Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart shows the dramatic portrayal of the Umuofia clan's rise and fall as a powerful war land. The plot of Things Fall Apart centers around a powerful clansman named Okonkwo; it passes through his dominance within the tribe and through his ultimate demise because of his killing of the white district commissioner's lead messenger. Achebe portrays the Nigerian culture as a true powerful people with a uniquely complex indigenous temperament that seems to come alive in the pages of the novel. Unlike many of Achebe's fellow African authors, Achebe does not stereotype the European culture as the ruthless dictating imperialists infringing on the native and agrarian beliefs of the Nigerian people; he shows several depictions of the white colonists through Mr. Brown, Reverend Smith, and the District Commissioner. Throughout the novel, events such as wars between the clans and the murder of Ikemefuna lead to the closing stages for the Igbo culture, much as the British rule in Nigeria began to close down. Achebe's portrayal of the relationship between the Igbo people and the European colonists reflects the relationship between the crumbling British presence in Nigeria and the rise of the native people back in to power. Both in the novel and in 1950s Nigeria, one great predominant civilization captivated a land until an even stronger better-organized regime was able to take control of the land for ruling the people in its territories and making them succumb to the new laws set up by the ruling party. The British wanted to expand the imperialistic factions into Nigeria, while the Nigerians strived to free themselves of the oppressive ruling British authority forced onto the people within the commonwealth.
             Things Fall Apart follows the life of Okonkwo, a highly respected clansman in Nigeria; "As the elder said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with k...