Summary: Chapter 22
Reverend James Smith, a strict and intolerant man, replaces
Mr. Brown. He demands the utmost obedience to the letter of the
Bible and disapproves of Mr. Brown’s tolerant and unorthodox policies. The
more zealous converts are relieved to be free of Mr. Brown’s policy
of restraint. One such convert, Enoch, dares to unmask an egwugwu during
the annual ceremony to honor the earth deity, an act equivalent
to killing an ancestral spirit. The next day, the egwugwu burn
Enoch’s compound to the ground. They then gather in front of the
church to confront Reverend Smith and his fellow Christians. They
tell the Christians that they only wish to destroy the church in
order to cleanse their village of Enoch’s horrible sin. Smith replies
that he will stand his ground. He forbids them to touch the church,
but his interpreter alters Smith’s statement for fear that the unvarnished
truth will be too harsh and that he will suffer as the messenger
of bad news. He tells the egwugwu that Smith demands that
they leave the matter in his hands. They ignore Smith’s orders and
burn the church.
Summary: Chapter 23
Okonkwo is almost happy again, despite the fact that his
clan did not agree to kill the Christians or drive them away. Even
so, he and the rest of the villagers are on their guard, and for
the next two days they arm themselves with guns and machetes. The
District Commissioner returns from his tour and requests that the
leaders of Umuofia meet with him. They go, taking only their machetes
because guns would be “unseemly.” The commissioner talks to them
in condescending terms and says that they should discuss the church’s
burning “as friends.” No sooner have they put their machetes on
the floor than a group of soldiers surprises them. They are handcuffed and
thrown in jail for several days, where they suffer insults and physical
abuse. A kind of bail is set at two hundred bags of cowries. The
court messengers tell the people of Umuofia that they must pay a
fine of two hundred and fifty bags of cowries or their leaders will be
hanged—by upping the price these messengers will make a profit as
intermediaries. The town crier announces an emergency village meeting.
Even Ezinma returns home from her twenty-eight-day visit to her
future in-laws. The next morning they decide to collect the cowries
necessary to pay the fine.
Analysis: Chapters 22–23
Reverend Smith causes a great deal of conflict between
the church and the clan with his refusal to understand and respect
traditional Igbo culture. Mr. Brown, by contrast, is far more lenient
with the converts’ retention of some of their old beliefs and doesn’t
draw as clear a line between the converts and the Igbo community.
Smith, however, demands a complete rejection of the converts’ old
religious beliefs. The text ironically comments that he “sees things
as black and white.” While on the one hand this comment refers simply
to an inability to grasp the gradations in a given situation, it
also refers, of course, to race relations and colonial power. Interestingly,
Achebe has named Smith’s predecessor “Brown,” as if to suggest that
the latter’s practice of compromise and benevolence is in some way related
to his ability to see the shades between the poles of black and white.
Smith, by contrast, is a stereotypical European colonialist, as the
generic quality of his name reflects. His inability to practice mutual
respect and tolerance incites a dangerous zealous fervor in some
of the more eager converts, such as Enoch. Smith’s attitude encourages
Enoch to insult traditional Igbo culture.
That Enoch is the son of the snake-priest makes his suspected killing
of the sacred python all the more dire a transgression. Enoch’s
conversion and alleged attack on the python emblematize the transition
from the old order to the new. The old religion, with its insistence
on deism and animal worship, is overturned from within by one. In
its place comes the new religion, which, for all its protestations
of love and harmony, brandishes a fiery logic and fierce resolve
to convert the Igbo at any cost.
Enoch figures as a double for Okonkwo, although they espouse different
beliefs. They are similar in temperament, and each man rebels against
the practices and legacies of his father. Like Okonkwo, Enoch feels
above all others in his tradition. He also feels contempt for them—he
imagines that every sermon is “preached for the benefit of his enemies,”
and, in the middle of church, he gives knowing looks whenever he
feels that his superiority has been affirmed. Most important, in
his blind and unthinking adherence to Christianity, Enoch allows
his violent desires to take over, just as Okonkwo is prone to do.
The language barrier between the colonists and the villagers enables
a crucial misunderstanding to take place. Unawareness of his interpreter’s
attempt to appease the villagers, Smith considers the burning of
the church an open show of disrespect for the church and his authority.
The power that the interpreter holds highlights the weaknesses and
vulnerability created by the language gap, reinforcing Mr. Brown’s
belief that reading and writing are essential skills for the villagers
if they hope to maintain their autonomy. This miscommunication reminds
us of Parrot’s trickiness in Ekwefi’s story about Tortoise.
