Things Fall Apart Chapter 22 (pages 167- 173)Mr. McCloskey

Due 3:15 PM

4/21 - Chapter 22 (pages 167- 173)Mr. McCloskey 8:19 AM

*Just to remind you, at this point in the story,
Umoufia has been changed by the missionaries.
Once a force to be reckoned with,
Umuofia has now "gone soft" in the mind of Okonkwo.

THINGS FALL APART text here
Page 167-173

1. Who is Mr. Smith? Describe the way he treats religion, and how he preaches it to the people of Umuofia.
Note: the relative peace in Umuofia between the church and the local villagers changes when the old leader of the church, Mr. Brown (policies of compromise and accomodation)
, is replaced by Reverend James Smith (who sees Narrow is the way and few the number) 
He sees people as "Seeds in rocky soil"
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.

2. Who is Enoch, and how has he changed?
Enoch is a quarrelsome man who takes up the white man's religion and rejects the religion of his ancestors. According to rumor, Enoch has killed and eaten the sacred python, angering his father, the priest of the snake cult, with such a rejection of culture. When Mr.
 
How do we know it was the new religion that made him change so much?
Enoch is a convert, Zealot of Christianity the same way Okonkwo feels about the old ways.


3. Describe the conflict between the Egwugwu (ancestral spirits) and the Christians - what happens, and why?
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.

4. How does the confrontation between the Egwugwu and the Christians play out at the end of the chapter? Use a quote to explain your answer.
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.  
Can take a quote form here: (click to enlarge)

Notes:
Question 2:

Enoch, the son of the snake priest, plays a pivotal role in 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe. His actions contribute to the ultimate demise of the tribe's traditional way of life.

Enoch's Significance

Have you ever gotten carried away over something new? A new car or music from a new band can excite us, and Enoch goes too far when he joins a new religion in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
Enoch is a significant character in the novel because his fervent embrace of the new religion contributes to the disintegration of the Umuofia clan's traditional beliefs. When a zealous new missionary arrives, he and Enoch form a combustible combination that is bound to cause friction in the village.

Conversion

Enoch is a fervent new convert to the religion introduced to the Umuofia people by the white missionary, Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown attempts to counsel his followers against fanaticism, but Enoch has a mind of his own.
His father is the priest of the snake cult, so his passionate embrace of the new religion may be, in part, a rejection of his father. Enoch is rumored to have killed and eaten the sacred python, and his father has cursed him for it.
He embraces the white men's religion, and repudiates his father's beliefs. In fact, 'Enoch's devotion to the new faith had seemed so much greater than Mr. Brown's that the villagers called him the outsider who wept louder than the bereaved.'

A Quarrelsome Disposition

Enoch is depicted as a quarrelsome man who 'short and slight of build.' Even his physical appearance reflects his personality: '. . . his feet opened outwards as if they had quarreled and meant to go in different directions.'
Enoch also imagined that Mr. Brown's sermons were directed at his own enemies. If he was seated near one of his enemies, he would give them a knowing look.

Conflict with the Egwugwu

Mr. Brown becomes ill and is replaced by a zealot named Reverend Smith. He, unlike, Mr. Brown, approves of Enoch's fanaticism. Once Reverend Smith arrives, the church and the Umuofia clan begin to clash. The conflict reaches its zenith at the annual ceremony for Mother Earth.
Unmasking the egwugwu, or masked worshipers of Mother Earth, was considered a terrible offense. In fact, verbal disrespect of the egwugwu was also an affront. When the ceremony fell on a Sunday, conflict between the egwugwu and the Christians at first seems inevitable.