Achebe opens up his novel with a portion of the poem “The Second Coming” where as the name Things Fall Apart originates. He chose this particular portion of the poem to inform us that when a change of government or tradition is taken place, immediate corruption occurs within that society. In Things Fall Apart, the British arrive to different villages and begin to talk about their religion, Christianity. As time progresses through the novel, the Christians also ask for a piece of land in order for them to build their chapel. The village people decided to give them a portion of the Evil Forest, where they hoped all would be dead within the first four days. This is shown on Chapter Sixteen, Paragraph 6 and it is said that this is the moment where the inhabitants of Mbanta believed that the white man’s fetish had unbelievable power after having survived their four-day prediction. As a result of the white man’s fetish being worshipped for its magical powers, the Christians had received three converts.
             The white man began to create its own government within Mbanta, taking away power from its inhabitants and if any disobeyed their laws, serious consequences would be taken. When the sacred python was killed it was suspected that the Christians had something to do with it and the rulers and elders of Mbanta, including Okonkwo, had to make a decision. To Okonkwo’s disgust the clan decided to leave the situation between the man who killed the sacred python and the gods, for fear of receiving blows intended to the offender from the gods, and outlaw the Christians form the market place. Pages 112-113, Chapter Eighteen, Paragraph 21-26, Achebe describes Okonkwo’s fury for the clan not taking action like men of war but like cowards. He wanted to exile all the Christians with their whips and was hungry for war, but the elders disagreed. Later on, Okoli, the man suspected of having killed the python, died in his bed at night and the elders believed it was the gods who were responsible and found no reason to outlaw the Christians.
            During a reunion of all the nine clans, a white messenger begins commanding them to stop this and before saying another word Okonkwo beheads him. Silence and shcok is brought into the crowd while Okonkwo carries his head and heads to his hut. In pages 144-145, Chapter 24, Paragraph 33-41, it explains in detail how Okonkwo could not resist killing this man because of built up anger he had with his clan for not agreeing to his decisions. When the white man orders to see Okonkwo, after the incident, they inform him that he has hung himself in a sacred tree and only the white men can take him down and bury him. Okonkwo decided that the only way for him to fight back against the white man was by taking his own life, showing them that they will not control him. Before the arrival of the British, Okonkwo’s “actions” or “wrong doings” were handled according to his beliefs and traditions, such as when he beat his wife during the week of Peace or when he suddenly kills Ikemefuna willingly. In course with these actions, he begins to act upon even more violent actions and ends up killing two other people and himself. “Things fall apart” in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart because of the beliefs that Christianity offered to the village people which benefitted them, such as when a woman has borne twin babies she doesn’t have to leave them in the Evil Forest and the fact that you don’t have to make sacrifices to your gods and you only have to obey one god and not multiple.