Religious Readers

Marleigh posted a comment about the Igbo traditions and how Achebe wrote in such a way that she understood and supported the tribe's traditions. I felt the same way about their traditions, to the point that when the missionaries came in the story I had very strong feelings against them. I'm not very religious, so I was wondering if all readers, religious or not, felt the same way about the missionaries. I would think if you were religious you would feel the missionaries were right in their actions, and sort of be rooting for them during the story. Did religious veiwpoints affect the way you read the novel?

Masculinity

In the novel, Okonkwo decides to kill Ikemefuna because he does not want to appear weak in front of the other men of the tribe. He values masculinity very highly, and does not want to ruin his good image. I think this shows that the Umuofia tribe has a very skewed view of masculinity and courage. The real courageous thing to do would have been to remain home and not betray the trust of the one he loved, yet because of societal pressure, Okonkwo views staying home as cowardly. This skewed view can also be seen in the titles they take. All that needs to be done to take a title is to pay a certain amount, yet somehow these titles represent manliness to the tribe. 

Connections

In the process of writing my essay I did a lot of research on what the poem The Second Coming was really pertaining too. I found it so interesting that Achebe took this ancient ideas of Yeats' poem and translated them into a story. The poem actually scared me a little bit with its dark tone at the end. It just ends with this unanswered question of: Is the beast going to take down society? If you think about it, still today we have a million beasts in our lives that could awaken at any moment and change our lives completely.

Yeats Imagery

If you have a hard time understanding what Yeats is talking about, you might want to look into his past, and in turn, hermeticism, or at least the symbols. A quick look at tarot card interpretations might help as well.

widening gyre

This is something I was talking to my friend about and I thought it was really interesting. She pointed out the idea of the widening gyre. The first time I read the poem, I had no idea what a gyre was but after looking it up, I learned it was a circle or ring. I thought it was really interesting how this went with the book because after looking closely, there are several things that go in circles. For example, every year they plant the crops, harvest them, the have the festival where they eat the new crops. This repeats every year like a cycle. The wrestling tournament also happens at the same time every year as well as the cycle with getting married and having a kid, then they grow up and get married themselves. I found this parallel with the poem very interesting.

Interesting Points

I was trying to find a secondary source relating to The Second Coming and found this. It makes some really interesting points that I didn't notice before. http://users.humboldt.edu/jlwaters/thesecondcoming.html

Line 10

Just pointing out an error in the packet version of the poem, line 10 ends with the word "out," not "our." A quick Google search with several copies of the poem referenced confirms this.

Nwoye

Nowye story line definitely intruiged me the most. He really wasn't a factor until the missionaries moved on the Igbo land. Okonkwo could never accept him as his son, and only as a "woman". When Nwoye rebelled against his fathers wishes to become a "manly man" as I would call it. That really got me thinking about Nwoye because in reality no one really paid any attention to him in the beginning. His interest in the white men and the new religion kind of pulled me into the book as he disobeyed his father. Nwoye definitely made himself untouchable when he sided with the white men because they would protect him. I hoped that his story would have continued.

Okonkwo's feelings (or lack thereof)

While reading the novel it was interesting to see how Okonkwo's mood changed in different situations, without anyone but the reader able to notice. Okonkwo definitely puts up a fierce air about him because (as people mentioned in other posts) he had a fear of being just like his father. A failure and a coward. He feels like he can't let anyone see him as anything other than tough or macho. Even though, while I was reading I noticed that Okonkwo did break down a couple of times. His vulnerablity did show, but again only to us readers. Chapter 8 comes to mind, where we finally see some feeling and emotion come out of this guy. It was the chapter right after he killed Ikemefuna. It was definitely my favorite chapter because he was suffering of guilt for killing a boy who was like his own son. Those parts were the best parts of the book for me because for a guy so intimidating to feel the slightest emotion was kind of entertaining because right after he would feel any type of emotion, he would quickly dismiss it like it made him a weaker person.

Traditions

As I was reading, I found myself getting wrapped up in the Ibo culture, and I surprisingly accepted their traditions much more than I originally thought I would. Normally, I would never accept someone who leaves their baby twins to die in the forest or cuts their recently dead baby with a razor. At first, I thought that these things were crazy. But there is something about the way these customs were described and justified that made me slowly accept them. Achebe made it all sound so normal. By the time the missionaries came and commented on the sinful nature of many Ibo traditions, I found myself thinking "how could you say that, that's just the way they do things". I'm not sure if I'm proud of that thought, but by that time I was rooting for the clan, even though I knew how it had to end. It wasn't until I finished the novel and took a step back that I realized that some of their traditions were unimaginably horrible. All in all, learning about the culture was interesting, and I would be curious to learn more about other clans that went through the same thing.

