Obierika is able to understand Nwoye's blunt statement only after he talks to Nwoye's mother. Her story may be sympathetically narrated because she is protective of Nwoye.
The Christian missionaries seem to win over many people of Mbanta rather quickly. The earliest converts are people with low status in the clan. The missionaries' promises fill a void in the lives of such converts. The Christian hymn, for example, touches the "silent and dusty chords in the heart of an Ibo man." (The old-style spelling of Ibo is used in the text; the modern spelling is Igbo.) Also note that the white man is not personalized yet — he remains a stereotype of a white missionary, though somewhat more patient in his responses than one may expect.
Considering the fate of the Abame village after the arrival of the white men, Mbanta's welcome of the missionaries isn't surprising. The presence of only one white person among the missionaries may have eased the villager's fears of the missionaries. The villagers are understandably skeptical about the Christian message but still curious to learn more about the strange religion and white skin with which they are unfamiliar. In addition, the missionaries' use of rhythmic, evangelistic hymns is a good seductive strategy for expanding their message through a sympathetic medium. They also promise new experiences, such as riding a bicycle, once they move into the community.
Unsurprisingly, Nwoye is highly receptive to the new, more humane-appearing doctrine, because he is a sensitive young man with deep concerns about certain customs of his people (see Chapter 7).
Achebe provides a humorous illustration of the difficulties of dialects, even within the Igbo language. The missionary's translator is an Igbo, but he speaks a dialect that pronounces some words and expressions differently from Umuofian Igbo: The word "myself" comes out as "my buttocks," resulting in some humorous translations of the white man's message.
