissioner returns and asks the leaders of Umuofia to meet with him. The six men, including Okonkwo, go to the headquarters armed with their machetes. The commissioner is condescending. He calls twelve men to join them in the room to hear their side of the story. No sooner do the six Umuofia clansmen put down their machetes when a group of soldiers surprise them.

Chapter 23 They are handcuffed and led into a guardroom where the Commissioner tells them that they will not be allowed to get away with burning down people’s houses and the church. The men are thrown in jail. Bail is set at two hundred bags of cowries. As soon as the District Commissioner leaves, the head messenger shaves off all the hair on the men’s heads. “Okonkwo is choked with hate.”

Chapter 23 Court messengers travel to Umuofia and tell the people to pay a fine of two hundred and fifty bags of cowries – if they do not, their leaders will be hanged. The town crier beats his drum and calls an emergency village meeting in the market place. The next morning the villagers collect the cowries to pay the fine the messengers have called for.