-Some of Okonkwo’s main characteristics as he is depicted in the first few chapters are strong, violent, rich, successful, respected, tall, and impatient. He is strong because he wrestles and is well known for defeating Amalinze the Cat. He is violent because he cannot control his temper and he gets frustrated stammering his words. He is rich and successful because he has two barns full of yams and 3 wives. He is respected since he possesses all of the previous qualities. He is impatient when it comes to unsuccessful men and his father.
His father, Unoka, was poor, peaceful, and unsuccessful. He barely had enough for his family to eat and he was always borrowing money. He was not a man of war and was terrified of blood. He and Okonkwo are basically opposites.
Kola is described without being explained because he uses words that help to understand what it is.
Social functions of a city that earns respect based on titles are probably full of violence because they earn titles through fighting and competing.
Chapter 2
-During the night people stay inside and keep quiet because they fear evil spirits. For their fear of snakes at night they do not call them “snakes” they call them “strings”.
The conflict with Mbaino was caused by the death of a woman from Umuofia. People from Mbaino killed her when she was at the market. The women are considered the daughters of the tribe and the men are protective of them.
The point of taking Ikemefuna was to add him to the clan and to take him away from Mbaino. His fate hadn’t been decided but living with Okonkwo and his temper would be a challenge in itself.
In order to overcompensate his father’s weaknesses, Okonkwo hates everything that his father loved. He is unusual for his culture because of how strong he is and the amount of fear he had within himself and directed towards him. He views women as he views his father, without title and weak. He dislikes his son Nwoye so much because he is lazy so he nags at him and beats him in hopes of changing him.
Chapter 3
-Women are not powerful in this culture, and are merely the wives of the men. She is significant because she is very powerful.
Rank is demonstrated during the wine drinking because the first to drink the wine amongst the wives was the first wife, then the second, third, and so on. The rank of people is well recognized.
Share cropping only allows the man who harvests everything to keep 1/3 of his crops while giving the rest to the man who gave him them in the first place. In Okonkwo’s case, he had no other choice.
Women’s relationship to agriculture was much like the relationship with their culture. They were only allowed to grow “women’s crops” and Yam was a man’s crop.
After surviving “the worst year in living memory”, Okonkwo felt that he could survive anything.
Chapter 4
- Okonkwo is respect and successful. Some faults are that he is too impatient and he is a harsh man and thinks low of women. He just speaks out without thinking. If a man can make himself successful then his personal god agreed that he was successful and not just lucky. Okonkwo does not like to show feelings that are positive so although he likes Ikemefuna internally, he does not let it show. Okonkwo beats his wife during the week of peace which is a really big deal because there is not suppose to be any harm done this week in order to make peace with the gods and show respect to ancestors. The culture believes firmly in the Gods and is generally a more violent and or abusive place. It was okay at that time to beat a woman whereas now it’s not allowed. The rainmaker does not like to change the weather at a time of a bad storm or dry spell for his own good fortune.
Chapter 5
-Okonkwo does not enjoy the feasts as much as the rest of the people in the village. He would rather be out in the fields instead of waiting to feast or finish. Ikwefi had cut the leaves on the tree and Okonkwo thought that it was dead so he beat her. Then she got a second beating when she murmured a comment towards him. She is sort of outspoken and says things that get her a beating. She was the village beauty at one point and was worth more than Okonkwo could afford at one point. She loves the wrestling matches as well. The significance of women having to sit with their legs together is the same as it is in present day. In a way it represents a sexual meaning. By keeping their legs closed it makes them more of a lady rather than a “slut” and it shows that they’re suppose to act very appropriate and lady-like.
Chapter 6
-In the ordinary life Chielo was a wido with two children and she shared a common shed in the market with Ekwefi. When the spirit of Agbala was upon her and she prophesied, she was the priestess of Ogbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. She was very fond of Ezinma and believes that she will not die since she lived past the age of six.
