Chapter Seventeen Summary

In Mbanta, the missionaries demanded to see the king of the land and were told that there no were no kings; only titled men, elders, and clansmen. They finally managed a meeting with the village elders and asked for a plot of land to build their church. They were given the “Evil Forest” where all cursed diseases and powerful bad omens lay.

To the locals’ amazement, the missionaries accepted graciously and burst into songs. Everyone expected the missionaries to die within a few days but when they thrived, it was believed that they too had strong magical abilities. This helped them win converts.

Nwoye had initially kept his attraction for Christianity a secret. He only listened when the missionaries gave speeches in the market. The interpreter Mr Kiaga was left in charge by the white man, and given responsibility to run the Mbanta mission.

The Igbo people believed that often their deities exacted cold revenge but it was never later than a month after being disrespected. There was a lot of suspense over the fate that awaited the missionaries as the fourth week approached and when nothing happened to them, they got new converts.

A woman named Nneka was their first female convert. She had had to let go of four sets of twins from previous pregnancies and was pregnant again. Her husband was happy to be rid of her though when she left.

It was Okonkwo’s cousin Amikwu who spotted Nwoye with the missionaries for the first time and promptly went to inform Okonkwo. When Nwoye returned home, he was beaten up by a furious Okonkwo and only Uchendu’s stern command to let the boy go, made Okonkwo relent.

Nwoye, however, promptly went to Mr Kiaga and requested to be sent to Umuofia where young men and women were being taught to read and write. Nwoye was happy to leave his father and wished to return to convert his mother and siblings at a later stage.

Okonkwo’s first impulse was violence against the Christians but he decided against it. He blamed his own spirit and fate for his exile and the loss of his son. It was difficult for him to accept Nwoye as his own son because the latter was effeminate and uncaring toward his ancestral traditions.

Chapter Seventeen Analysis

Christianity in the Igbo world is gaining on the demerits of traditional societal life. People who have been rejected by Igbo society form the bulk of converts, including women who have been mistreated or have had to kill their own children. Nwoye too, unable to fit into his tribe, converts much to his father’s anger and disappointment.