Midterms
#2 ~ C to F (alphabetized by author's last name)
Student
Midterm Discussion Papers
Student Writing, Hum 211, Winter
2002
Short
Cuts to Student Midterms on this webpage:
Lindsie
Christman, "Tradition
vs. Modernization: Keita: The Heritage of the Griot"
Tracy Cook,
"THINGS FALL APART" [for the Igbo]
RossEagle [E-Van] Culpus,
"E COOSH EEWA (THE WAY IT WAS)" [Is
TFA sexist?]
Deke DeMars,
"Character ~ Okonkwo ~ Things Fall Apart"
Derek Fitzpatrick, "Okonkwo:
Why Things Fell Apart"
Laura Forster, "Okonkwo"
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Lindsie Christman
Humanities 211
Midterm Discussion Paper
February 27, 2002
Tradition
vs. Modernization
Keita: The Heritage of the griot
The film, Keita: The Heritage of the griot, displays great
conflict
between
tradition and modernization of Africa.
The telling of the Sundjata epic may
appear
to be the focus of the film, but is only the instigator of the clash
between
African lives.
This film captures its audience and forces them to not only
enjoy
the tale, but to think about and learn
of African culture and the impact of
western
colonization.
Many individual character issues and conflicts arise
throughout
this production but they all revolve
around three major issues, the modern
westernized
heritage, daily life, and education, versus the traditional.
Throughout the film the director shows how much of heritage and
tradition
have
been lost in the new westernized world. This
is clear from the
beginning
when Mabo is introduced, and one of
his first statements is "What ancestor?"
,
showing
he has no traditional foundation. This
is explained later when Sitan'
s,
Mabo's
mother,
own void foundation comes forth with her statement "we all
have
a story that we love" (Keita film
notes, sequence 8). The
story of Sudjata
is
not
just any old story, but is treated
that way by Sitan and Mr. Fofano, the all
knowing,
traditionally ignorant schoolteacher. Of
all the modern life
characters
only one, Mabo's father Boicar, knows
the importance of the griot's story
and
initiation practice since he was
exposed to this tradition himself. He
explains
that "Djeliba Kouyate is the
griot of my father... and my grandfather,"
giving
much
respect and support to the traditional
initiation ritual.
The daily life and living arrangements of Mabo's family are greatly
different
than that of traditional customs. Djeliba
has a very difficult
time
using
silverware to eat his first "white
meal" of spagetti, or "sapaki" as known
by
the
griot (Keita film notes, sequence 5).
It may have seemed primitive of him to
use
his hands to feed himself, but until
that was included in the film we may not
have
realized how very different the eating
habits were of these characters. Not
only
were there differences in the type of
meals for these opposite lifestyles but
also
in the preparation.
We learn that Sitan has a houseservant, a young woman
whom
Mabo says does "everything, all the housework" (Keita film notes,
sequence
5). This fact is noted by Djeliba
who politely says "the world has
changed...in
the old days, when a woman didn't know how to do housework, she
didn't
find a husband. But your mother is marvelous."
In the villages of
the
clans, the woman had many daily chores
that she was required to do, chores
that
were enforced by her husband. In
these clans it is also customary to
have
more than one wife, if your crop
production and wealth allowed. Sitan
and
Boicar’s
relationship in the film is only implied as a monogamous one since
they
live the western lifestyle. Lastly the daily chore of praying on Djeliba's
part
shows how religious he is, versus
Boicar who cannot find his prayer rug "if
it
exists." (Sitan, Keita film
notes, sequence 10)
The greatest differences can be seen in the education of westernized
Africans
to that of the knowledge inherited by Africans belonging to a clan.
The
most obvious being the different
languages, French and Jula. Jula
being the
only
language understood and spoken by the only non westerner main character
in
the film, Djeliba. Some other examples of western education shown include
the
opening scene of Mabo studying Darwin's theory of evolution1, whereas non
westerners
believed that "Wagadu was the theater of the first reunion of all
the
creatures of the universe" (Keita
film notes, sequence 1). Later we
see that
African
history is not taught in class2, yet
African history is all that
Djeliba
knows
and teaches.
Another somewhat hidden example is Mabo's knowledge of
traditional
pregnancies during the tale3, he cannot believe that Sogolan
(Sundjata's
mother) could possibly have a seven year gestation, yet the griot
enforces
that it is the truth. All of
these examples show the scientific way
of
teaching that is the basis of the
western world, versus the magical and
spiritual
faith of traditional Africans.
