I think that in Okonkwo's attempt to be the complete opposite of his father, Unoka, it will lead to his downfall by the end of the book. I believe this was foreshadowed by the scene starting on page 23 when he is given three times the amount of yam seeds that he asks for but in his pursuit to foil his father, he loses four hundred of his yams. It states later that lazier farmers were not affected by this drought because they "always put off clearing their farms as long as they could". To me this says that there are pros and cons to both Okonkwo and Unoka's way of life. Okonkwo is a character that I don't exactly know what to think of him yet, because on one side, I have an image of a very masculine unbeatable warrior, however he also seems very open and vulnerable to his fears as shown in Chapter two and this makes me wonder which he really is.
First a little side note, I found it interesting that there were locusts that came through the villages for seven days, it reminded me of the seven plagues of Egypt but I didn’t see anything that linked other than there were locusts. Anyway, Okonkwo’s masculinity seems to be constantly questioned in this section. His drive to not become his father in part leads to the beating of this wife, Ekwefi. He seems to think if he isn’t doing anything then he is drifting toward the path of his father, this wrath leads to his thirst for power and in his eyes a means of achieving that is to show his superiority over women. He fails to verify his manliness when he is criticized about not being able to shoot a gun, when he shoots and misses confirming this accusation. His character kind of reminds me of Gatsby in that I’m still not really sure if this character that is being shown is really who Okonkwo is, he seems like he is changing himself to be unlike Unoka. Changing himself at times such as when Ikemefuna, is called to be executed, unable to make himself appear weak Okonkwo aids in the killing.
Ch 8 - 10 In the way women are treated in this novel, it reminds me a lot of biblical stories, I cannot cite specific times in the bible when this book parallels, however many times it just seems very similar. First off just with the way women are treated in general, they seem to not be respected as human being as men are, in many ways they are treated like second class citizens. I feel this is shown most vividly when Obierika bargains away for the best price. The last time I feel it connects to biblical ideas is when Okwonko says that he wishes Ezimna was born a boy. It seems like he is saying that having her as a girl is a burden, this same idea is shown in the bible when men would always want their children to be born boys because then their tribe would be larger and stronger with the addition of a male warrior. Traditions seem to be a theme or motif I forget what the difference is between them. Okwonko is so blinded by the way things should be that he sacrifices himself and his children’s happiness in order to follow them. Such as when he kills Ikefemfuna because the Oracle said to it just seems wrong to follow a decision so radical such as that. Also Okwonko trying to force Nywone into a warrior when he obviously doesn’t fit that mold.
Ch 11 - 13 Finally it seems as if things really start to fall apart as the title hinted they would. With the killing of Ezuedo’s son, comes two things, first this verification of the title foreshadow, and the vail being lifted from Okwonko’s eye. As an effect of the killing, which was accidental, Okwonko loses all he has which finally brings him to the same level as Unoka. This brings the question, how is success measured? With both men not having any possessions are both failures, is one more successful than the other, success is something that is very hard to measure without bringing tangible things into the equation. What I mean by the veil being lifted from Okwonko, is that he finally begins to question the traditions of the tribe, only after they directly affect him. Such as why he should throw his innocent twins away to die, or why a person should be exiled to seven years for an accident. Seven years seems to also be a undetermined number of years, just like in the bible, forgive seven times seven times thing, so I believe Okwonko is gone from the village for good.
ch 14 - 18 This section of reading reminds me of that idea that we as humans try to put meaning into a meaningless universe, for Nywone it is by means of religion. Okwonko puts emphasis in his life in different things such as yams for instance he cares about things that will make him appear powerful and successful. He sees Nywone as weak because he retreats for religion for comfort which Okwonko perceives as being very weak. I think he feels threatened that even though Nywone is not a warrior or wrestler or any of that manly stuff, he isn’t discouraged or depressed. Religion comforts Nywone because it gives hope for all the innocent killing that have taken place in the society he was brought up in. Religion repairs most the things that he feels is wrong with the tribe’s traditions.
I think I finally understand what was trying to be told by the locusts coming, I think the locusts represent the white people invading the tribe. Just as the tribe people collected the locusts because they were good to cook, so too do they convert to Christianity. It seems to me that Okwonko is unable to adjust to change. He cannot cope with separating himself from the traditions that he has built his entire life upon. As he returns to his tribe his warrior like people are now weak and in line with white people, I believe that Okonkwo will not be able to adjust and will revolt against the white people and I think that will bring about his destruction.
I feel that Okwonko’s death has been hinted at since the beginning of the book and I am not at all surprised that it ended in suicide. He did all he could in life to make it turn out the way that he desperately wanted, and when all his attempts failed he found no other means of escape. After finishing the book I got the thought that this book may be a tale of predestination, maybe Achebe thinks that no matter how we live our lives we cannot derail ourselves from our destiny. This is a fair interpretation given Okwonko’s character of how he was never able to escape his life of failure and misfortune. Maybe not though. For me I don’t know how much it relates to Okonkwo, I always think of the quote from Invisible Man, to summarize him, Yam what I am. (although I’m not sure if thats the exact quote)
Didn't the passage of background information say that Antigone was a victim of Creon's hubris? Some of you are suggesting that Antigone is the tragic hero. Thoughts on that.
