Since the beginning of the story, I had always had the question of how Okonkwo’s past would affect his future? A man who grew up without a role model and who lived in constant fear of being compared to his father. Also that the fact that he is a man who can’t express any emotion except that of anger. This leads me to think of Okonkwo as a character who would not want to resolve things peacefully, if it was up to him, as well as a man who doesn’t wish to be look down upon by anyone. For example even when it came to the death of Ikemefuna he did not hesitate to kill his “son” who had influenced his family and had already became part of them. He did this even though Ikemefuna pleaded “My father, they have killed me!” due to the fear of being thought of as weak by his people. Looking towards the future this type of characteristic may cause him more problems than there should have originally been.

“Looking at a king’s mouth,” said an old man, “one would think he never sucked at his mother’s breast.” He was talking about Okonkwo, who had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of the clan. The old man bore no ill will towards Okonkwo. Indeed he respected him for his industry and success. But he was struck, as most people were, by Okonkwo’s brusqueness in dealing with less successful men. Only a week ago a man had contradicted him at a kindred meeting which they held to discuss the next ancestral feast. Without looking at the man Okonkwo had said: “This meeting is for men.” The man who had contradicted him had no titles. That was why he had called him a woman. Okonkwo knew how to kill a man’s spirit.

The text above provides a better picture of how Okonkwo is as a character and how he stands before other men in his tribe. We see how his brusqueness is in dealing less successful men as he was a son to not so successful man who held no title. He had to rise up from nothing to get where he stands now and he is proud of what he has accomplished. However, seeing how his father was not a good role model, who left him nothing, and was not an inspiration to become someone like him, we see how that has affected Okonkwo’s view on others who are similar to that of his father. Okonkwo values those that are successful, who hold titles, and who have a name for themselves and those who do not will be looked down upon by him and treated not as equal but of lesser man, in this case by killing the man with no titles spirit by calling him a woman in a “man’s” meeting.

“They have lived under the sea a good deal,building fantastic cities and fighting terrific battles with nameless adversaries by means of intricate devices employing unknown principles of energy. Evidently their scientific and mechanical knowledge far supassed man’s today, though they made use of its more widespread and elaborate forms only when obligated to. Some of the sculptures suggested that they had passed through a stage of mechanised life on other planets, but haf receded upon finding its effects emotionally unsatisfying.”
when looking back at our class discussion we started to wonder how far advance were these beings at one point. We knew that they had created their own city and by the way that it was described it seemed to be very well made. It also seemed to be far advance than what man knew how to do till today. In this snapshot we see that the Old Ones have been on earth for a long time at lot longer than what dyer thinks. We also start to see that the Old Ones had lived under water and has also built cities down there too. Dyer also talks about how it seemed that the Old Ones had used their abilities when only needed. This could also mean that they did not use distruction, they rather used their knowledge for building more on their society. And because of there advance knowledge it looked like they had lived in other planets before coming to earth. At the ending of the snapshot it says “ finding its effects emotionally unsatisfying” which makes me think that although the old ones have traveled and built many cities in different places one spot was never enough so they had to keep moving and building more.