The modern Africans were taught to put aside
traditional
knowledge and focus on the facts that were given by western
textbooks.
Mr. Fofano is a good subject to study in understanding this
concept,
he says "if Mabo wrote this [that
he came from a king rather than a gorilla]
on
his
examination, he would fail. For your knowledge and mine are different" (Keita
film
notes, sequence 12).
Not only did the colonization of Africa promote education and wealth
among
African peoples but it also broke the family ties and cultural bonds
that
families had so strongly cherished.
When comparing the two cultures this
closely,
we can see the difference between traditional and modern Africa is
like
night and day.
The film Keita allowed us, as viewers, an insight into what
Africa
has been and what it has become.
© Lindsie Christman, 2002
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Tracy Cook
Humanities 211
Midterm Discussion Paper
Due February 27, 2002
THINGS FALL APART
In the book Things
Fall Apart we see a tribe transform from a strong communal group to a
divided unorganized tribe. We see one of the tribe’s most respected leaders
fall from the top of his world to the point he commits suicide. Finally, we
see the white man, who is considered a fool and outsider in the beginning gain
power and control over the Igbo tribes. Anytime
something goes wrong in life people want to blame it on something.
Take September 11th for example, at first we blamed the
airlines for their lax security. However,
after further review, we realized it was a combination of many things.
Like September 11th the fall of the Igbo tribes was not
caused by one event. It was a culmination of many events.
I would like to discuss the main things that I feel led to the fall of
the Igbo tribes. I realize that
there probably hundreds of things that contributed, but I will focus on these
four main topics. I believe that
the tribes nonchalant attitude toward the missionaries, their cooperation even
though it had ill intent, the conversion to Christianity by men of title, and
the tribes lack of unity contributed to their demise.
When the first missionary came they killed him and “tied his iron
horse to a their sacred tree because it looked as if it would run away to call
the man’s friends.” (TFA Ch. 15, pg. 96). If they had hid the bicycle in
the evil forest it may have kept the missionaries and soldiers away. However, they left it tied to a tree and eventually the
soldiers came and destroyed the village killing almost everyone there.
The next group of missionaries was allowed in.
They had an interpreter who translated for them.
I feel that these translators may have helped them get a foot in the
door. The villagers found the
missionary funny because he said my buttocks instead of stating myself.
The missionary stated “your gods are not alive and cannot do you any
harm” (TFA ch.15, pg. 103). The
Igbo men mocked him and laughed at him and many walked away from his speech.
Maybe if they ‘d put up more of a resistance instead of their
nonchalant laugh and mock them attitude then the missionaries would have left.
Another example of the tribe’s passive behavior is when one of the
Christians killed the royal python. ‘The
royal python was the most revered animal in Mbanta and all the surrounding
clans.” (TFA ch.18, pg. 112) Who
ever killed a royal python by mistake would have to pay to bury the python and
would also be forced to make amends by sacrifices. There was no punishment for
somebody that killed a royal python on purpose, because the very thought of
such an act had never been considered. Okonkwo
wanted to push out the church. However,
the majority ruled and they came to a different conclusion. “It is not our
custom to fight for our gods.” … “Let us not presume to do so now.” (TFA
Ch.18, pg. 113) The clan won this
battle, as the person who supposedly killed the sacred python died a
mysterious death the next night. I
believe that the division that was created with the decision of how to handle
the situation was more damaging to the tribe than the benefit received by the
man dying and proving the gods could still fight.
The Igbo tribe didn’t want the missionaries there, but they decided
to co-operate with them only to cause them harm.
The evil forest is where everything unsacred was.
The village elders that did not want them in the clan decided, “Let
us give them a portion of the Evil Forest. They boast about victory over
death.” (TFA ch.17, pg. 105)
This was the tribe’s way of giving in but not really. The tribe was 100%
sure that the missionaries couldn’t survive in the Evil Forest. The missionaries were supposed to die within four days.
However, after the fourth day they were still alive.
This allowed them to win their first few converts to Christianity.
The fact that they didn’t die gave them more creditability among the
tribal members. Then when the
missionaries survived passed the 28th day they gained even more
converts including the first woman. All
of these converts were lost from the tribe because the tribe co-operated and
gave them land.
The clan wasn’t really concerned about the few converts they lost.