7 comments:
I think that in Okonkwo's attempt to be the complete opposite of his father, Unoka, it will lead to his downfall by the end of the book. I believe this was foreshadowed by the scene starting on page 23 when he is given three times the amount of yam seeds that he asks for but in his pursuit to foil his father, he loses four hundred of his yams. It states later that lazier farmers were not affected by this drought because they "always put off clearing their farms as long as they could". To me this says that there are pros and cons to both Okonkwo and Unoka's way of life.
Okonkwo is a character that I don't exactly know what to think of him yet, because on one side, I have an image of a very masculine unbeatable warrior, however he also seems very open and vulnerable to his fears as shown in Chapter two and this makes me wonder which he really is.
Ch 5 - 7
First a little side note, I found it interesting that there were locusts that came through the villages for seven days, it reminded me of the seven plagues of Egypt but I didn’t see anything that linked other than there were locusts. Anyway, Okonkwo’s masculinity seems to be constantly questioned in this section. His drive to not become his father in part leads to the beating of this wife, Ekwefi. He seems to think if he isn’t doing anything then he is drifting toward the path of his father, this wrath leads to his thirst for power and in his eyes a means of achieving that is to show his superiority over women. He fails to verify his manliness when he is criticized about not being able to shoot a gun, when he shoots and misses confirming this accusation. His character kind of reminds me of Gatsby in that I’m still not really sure if this character that is being shown is really who Okonkwo is, he seems like he is changing himself to be unlike Unoka. Changing himself at times such as when Ikemefuna, is called to be executed, unable to make himself appear weak Okonkwo aids in the killing.
Ch 8 - 10
In the way women are treated in this novel, it reminds me a lot of biblical stories, I cannot cite specific times in the bible when this book parallels, however many times it just seems very similar. First off just with the way women are treated in general, they seem to not be respected as human being as men are, in many ways they are treated like second class citizens. I feel this is shown most vividly when Obierika bargains away for the best price. The last time I feel it connects to biblical ideas is when Okwonko says that he wishes Ezimna was born a boy. It seems like he is saying that having her as a girl is a burden, this same idea is shown in the bible when men would always want their children to be born boys because then their tribe would be larger and stronger with the addition of a male warrior.
Traditions seem to be a theme or motif I forget what the difference is between them. Okwonko is so blinded by the way things should be that he sacrifices himself and his children’s happiness in order to follow them. Such as when he kills Ikefemfuna because the Oracle said to it just seems wrong to follow a decision so radical such as that. Also Okwonko trying to force Nywone into a warrior when he obviously doesn’t fit that mold.
Ch 11 - 13
Finally it seems as if things really start to fall apart as the title hinted they would. With the killing of Ezuedo’s son, comes two things, first this verification of the title foreshadow, and the vail being lifted from Okwonko’s eye. As an effect of the killing, which was accidental, Okwonko loses all he has which finally brings him to the same level as Unoka. This brings the question, how is success measured? With both men not having any possessions are both failures, is one more successful than the other, success is something that is very hard to measure without bringing tangible things into the equation. What I mean by the veil being lifted from Okwonko, is that he finally begins to question the traditions of the tribe, only after they directly affect him. Such as why he should throw his innocent twins away to die, or why a person should be exiled to seven years for an accident. Seven years seems to also be a undetermined number of years, just like in the bible, forgive seven times seven times thing, so I believe Okwonko is gone from the village for good.
ch 14 - 18
This section of reading reminds me of that idea that we as humans try to put meaning into a meaningless universe, for Nywone it is by means of religion. Okwonko puts emphasis in his life in different things such as yams for instance he cares about things that will make him appear powerful and successful. He sees Nywone as weak because he retreats for religion for comfort which Okwonko perceives as being very weak. I think he feels threatened that even though Nywone is not a warrior or wrestler or any of that manly stuff, he isn’t discouraged or depressed.
Religion comforts Nywone because it gives hope for all the innocent killing that have taken place in the society he was brought up in. Religion repairs most the things that he feels is wrong with the tribe’s traditions.
I think I finally understand what was trying to be told by the locusts coming, I think the locusts represent the white people invading the tribe. Just as the tribe people collected the locusts because they were good to cook, so too do they convert to Christianity.
It seems to me that Okwonko is unable to adjust to change. He cannot cope with separating himself from the traditions that he has built his entire life upon. As he returns to his tribe his warrior like people are now weak and in line with white people, I believe that Okonkwo will not be able to adjust and will revolt against the white people and I think that will bring about his destruction.
I feel that Okwonko’s death has been hinted at since the beginning of the book and I am not at all surprised that it ended in suicide. He did all he could in life to make it turn out the way that he desperately wanted, and when all his attempts failed he found no other means of escape. After finishing the book I got the thought that this book may be a tale of predestination, maybe Achebe thinks that no matter how we live our lives we cannot derail ourselves from our destiny. This is a fair interpretation given Okwonko’s character of how he was never able to escape his life of failure and misfortune. Maybe not though. For me I don’t know how much it relates to Okonkwo, I always think of the quote from Invisible Man, to summarize him, Yam what I am. (although I’m not sure if thats the exact quote)
Post a Comment