“Does the white man understand our custom about land?” “How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”
In this quote Obierka is having a conversation with Okwonko which centers on the events that have occurred since the colonists (white men) arrived.The people who have converted to Christianity now question all the customs from the religion they grew up with. Obierka thinks that the Umuofians have turned their backs on their own “brothers”. This is very upsetting to Obierka because he feels like the white men snuck into their village peacefully just to take everyone away from their own religion. With everyone questioning their religion it effects the social status of the people who are in charge. People have power in the village only because of the religion so if their own people just stop believing in the religion the status of the higher ups lessen and soon will be nothing. Obierka is very angry and Okwonko feels even worse because his own son went to the white man’s religion and almost killed him for it. It just looks like things are really falling apart for the village.
