Things Fall Apart: The Loss of a Tribe's LivelihoodIn Things Fall Apart, we witnessed the destruction of a traditional indigenous culture. More specifically, we witnessed the challenge and weakening of Igbo spirituality, as well as the death of the tribe's livelihood. The apparent cause can be found in a seemingly well-intentioned mission serving as a gateway to the intrusion of a foreign government and its quest to conquer and domesticate a self-sustaining and prosperous culture. Although the fall of the Igbo was caused primarily by the invasion of "Christian missionaries", their own religious doctrine and passivity played an important role in allowing the initial infiltration of a foreign religion and the eventual dissolution of a once prosperous culture. wondering if this fall could have been avoided or channeled to produce a positive result. History has a tendency to repeat itself within specific cultures, and it is probably the most valuable tool we can harness to provide us with a way to escape the destruction of the mistakes we have made in the past. In Things Fall Apart, the Igbo village of Umuofia has collapsed into two distinct modes. The first aspect of Igbo culture to collapse was village spirituality, led by the arrival of the Christian mission. Second, this mission served as a conduit for a new government to infiltrate Umuofia and challenge the laws and customs that maintained the ancient Igbo way of life. Igbo spirituality weakened in two waves. Christianity first provided the answers that the people of Umuofia and Mbanta were looking for. At the end of the first part, Obierika's thoughts are expressed: Obierika was a man who thought about things. As the goddess's will brings about the total destruction of Umuofia, it is important to remember that it is impossible for societies to remain static. Our world is growing at an exponential rate and it is inevitable that the boundaries of different cultures will one day overlap; but maybe it's not really a loss after all. In the words of Chinua Achebe:. . . the world is changing so quickly around us, and we don't control much of that, but I think we should think seriously about what we do control. . . . Where there is a story, bring another story alongside it, and if it is a better story, then it should replace the bad one. I think that's how it should be. If, on the other hand, you have to have them both side by side, then you lose nothing. (Interview with Rob Baker and Ellen Draper) Works Cited: Achebe, Chinua. Things are falling apart. Oxford: Heinemann, 1986.