comment on the representation of the white man in the novel .

When the missionaries first arrived in Mbanta, all of the villagers came to see them. Their leader was a white man who spoke through interpreters. He informed the people that their gods were false and only the Christian god was real. The Christians arrival (white men) brings division to the Igbo. One of their first victims is Okonkwo's family. The new faith divides father from son, and the Christians seek to attack the very heart of Igbo belief; such an attack also attacks the core of Igbo culture, as the tribe's religious beliefs are absolutely integral to all other aspects of life. Not coincidentally, the first converts are people who stand to profit from a change in the social order. They are people who have no title in the tribe, and thus have nothing to lose.