Everyone they had lost in the beginning were men without title and a pregnant
woman who kept having twins. This
changed quickly though; “The church had come and led many astray. Not only
the low-born and outcast but sometimes a worthy man had joined it.” (TFA
ch.20, pg. 123) The book goes onto to say that Ogbuefi Ugonna had removed two
anklets to join the church. I
believe that the more respected elders of the clan leaving gave the church
even more power and took that much more power away from the clan.
I personally think the lack of unity in the clan was the greatest cause
of things falling apart. Early
and often we see examples of the clansman not necessarily seeing eye-to-eye.
Even great friends don’t see things the same, which normally isn’t
a problem until it gets magnified. Obierika
is not sure why he took the ozo title. He
says it bothers him to see young men trying to get wine from the trees and
killing the trees. Okonkwo agrees
“But the law of the land must be obeyed” (TFA ch.8, pg. 48) Obierika then
states he doesn’t even know where that law came from.
Then Obierika and Okonkwo are discussing the difference in what the
titles mean among the tribes. Obierika’s
oldest brother states “But what is good in one place is bad in another
place.” (TFA ch.8, pg. 51) At
the end of chapter 13 Obierika is confused by the fact that his friend is
banned from the tribe. Even
though Okonkwo did something by accident he was still punished.
This got Obierika thinking even deeper and realized that the twins he
had thrown away in the forest had done nothing wrong. I believe that these
thoughts that these men had were shared by many.
When the Christians came with answers to all of these compelling
questions, then the answers appealed to many of the clansmen.
In the end Okonkwo kills a messenger.
He was hoping for a war but he knew that it wasn’t going to happen.
The clansmen had let the other 4 messengers go.
I believe that Okonkwo knew his clan was coming to an end. He felt that
it was better to take his own life than to let the white man take it from him.
Okonkwo committed suicide. His
good friend Obierika was mad that the British had driven him to do such a
thing.
I feel that the causes that led to the fall of the Igbo tribes were
many. Just like the September 11th
bombing no one can point a finger at any one thing. It was the airlines, the immigration system, the government
regulations, and the lack of enforcement by several agencies that allowed the
terrorists to commit these horrific crimes.
There were also many subtle things such as the lack of security at the
gates, the CIA not following leads, and hundreds of other factors.
When it comes to the fall of the Igbo nation, I believe that the tribes
nonchalant attitude toward the missionaries, their ill willed cooperation, the
conversion to Christianity by men of title, and the tribes lack of unity
contributed to their demise. However, there were many other causes as well.
I feel that the lack of both sides understanding of the other sides
religion, political views, and government also led to the conflicts.
In the end the many causes led to things falling apart.
© Tracy Cook, 2002
RossEagle
Culpus
Cora
Agatucci
Humanities
211
2-24-02
E
COOSH EEWA (THE WAY IT WAS)
The book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is written for the purpose
of
giving
a look inside his culture. If
Things Fall Apart were written any
different
it would be giving false ideas about the culture and only a
reflection
of what the readers would want to see and or a false
representation.
Though modern society may form opinions of sexism, it is the
way
things were for many but maybe not all.
It was mentioned in one of our class discussions that there was quiet a few
people
that thought this book was sexiest in our class
including a panel of
women
writers. Now on the subject of
the women writers if they were in fact
Afro-American
is not quite clear to me. But if indeed the ladies were I ask
these
questions: What was their basis
for their judgment ? What tribe were
the
ladies from? Did any of the
ladies come from the same tribe as Chinua
Achebe
? Was there any common knowledge
between Achebe and the lady
panelists
? Dealing with couple of factors
here, what was the panelists
upbringing
like? Were they traditional or
not? What were the age of the
panelists?
Older than Achebe, same, or younger ?
In the Igbo society everyone had their "place".
Everyone had jobs or duties
assigned
to them in order to keep things running smoothly in their village or
town.
In Don Ohadike's Introductory essay "Igbo Culture and
history" he
stats
that "everyone 15 and under
did minor jobs like fetching water,
cleaning
footpaths, sweeping the streets and town squares, and running
errands.
Men in the middle age witch consisted of men from the age 16 to
around
40 formed the fighting forces, felled trees and cleared the bush at
the
beginning of each planting season. As
for the women in these groups they
became
active in the appropriate women association.
