Things Fall Apart Part II Analysis

I find the nature that Christian first appears to the tribe to be interesting because it is not nearly as zealous as I had expected; Mr. Brown, who is the only white person so far, seems very nice and the rest of his missionaries are African, and though they are to an extent cultural foreigners trying to influence the locals and turn them away from their religion (as they come from different, further off tribes), they are not using violence to do so. And in fact I would argue there are positive aspects of their arrival, as they do help save the twins and offer the osu a place to belong. Of course if the story just ended with the creation of religious diversity that gave members of the society the opportunity to pick which religion suits them and didn't otherwise oppress the indigenous peoples, that would be one thing; I have a feeling it does not end there and part III will be where the true breakdown of the tribe happens. The excess zealotry of some of the Christians is also unfortunate, such as when one purposefully kills the python (though it is interesting that this comes from a member of the clan, not a white missionary).

The idea of the python leads me to an interesting idea as well. It reminds me of the story of Adam and Eve, whereby the two lived in an undisturbed and utopian natural state (like the natives of the story do, or like Rousseau's idea that we discussed in class). Something comes in offering some new knowledge (whether it be the serpent, tempting them to eat from the tree of knowledge or the new missionaries proclaiming advanced religious knowledge) which they take (in one case both Adam and Eve eat the fruit, though in this story only a minority accept the new religious knowledge). Ultimately, it results in the corruption and destruction of the utopian garden in which they live (which I assume is to come). Though there are similarities, the allegory doesn't really hold, except for, I think, the fact that the idea of the serpent is invoked when the missionaries kill the python, which represents something sacred to the local tribal religion but something evil to the new Christians.