The introduction of a new “religion” and a new god sparks not only curiosity but outrage among the people of Okonkwo’s mother. Especially when the foreign missionaries assert that the gods they serve are harmless and without power and existence and their god is The God, the one true God. For some, like Nwoye, it’s interesting and it stirs something deep in their marrow, but for others it’s disgusting. The way both sides react is really a testament of the gods they individually serve. The people of Mbanta are given the chance to show great hospitality and respect toward these foreigners, and at first they do.
They only stop after 1.) they begin to debunk the legends that the people highly revered and held close and 2.) when they actually began siphoning some of their people into this new religion. Their entire way of life was being threatened by their continued existence, because it showed that their gods were powerless against them, the forest they feared held no flame to the God of these “effeminate men”. So they retaliated by cutting them off from the agriculture and behaving like Okonkwo in a brutish manner.The missionaries, however, came in peace and respect.
The way their beliefs cause them to behave speaks of how frail and superstitious their faith was. Early in part two, another proverb is given about the difference between killing a silent man vs. A screaming man. “There is nothing to be feared of a man that does nothing but shouts. But the quiet man is a symbol of something ominous.”
The people of Mbanta are making lots of noise, defending their gods while the Christian missionaries are mostly letting God do the talking.
They only stop after 1.) they begin to debunk the legends that the people highly revered and held close and 2.) when they actually began siphoning some of their people into this new religion. Their entire way of life was being threatened by their continued existence, because it showed that their gods were powerless against them, the forest they feared held no flame to the God of these “effeminate men”. So they retaliated by cutting them off from the agriculture and behaving like Okonkwo in a brutish manner.The missionaries, however, came in peace and respect.
The way their beliefs cause them to behave speaks of how frail and superstitious their faith was. Early in part two, another proverb is given about the difference between killing a silent man vs. A screaming man. “There is nothing to be feared of a man that does nothing but shouts. But the quiet man is a symbol of something ominous.”
The people of Mbanta are making lots of noise, defending their gods while the Christian missionaries are mostly letting God do the talking.
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