Chapter 7
-Nwoye had begun to act like a man because of Ikemefuna, who kindled a new fire in him. He made him feel like a grown up. Now the boys had started to sit in Okonkwo’s obi and listen to grown men stories rather than his mother’s children stories. He also feigned annoyance and grumbled aloud about women and their troubles. That is what Okonkwo associates with his manliness, the fact that he could one day control his women and children, but mostly women. The village is excited and everyone starts to pray. By nighttime everyone is out filling their baskets and roasting them by morning. When they killed Ikemefuna, Okonkwo was asked not to take part in it because Ikemefuna had started to call Okonkwo father. They probably decided to kill him because he was not part of their tribe and he had become to accustomed to the tribe and Okonkwo’s family. The songs significance is in that language, if it were translated to English, it would probably have lost all meaning. Okonkwo does not want to show fear or that he is a coward so he participates in the killing of Ikemefuna as well.
Chapter 8
-Okonkwo thinks that Ezinma has the right attitude and he thinks she’d be better as a boy. He looked at her and thought, why couldn’t she be a boy. The custom of paying substantial wealth for the privilege of marrying a young woman does seem to give them more value. It allows the men to understand that women are worth the money to be their wives and bear their children. The women probably think more highly of themselves depending on the amount spent on them. Then again they probably just fee like an item being sold and bought without a choice. I think that woman got married at a younger age in the earlier days and in this particular case because people died at a much younger age in earlier years than now.
-Ekwefi prizes her daughter so much because out of the ten children she had, Ezinma had been the only one to survive. She had started to lose all faith after the first nine had died and then finally she got Ezinma and she was her pride and joy. The ogbanje is the evil within a child being reborn through the rest of the mother’s pregnancies. Achebe does validate the belief in ogbanje because once the pebble is found that Ezinma had buried, she no longer got sick. There are also specialized doctors for ogbanje so it must occur often.
-The women fear the ogwugwu because it is mainly a man’s ceremony and they are suppose to be scared of them because it’s a man’s world. The functions of the ceremony seem to be to solve big problems that occur in their village. The Evil Forest refutes the argument of Uzowulu by telling him he must bring her wine to try and get her back since it is his wife. The families cause more problems because they get in between the business of the husband and wife. In this case it was because she was being abused so it benefited the wife, but on the flip side, it doesn’t allow them to have a relationship amongst the two of them.
Chapter 11
The moral of the story is that those who lie and treat others badly end up behind the rest after they are put ahead. What goes around comes around. Since he had taken the food from the birds, they took the wings that they had given him. This reflects the values in their culture that they must offer those of higher rank wine. They must also try to keep peace with others and fairly work their way to the top. The incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflects the values of their culture because they care for one another a lot and they must allow those in higher power to do things such as take their children while trusting that she will return her safely.
The importance of family is emphasized in the uri ceremony because not only does the family of the bride cook a ton of food, but the surrounding families also help to cook. Then the groom and his family offer a lot of wine to the other families and before they take the bride, the families spend time with each other. They take a lot of pride on the marriage of their children and everyone views it as an exciting celebration when the families meet together.
Chapter 13The one-handed egwugwu praised the dead man by carrying a basket full of water and saying that if Ezeudu had been poor in his last life, he would be rich in his next, if he had been a coward, he would have courage, and if he had died youn, he would get life. Since he lived so long he just asks that he should come back again the way he came before. He also says that if a man caused it, do not allow him a moments rest. Shortly after, Okonkwo’s gun exploded and Ezeudu’s son was hit and killed. Although Okonkwo has killed people before this, I think it was because for one, it was at the father’s funeral, and second, their was no reason for it. It was an accident, but I think in their culture it is very serious if one kills someone for no apparent reason.