Men 40 and over decided
when
to go to war, how an offender should be punished, when various
agricultural
cycles would open and close, and when t he annual festivals
would
be held" ( Introductory essay, pg xxv and xxvi ).
The women of this group or tribe had much more power and influence then the
story
leads us to believe. In Don's "introductory essay" he talks about
different
women's association and their powers and effects they have on the
culture.
He mentions a women's association that has influential power to
start
a war even though they did not participate in it.
Another one acted as
a
pressure group involved with political matters and imposed fines on men and
women
who disturbed the peace of the marketplace.
Women controlled certain
spheres
of community life while men controlled the other parts of the sphere(
Introductory
essay, women's association, pg xxviii ).
I would have to say that the women of Igbo had the most influence over their
culture
and way of life. All the wives lived separate from each other
including
the husband. The children lived with their mothers in her hut.
The
mother told stories to them each night that had hidden or deeper meanings
than
what they were about. For example when Ekwefi, Okonkwo's youngest wife,
told
the story about a greedy tortoise and how his not so smooth shell came
about
to her only daughter Ezinma ( part 1, Ch 11, pg 68,69, and 70).
I
believe
it was the women who laid the foundation for their culture and
traditions.
Also I think it was they who upheld the traditions and keep
things
the way they were in the stories they told and the upbringing of their
children.
Okonkwo's wives lived in fear especially the youngest.
Okonkwo ruled his
house
with a heavy hand and had a fiery temper (part 1, ch 2, pg 9).
For
someone
who lives in fear of something or someone you would think never to
forget
important stuff like time or even be so thoughtless.
This was
mentioned
by Okonkwo's first wife "’Yes,’ lied Nwoye’s mother, trying to
minimize
Ojiugo’s thoughtlessness” ( part 1, Ch 4, pg 21).
Okonkwo beat Ojiugo
badly.
If the above paragraph was a trigger of many that led people to believe that
this
book is sexist then they are using Okonkwo as a representative stating
that
since Okonkwo beat his wife then all the Igbo men did.
Or that all the
women
of Igbo were weak, were nothing, useless, and had no power.
If this is
so
then this would be a case of misrepresentation.
As mentioned in above
paragraphs
the women of Igbo had great power and Influence.
©
RossEagle Culpus, 2002
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211 Discussion #4 Forum - You've got at least one Response!
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Deke DeMars
Humanities
211
Midterm Discussion Paper
February 27, 2002
Character
Okonkwo
Things Fall Apart
I want to focus on Okonkwo as a person. He was a very strange man. I
would primarily like to focus on the point of fear, anger and Okonkwo. This
was talked about in the first of chapter of Things Fall Apart. I spoke a
little about this in my Discussion number three but I want to go into a little
more depth.
From the beginning of the book until the end the author Achebe would
talk about Okonkwos father. In the first chapter he says “ He had no
patience with his father.” (Part I, ch.1 pg.3). The chapter goes on further
to talk about how his father was a very unsuccessful man. However Achebe also
speaks about how Okonkwo was very successful and hard working. “Although
Okonkwo was young he was already one of the greatest men of his time.”(Part
I, ch.1 pg.6) The first chapter went on to talk about the successes that
Okonkwo had achieved in his young life. The chapter also talks about all of
the debts that his father had and about all the problems he had too. Okonkwos
father Unoka had actually died with many debts says Achebe in chapter one.
Achebe never actually sets up a list in the first chapter comparing the two
men. However he does provide the information within the chapter so we can see
and understand the great difference between them. Okonkwo is a man with
everything going for him. He has success at a young age and he acquired it all
by himself. He had no ascribed status within his culture. From what we know of
his father we can assume he was lazy and always looked for an easy way out.
Achebe also talks about how Unoka was quick to spend his money. “If any
money came his way, and it seldom did, he immediately bought gourds of palm
wine.”(Part I, ch.1 pg.3) We as readers can really see how complete
opposites Okonkwo and Unoka were after reading the first chapter.
Achebe describes Okonkwo as such a proud man. He also talks about how
he had no patience for unsuccessful men. (Part I, ch.1 pg3) I believe that the
reason he was so proud was because he had earned everything he had on his own.
It would be like a poor person of today’s world going through life alone and
ending up a rich successful man or woman. That is enough for anyone to be
confident and proud. However along with his pride Achebe mentions of Okonkwos
anger. “Whenever he was angry and could not get his words out he would use
his fists.” (Part I ch.1 pg3). Having anger like this does not come with
pride. I think it is anger towards his father. His father was never there for
him as a boy and he was made to work all his problems out for himself. This
anger built up over the years. When he was old enough and respected enough in
the society Okonkwo would act out in anger.
