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Things Fall Apart is a story about personal beliefs and customs and also a story about conflict. There is struggle between family, culture, and religion of the Ibo people which is all brought on by a difference in personal beliefs and customs. There are the strong opinions of the main character, Okonkwo. We are also introduced to the views of his village, Umuofia. Finally, we see how things fall apart when these beliefs and customs are confronted by those of the white missionaries. Chinua Achebe is a product of both native and European cultures. This has a great effect on the telling of the story. When he tells the story with an understanding and personal experiences in both cultures. He does not portray the African culture and their beliefs as barbaric. He simply tells it as it is and how things happened. It is the same with the white men. Chinua Achebe realized that neither of the cultures were bad, but they simply had a difference in beliefs. We see a conflict early in the story between Okonkwo and his father, Unoka.
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