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“Does the white man understand our custom about land?” “How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”

In this quote Obierka is having a conversation with Okwonko which centers on the events that have occurred since the colonists (white men) arrived.The people who have converted to Christianity now question all the customs from the religion they grew up with. Obierka thinks that the Umuofians have turned their backs on their own “brothers”. This is very upsetting to Obierka because he feels like the white men snuck into their village peacefully just to take everyone away from their own religion. With everyone questioning their religion it effects the social status of the people who are in charge. People have power in the village only because of the religion so if their own people just stop believing in the religion the status of the higher ups lessen and soon will be nothing. Obierka is very angry and Okwonko feels even worse because his own son went to the white man’s religion and almost killed him for it. It just looks like things are really falling apart for the village.

Okonkwo Journal Entry (group 4)

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i have had it up to here with those white men. Not only do they take me away and tortured me with whips and starve me. They make me seem less of a man now. Who are they to come to my clan and destroy all that was good in this great clan. They have come to ruin everything, they have corrupted the minds of many of the people of Umuofia, that including the person that i had once called my son. In the eyes of those white men Umuofia must be seen as weak. But now is the time to act. If the clan decides to avoid war with the white men than i shall take revenge myself. i have always known that these men in the clan are weak. Only I am the strongest of them all. Ive have said it once and ill say it again. If i do not do the job, the job will never be done. i shall wait and see what the meeting will be about tomorrow morning. But until then, i will wait with my armer and weapons to be ready to go into war or go alone myself.

 

I’ve decided to write this Journal Entry because as we get to the ending of the novel we start to see a lot more emotion coming from Okonkwo. We are able to see a lot more on what goes on in his mind. in the beginning of the book we were not sure what kind of man Okonkwo really was. But now that we get to this part of the novel we see that Okonkwo is very revengeful and likes to take action by his own had. He makes it seem like the clan will never be able to take control unless its with war. So during part 3 it seems like the Narrator does not restrict us from okonkwo’s mine and it seems like the narrator does not justify Okonkwo anymore as much as he did in the beginning of the novel.

Okonkwo Selfishness Towards His Family

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“As Okonkwo sat in his hut that night, gazing into a log fire, he thought over the matter. Sudden fury rose within him and he felt a strong desire to take up his machete, go the church and wipe out the entire vile and miscreant gang. but on further thought he told himself that Nwoye was not worth fighting for. why, he cried in his heart, should he, Okonkwo, of all people, be cursed with such a son?”

From this scene you can see that Okonkwo pride is getting the best of him, we are shown even more how Okonkwo doesn’t care about his family  he only care about himself and his self-image. Okonkwo care about using the land he was given by his uncle in his motherland to try to prove that he will never give but he doesn’t worry about this own family feeling about be exile all he care about is when the seven years will end and he can go home to gain back his respect from his fatherland. Okonkwo hate the fact the these white man come to his country and try to destroy his faith to his gods. For Nwoye making one mistake by talking to one of the priest, Okonkwo go crazy and beat his son and almost try to kill him if wasn’t for his uncle to stop Okonkwo from doing that to his son, Nwoye would’ve die if he didn’t answer his father and from that Okonkwo disown him and told his son to never  come back. That was not fair for Nwoye because when his father made that mistake by killing his own clan mate, his son never said anything or hated his father for having to leave his home and friends for seven years. He just went with his family and never argue about it but Okonkwo doesn’t care about his son he wouldn’t even understand what his son was doing or try to convince him to not do what Nwoye was going to do because Okonkwo only cares about his self, he doesn’t want to know why Nwoye was doing this but why he was cursed with such a son.

Clue (Things Fall Apart)

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“Okonkwo was given a plot of ground on which to build his compound, and two or three pieces of land on which to farm during the coming planting season. With the help of his mothers kinsmen he built himself an obi and three huts for his wives. He then installed his personal god and the symbols of his departed fathers. Each of Uchendu’s five sons contributed three hundred seed-yams to enable their cousin to plant a farm, for as soon as the first rain came farming would begin.”

During this scene we are shown that Okonkwo will never let any obstacle stop him from succeeding. Although he was helped by his mothers kinsmen, he is using this given land to rebuild what he has lost and start his new life. Okonkwo was questioned for his arrival in his motherland after so many years of being away. He was an outsider, according to customs he did not belong to this “foreign” land. However this did not stop him from coming. In this scene we get a hint of what his mother maybe been like. Her kinsmen still respect her and care for her family. They care for her land and property, and now her son. We may see Okonkwo attempt to get closer with his past. Maybe reconnect with his mothers people, and decide to stay in this new land and not go back to his clan after the 7 years.

False Prophets

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Clue
“If we leave our gods and follow your god,” asked another man, “who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods and ancestors?”
“Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm,” replied the white man. “They are pieces of wood and stone.”
When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. These men must be mad, they said to themselves. How else could they say that Ani and Amadiora were harmless? And Idemili and Ogwugwu too? And some of them began to go away.”

The snapshot above shows the strong belief many of the villagers have in their own religion as the reaction observed by them when Mbanta translate what the “white man” says which causes to laugh. However, this can also be interpreted as the inverse as well as it also shows the people who did not walk away and continued to listen which we learn later in the story that one of them was Okonkwo’s son Nwoye who has doubt in their own religion. This allows us to see that possibly there is several other people who may disapprove of the religion and not agree with it completely and is willing to hear an different perspective and look for answers from a god that is not made of “pieces of wood and stone”.