In the quote about how he did not respect the unsuccessful man that
Achebe spoke of: that was because of Okonkwos father. I am not a believer in
people just having anger. Something leads to that I think. In Okonkwos case it
was because of being rejected and because of fear. He saw how bad of a man his
father was and he never wanted to be like him. That is why Achebe focused the
whole first chapter on it. He focuses the beginning of the story around this
to let the readers know. Achebe wanted to paint the picture of fear and anger
in our minds early because the ending of the story would be a refection of the
first chapter. The reason Okonkwos life falls apart is all traced back to the
start where he was prideful and full of anger.
I think that this was Achebe’s point of the first chapter. That is
why he started with it and why he focused on Unoka and told stories of his
life. Achebe wanted his readers to really have the background of Okonkwo's
childhood and what he had to face in order to achieve success. Once Achebe
painted this picture and gave the readers a history to remember he could go on
describing Okonkwo's rise to success and then his decline as well. What made
Okonkwo's story so unique was that he was a unique man. All of the tragedy and
mistakes that Okonkwo encountered could be related to his anger that was a
result of his fear. He reacted to situations very quickly with out thinking
about the consequences thoroughly. There were many incidents that can prove
this. “ In his anger he had forgotten it was the week of the peace” (Part
I, ch.4 p.21). This part was talking about when he beat one of his wife’s
out of anger. “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him
down.” (Part I, ch.7 p.43.) This is when he killed his adopted son because
he did not want to look like a coward in front of the other men even though
the oracle had told Okonkwo not to take part in the killing of the boy. These
are two examples of Okonkwos reacting to quickly. In one incident he reacted
in anger and the other in fear. Both reason are related; related back to
Achebe’s first chapter.
So I strongly believe that Okonkwo and his life story was all based on
his beginning. The reason his life ended with so many tragedies and in an
early death was all because he could not let go of his father. He could not
let go of the fear and the hate. He was consumed by anger throughout his whole
life. He could never acquire enough or do enough to make him really happy. His
mistakes could have been avoided. Okonkwos life could have been so much
different I think if he would have let go of his hatred. I think Achebe really
wanted to get this point across and he did an excellent job doing so in the
first chapter.
© Deke DeMars, 2002
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Derek Fitzpatrick
Hum 211
02/26/02
Okonkwo:
Why Things Fell Apart
I chose to write my paper about Chinua Achebe’s novel “Things Fall
Apart.” I chose this novel
because I thought that it was very interesting how the main character Okonkwo
spent his entire life trying to be the opposite of his father.
However, in spite of all his efforts in the end of the story Okonkwo
turns out to be quite similar to what his father was in the beginning of the
story. Throughout the entire
story Okonkwo is dominated by the fear of being like his father, an outcast.
Everything that Okonkwo did was life was in some way affected by the
fear of failure and the fear of being a lazy worthless man like his father.
Okonkwo became so obsessed with the fear of failure that it eventually
caused him to take his own life at the end of the story.
There was a series of about three or four major events that lead up to
Okonkwo’s suicide. In the
following paragraphs I will explain what they were and why they caused things
to fall apart for Okonkwo.
The first event that began the downfall of Okonkwo was when he beat one
of his wives during the week of peace. Okonkwo,
in his early life was well respected in the clan, he did very well in
harvesting yams and was an exceptional wrestler.
Because he was so respected and wealthy he did not want to let out his
feelings and frustrations in public, so he did so in the privacy of his own
home. One night during the week
of peace one of Okonkwo’s wives came home at an unreasonable time and that
gave Okonkwo a chance to vent some of his feelings that he had been hiding and
he beat his wife. Since he beat
his wife during the week of peace Okonkwo had to go before the Priest of the
Oracle. All of the other tribal
members saw Okonkwo disrespecting the traditions of the tribe and that caused
him to lose a little bit of respect.
The next step towards the downfall of the main character was when he
took part in the killing of Ikemefuna. When
the tribe had to select a member to go get the virgin and a young man from the
tribe that committed murder against Umuofia, they selected Okonkwo because he
was so respected in the area. After
Okonkwo went and got them the elder’s decided that the boy should live with
Okonkwo until they could decide what to do with him.
