Things Fall Apart Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 17 Summary

Chapter 17 Summary

After almost a week there, the missionaries ask the rulers of Mbanta for a plot of land to build their church. The elders give them a portion of the 'evil forest' in which those who die of terrible disease are buried and where potent medicine-man fetishes are dumped. They do not want the missionaries in their village and think that this would be an offer no-one would actually accept. But the missionaries do accept the offer and begin to clear a part of the forest. All the villagers expect them to die within four days. When they do not, rumors circulate about the power of the white man's fetish and the church wins its first three converts.

Although attracted to the new faith, Nwoye does not go near the missionaries - for fear of his father - unless they preach in the ilo or marketplace. One Sunday he passes and...
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