The following paragraph ends Part One of Things Fall Apart and summarizes a number of the doubts that have begun to plague individuals in the clan....

This excerpt occurs at the end of Part One, and Obierika is considering Okonkwo's crime (inadvertently shooting and killing a young man of the tribe) and subsequent exile. In this paragraph, the reader sees Obierika begin to question the practices of the clan and their belief system, as he has trouble reconciling Okonkwo's position in the tribe and the lack of malice in his crime with the traditions followed by the community.

Rather than simply accepting that Okonkwo's punishment is appropriate because it is "the will of the goddess" and is the action required to satiate "the great goddess" and "the Earth," Obierika wonders why Okonkwo should "suffer so grievously" for something that was clearly accidental. Thinking about this only leaves Obierika with more doubts and questions: "He was merely led into greater complexities." The structure and tradition that the tribe has relied on for so long no longer provides the easy answers and assurance they perhaps once did (it seems that Obierika has not questioned punishments this way in the past). He questions the practice of throwing twins into the woods, a long established tradition in the clan. Obierika wonders, "What crime had they committed?" The fact that seeds of doubt have entered his mind signals that the hold of tradition is beginning to wear in the clan. This allows the missionaries to have influence over them later because the new religion provides the logic that counteracts some of the questionable practices (for example, the missionaries take in twins instead of having them thrown into the woods).

Toward the end of the excerpt, Obierika brings up the idea of the individual and community and how one person's actions can reflect badly on the others. The concern is that if the goddess is not satisfied with the punishment exacted on the individual, the whole tribe will suffer. For the greater good, Okonkwo must be exiled. Obierika remembers, "As the elders said, if one finger brought oil it soiled the others." Later, when the missionaries arrive and Okonkwo is back from his exile, the idea of community works a bit more in the missionaries' favor. Okonkwo wants to rebel, but the community is not willing to take the drastic action Okonkwo takes. Without the group effort, the missionaries maintain their hold over the community and it is again the individual, Okonkwo, who suffers because of his misdeeds (this time intentional).

The changes in the tribe that will continue during Okonkwo's absence can already be seen here in the thoughts of Obierika. When Okonkwo returns, the seeds have already been planted for the missionary/colonizer's influence to override the traditions of the clan.