After about three years the elder’s decided to kill the boy, Okonkwo
was advised not to take part in the killing, but instead delivered the fatal
blow to a boy that called him father because he does not want the other
members to look at him as being weak.
The next thing that brought Okonkwo closer to his suicide was when he
accidentally shot one of Ezeudu sons. Ezeudu
was a man with a great amount of respect in the tribe. Because Okonkwo shot one of his sons Okonkwo was banished
from Umuofia for seven years.
When Okonkwo returns the society that he once knew does not exist
anymore because the missionaries took everything that he knew and destroyed
it. Okonkwo had a hard time
rejoining society and no longer has the power and respect that he once had.
He feels like he no longer belongs to the clan.
Okonkwo could not stand the fact that the members of the clan now
followed the missionaries instead of him.
The missionary’s laws and beliefs threatened the clan’s way of
life, and Okonkwo did not want to live like a white man, which is why he
killed the messenger. Instead of
gaining respect for killing the messenger Okonkwo lost whatever was left.
After he lost that little bit of respect that he had left Okonkwo had
realized that he had became his greatest fear, his father.
Because Okonkwo lived his life with such a fear and such an obsession
of being like his father he often missed out on being a functional part of
society. Eventually that fear,
the fear of being like his father drove him mad and caused him to take his own
life.
© Derek Fitzpatrick, 2002
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Laura Forster
HUM 211
Midterm Essay
2/26/02
Okonkwo
After reading Things
Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, I was very fascinated by the main character (Okonkwo)
and his unique personality. Indeed
he was very much an individual, with a personality unlike most of his fellow
Igbomen. The things that he said
and the actions that he took in the situations that he encountered throughout
his life played an important role in how things fell apart for him. Some
people would describe Okonkwo as being extraordinary, strong, intelligent,
motivated, and brave. Others
might think he was cruel, unjust, irrational, and inhumane. From what I
gathered from the book, Okonkwo demonstrated all of these traits, for better
or for worse. In an attempt to analyze his personality, I have broken his main
characteristics into three parts: his productiveness, his fear and wrath, and
his traditionalism. With these three aspects of his personality, I have found
several interesting factors that contributed to his success in early life, and
how things fell apart for him in his last years.
Okonkwo was indeed very strong and was renowned as being the best
wrestler in all of the nine villages. In his lifetime, he acquired two titles,
three wives, and showed great valor in two inter-tribal wars.
In fact, he was the first man in his village to bring home an enemy’s
head. He was wealthy and had two big barns full of yams, which could easily
provide for his three wives and many children. Although he inherited nothing
from his lazy father, he was able to, even at a young age, begin to farm and
provide for his mother and sister.
When he was
starting out, there was a bad flood season and the rain wouldn’t allow the
yams to grow. It was such a disaster that some men even hanged themselves over
their loss. Okonkwo managed somehow and he revealed an important part of his
character to himself that year. “He knew he was a fierce fighter, but that
year had been enough to break the heart of a lion. ‘Since I survived that
year, he always said, I shall survive anything.’ He put it down to his
inflexible will” (Part I, Ch.3, pg.18). Okonkwo worked very hard for what he
got and deserved every bit of it. This side of his personality did nothing but
help him greatly in developing his wealth, respect, and position among the
clansmen.
However, there
were some major difficulties about his personality; the root of these being
his disgust for his father. His father, Unoka, owed money to everybody and
could barely feed his family. Okonkwo was very ashamed of his father and tried
his hardest to be the exact opposite. “And indeed he was possessed by the
fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death” (Part I, Ch.3,
pg.13). Okonkwo did seem
“possessed” in that he tried almost too hard to be the things that his
father was not. “Okonkwo was ruled by one passion – to hate everything
that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and
another was idleness” (Part I, Ch.2, pg.10).
As a result of this, Okonkwo ruled his family very strictly and most
often painfully. His wives and
children lived in perpetual fear of his unpredictable temper. One time he beat
his youngest wife on the week of peace (the sacred week) because she forgot to
cook his dinner. Another time, he even went as far as to almost shoot his
second wife because she muttered something under her breath about guns that
don’t shoot.
It
was this side of Okonkwo’s personality that didn’t do him any good. For
example, when Ikemefuna lived with Okonkwo’s family, he was well liked, even
by Okonkwo. Ikemefuna helped turn Nwoye, Okonkwo’s eldest son, into a more
promising youth than Okonkwo had seen in him before (Okonkwo was always
threatening and beating Nwoye for his apparent laziness).
