” Why did Ikemefuna have to Ā die? What did he do to our gods to anger them so? I saw more twins abandoned in the Evil Forest, what did they do to deserve death? Our gods seem to favor us one moment then punish us the next, why did they decide to have my fathers gun explode and get us exiled for seven years from our home? These punishments seem extreme and without reason; but these strange men with their strange god say that our gods are false; theirs is the true god. They speak ill of our gods, they even built in the Evil Forest yet our gods seem powerless to punish them, I think I need to look into what these strange men are trying to tell us a little more.”
This is from the perspective of Nwoye, Okonkwo’s oldest son. He already has a strained relationship with his father, and throughout the story we get glances at that he also is troubled by some of the decisions that his community makes based on their beliefs. So I believe it was only natural for him to be interested in the god that the white man brings; especially because this god seems very merciful when compared to the cruel ones that condemned Ikemefuna to death. He is prepared to risk the wrath of his father because he sees hope in following a god that is prepared to forgive his followers, unlike the gods of his village.
Nwoye was very inquisitive with why certain things happen to them and questioned why they must follow such beliefs about the Gods and their wrath if disobeyed. When he heard the white manās speech about the new religion, he was so captivated by the speech that he ultimately decided to follow them and go against his own father and clan solely due to his search for answers about why Ikemefuna had to die and the twins in the bush. I agree with what you said that āit was only natural for him to be interested in the God that the white man bringsā because he has only known the earth Goddess and the Gods that are prayed upon in his clan, so when the white man speaks of this new religion he is quickly fascinated and wants to convert to this new religion.
I agree with the point of Nwoye being prepared to take a risk by converting because the new religion offers him a chance of forgiveness in which the religion his father and the rest of the village follow does not. Nwoye sees the lack of consequences applied to the men who built in the Evil Forest which further establishes the point of the false gods. Everything at this point relating to religious beliefs is not concrete as before due to the villagerās god not punishing the men building in the Evil Forest which causes doubt and wanting to hear out what the white men have to say.
I agree with his blog because its true that Nwoye was getting very cruise and the white men were there with open arms to him, they ask every day they some him to come inside the church on the Sabbath day worship the true God. They even ask Nwoye to go to his fatherland to learn with the children at school that they have built. and it look like Nwoye was free for the first time in his life and he was happy to finally be away from his dad and he want his family to follow his footsteps. he happy to be able to go home early but I don’t think he was ready for the wrath of his father because his father almost kill him if Okonkwo uncle didn’t come to save him
I feel that Nwoye joined the white mans religion because he was tired of being treated as a child by his father. Okonkwo saw him as weak hearted because he did not possess the fire within him to work as hard as he once did at such an early age. Nwoye may haven been approached and influenced in a time of confusion, and self assessment, thus leading him to join the white man. The church eased him into the process and came with open arms. In a sense they were easier on Nwoye and provided him with a second “home” when his father went off on an outrage.