Chapter 14-The significance of comparing Okonkwo to a fish out of water is that fish cannot function outside of their natural habitat. After a short while, they can no longer live, and they die. Okonkwo feels like he cannot function and he is the odd man in another village. Okonkwo’s lack of understanding of the importance of women reflects on his views. He does not understand those women are very important and are worth a certain price. He also doesn’t understand the importance of the women saving themselves for marriage.
The story of the destruction of Abame summarizes the experience of colonization because they had no choice really. The white men came to their land, either killed them or converted them, and took over. It was a harsh reality but it is the reality of it. The people of Abame had been warned that white men would come and take over and something bad would happen yet they fought it, well alert that something would eventually happen. The two are completely foreign to each other and since the colonizers are in the land of the Africans, the Africans make fun of them and their language. Okonkwo says that you do not mess with a silent man and thinks that those of Abame are foolish. He believes that they are mad men by the way they speak of one God.
Nwoye did not understand many things and he was a “lost boy”. He did not live up to his father’s expectations and Ikemefuna had been killed, which he did not understand. It is a strategy of the missionaries to appeal to those who are without title and unappealing. The Europeans have an Ibo who cannot speak properly which makes the natives seem uneducated and to the natives it makes the Europeans seem like a joke. The missionaries want to discredit traditional religion and introduce One God for all to know.
-The people of the village believe there are many Gods and believes in their chi, the missionaries believe in One God and believe that the village people’s Gods are nothing. Granting the missionaries of a plot in the Evil Forest backfires because rather than killing them in a few days they survived and in turn got a few people to convert. The metaphor means that first there must be the great fire, Okonkwo, then there must be his ashes which are not great, just what’s left of the cold fire, and that is Nwoye.
I think Achebe failed to mention the outcaste osu earlier because they were supposed to be outcasts. If they had been mentioned they would not have been so unknown. It is almost as if they were found through the missionaries. They were “nobodies” and outcasts who were turned into “somebodies” and people who fit in somewhere. Strategically, this was one of the missionary’s best moves.
Chapter 19
-The final speaker says that the younger generation does not understand the importance of a strong bond, which is why Christianity is taking over. People how have the option to leave one another to join the missionaries and this is breaking up the villages. He appreciates people like Okonkwo and says that with a strong bond and if they stick together, then the abomination wouldn’t happen.
-Men of high titles were being punished and beat in prisons by the white men. The clan can no longer act like a clan and he says that they have fallen apart. This is the point that they finally say everything has fallen apart and is crumbling down. Their men are being hung and they are no longer fighting for themselves.
-I think Some of the villagers, even those who are no converts to Christianity, welcome the British because they are ready for change. Although they are slow to admit it, they see that the changes the British have made have been beneficial to them. They have given them education, and the trade has earned Umuofia more money.
Chapter 22-Rev Smith is different from Rev Brown because he saw things in black and white, and black was evil. He saw the world as a battlefield. Mr. Brown thought of nothing but numbers and Mr. Smith believed that God did not depend on large crowds. The result of his black and white thinking is the destruction of the church from the ancestors.
Chapter 23The District Commissioner says that they want the Africans to act as they do under the ruling of their Queen. They want them to act under the court of law as they do in their country
Chapter 24
I think that he did not think about what he was doing and did it out of anger. If he had the support of his people it would have been a good decision. Since people questioned his action and do not stand behind him, he is now in this alone so it was probably not the best choice
Chapter 25
-I think Okonkwo kills himself partly because he knew he was in this battle alone. He had suggested many times to kill the white men, and nobody backed him up. Then he killed a missionary man, and people questioned him. I think he saw that people had changed, and turned against their clan. People were no longer willing to fight, and he could not do it alone, so he gave up. It’s sort of ironic because he is talking about a book that could be written that talks about the story of a man who killed a messenger and hanged himself. He says one could almost write a while chapter on him. Then he says perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph. This is being written at the end of a chapter that talked about just that. For the white missionary man it was just a story that he could write in a book, for the people of Umuofia, this was their life.
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