Ikemefuna loved his new family, and even called Okonkwo his
“father”. But Okonkwo’s
fear of failure and weakness (which was the cause of his wrath), allowed him
to slaughter Ikemefuna when the boy came running to him for help when the
Oracle decided he must be killed. He did this because he was afraid of being
thought of as weak. “Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be
the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing
worth demonstrating was strength” (Part I, Ch.4, pg.20).
To me, this is going too far. How can you kill someone who you grow to
love just because you thought someone might think you were weak if you
didn’t? This just really shows
how deep and disturbed Okonkwo’s ultimate fear was – his fear of weakness
and failure.
A major way in
which this side of Okonkwo’s personality harmed him can be seen in his son,
Nwoye. Okonkwo hated his own father so much that he became the opposite of
him. Nwoye did the same with his father. After raising him with such a harsh
hand, and killing his brother, Ikemefuna, Nwoye’s hate for his father became
too great. He did the ultimate thing that his father would hate the most –
he joined the white missionaries and stopped respecting and caring about his
ancient gods and ancestors. In other words, he completely rebelled against his
father, disowning him forever. As his father did likewise to him. Nwoye looked
somewhat like his grandfather, and also had some of the same characteristics.
This personality was therefore incompatible with Okonkwo’s, and it pained
Okonkwo greatly to know that he was cursed with such a son as Nwoye.
Okonkwo’s
traditionalist side both helped and harmed him in his lifetime. What I mean by
traditional is old-fashioned. Okonkwo always talked about how in the “old
days” men were men, and things were as they should be, but now everyone has
gone soft, even the laws. When
Okonkwo has been in his motherland for seven years, and is about to return
home, he gives a great feast to his mother’s people to show his gratitude
towards them. During the feast Uchendu rose to thank Okonkwo and said, “It
is good in these days when the younger generation consider themselves wiser
than their sires to see a man doing things in the grand, old way” (Part II,
Ch.19, pg.118). Then he explains
his thoughts about how the younger generations have become untraditional and
what it has done to them.
“But I fear for you young
people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. You do
not know what it is to speak with one voice. And what is the result? An
abominable religion has settled among you. A man can now leave his father and
his brothers. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors, like a
hunter’s dog that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master. I fear for you;
I fear for the clan” (Part II, Ch.19, pg.118).
This
shows how important the traditional ways were to the Igbo people. All the time
that Okonkwo is in Mbanta, he is making plans about his return home. When the
missionaries came to Mbanta, Okonkwo felt that they weren’t harsh enough on
dealing with them. He couldn’t wait to get back to his own village, Umofia,
where men were still great fighters, and would do something about this new
threat. Thinking in this traditional way helped Okonkwo gain his fame in the
past wars (where he took his first human head) and helped him in many ways to
be so well known and respected. It was this traditionalism, however, that
harmed him in the end.
When Okonkwo
got back to Umofia, he found that not everyone in the village felt as strongly
about the change as he did. The trading stores brought money flow into Umofia
for it’s palm-wine. Several people had been converted, and Umofia’s
brothers were turning against each other. Okonkwo’s traditionalism was the
ultimate conflicting personality unable to adapt to the colonialism. He began
to see that Umofia was far from the great war-clan that it used to be. After
himself and five other leaders of the clan are imprisoned, humiliated, and
disgraced upon by the white men, the whole clan got together in the
marketplace. They seemed to be ready for battle, and looked thirsty for blood
when five court messengers came to the meeting and ordered the proceedings to
stop. With an impulse of rage only a man in that sort of situation could feel,
Okonkwo chopped the head off of the leader of them. With this, his doubts
about the clan were confirmed. “He knew that Umofia would not go to war. He
knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken into
tumult instead of action. He discerned fright in that tumult” (Part III,
Ch.24, pg.144-145).
Okonkwo always
said that even if no one else were willing to fight, then he would stand
alone, and do it himself. It was part of all three of his personalities. It
was his “inflexible will.” Why he decided to take the coward’s way out
and hang himself after this event is the most tragic and disturbing part of
the whole book. It was as if it signified the end of the greatest of Igbo
spirits, the end of all that he stood for, the end of everything – and
things fell apart.
© Laura Forster, 2002
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