Problems

I am having major difficulties trying to start the introduction for my essay! I don't know if it's just becasue I haven't written an essay since the end of the school year or what! I have already started a few body paragraphs but I just need something to help me start my intro!

Passage of Time

It is evident that this novel depicts the passage of time as one of it's themes, especially when Okonkwo is banished for 7 years. Throughout this time, Okonkwo's place in his clan was taken by someone else, his daughters turned into beautiful women, a new religion had started to spread like a disease, and he disowned one of his sons. The present time seems like it goes so slow, but looking back, it seems as if it just flew by. I have family that comes in town from Chicago every once in a while and they always tell us everything that's changed in our area since the last time they visited - some which we didn't even realize because time goes by so fast. Achebe made it seem as if Okonkwo knew that there would be numerous changes to Umuofia after he got exiled, but when he actually did return, I do not think that Okonkwo expected so much change since his departure.

Okonkwo and Behind Blue Eyes

Well I usually listen to music when I read and I'm not sure if that's the best studying tactic, but while I was reading Things Fall Apart, the song "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who came on. And I started listening to the lyrics of the song and it correlates directly with the novel from Okonkwo's point of view (not literally; nowhere in the novel does it say that he has blue eyes). So here are some relationships between the lyrics of the song and Okonkwo:

"No one knows what it's like / To be the bad man / To be the sad man" - No one else could experience how Okonkwo felt after he accidentally killed Ezeudu's son. He spiraled into a depression because he had to leave his homeland and along with his stature within the clan.

"But my dreams / They aren't as empty / As my conscience seems to be" - During Okonkwo's depression, he barely ate or spoke as if something inside of him was left back in Umuofia. Even though he couldn't go back to Umuofia for 7 years, he started to plan his return only 1 year after arriving in Mbanta and how fast his sons and him will rise back up into Umuofia's elite.

"My love is vengeance / That's never free" - Okonkwo's love was toward his town of Umuofia and the people that live there. He could never take out his vengeance on the missionaries until near the end of the novel because he needed the support of his people to do it along with him.

"No one knows what it's like / To feel these feelings / Like I do / And I blame you" - It appears that Okonkwo has the strongest feelings against the missionaries in the whole tribe based on Achebe's narration. he blames all of the hatred built up inside of him on the white men and their religion.

"No one bites back as hard / On their anger" - Okonkwo is always frustrated with his tribe about fighting the the new religion. He has an enormous amount of anger built up on the inside, but he has to bite back on it until he can gain the support of his tribe.

"When my fist clenches, crack it open / Before I use it and loose my cool" - The entire tribe could probably tell all of the rage Okonkwo was feeling, and most were trying to reason with him and white men to be on equal grounds. They tried to lessen his hatred, but in the end he couldn't control it and killed one of their messengers.

Superiority of Gender

Throughout the novel, it obviously displays that the Igbo's culture is dominated by men. The women cook for the men, and if the women do one slight thing wrong, the men get to beat them and that is completely acceptable within their way of life. The men's wives don't even live in the same hut as their husband. The men also "buy" their wives as if women are just something off the shelf at Wal-mart. I find these things to be very unnerving because of how much it clashes with our culture in today's society. But there is one thing that sets me at ease on this subject: how some Igbo people name their children "Nneka", meaning 'Mother is Supreme'. I find this to be quite peculiar, but also comforting due to the harsh conditions the women live through all of their life. This also seems to relate to our concept of 'Mother Nature'.

"the worst are full of passionate intensity"

The first thing I noticed when I read The Second Coming was the ending of the first stanza "...the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity". I immediately thought of Okonkwo's reaction when the tribe elders were deciding what course of action to take with the missionaries and their courts. His ideal course of action was to fight and try to kill them while the wiser elders were strongly against a violent approach.

Confusion

I really enjoyed the novel, but I kept getting tripped up by all the similar names. For example, one of Okonkwo's wives is Ekwefi, she has a daughter named Ezinma. Throughout the short story of the taking of Ezinma into the cave late at night I kept having to go back and think about who was who! But it is not just Okonkwo's family that is hard to keep straight. The villages and the neighboring families also have similar names. Another strange thing I noticed about how the book is written is that Achebe does not always call characters by their names. He may call them "Nwyoe's daughter" or "Obierka's son-in-law". This just adds to the confusion of who belongs to who and which family is which! I'm thinking about making a character chart just to keep everyone straight.

African Culture

This novel gave amazing detail about the African way of life at the time. It showed a lot of things that I don't think I would have heard about otherwise, like the trial with the egwugwu being the judge and jury, or like the belief that everyone has a personal god, or chi, that determines their fate. After learning as much as this book shows about the culture, it really sets up for the tone of anger and hate even at the end because the white people are destroying all of the tradition that was set forth. It makes you wonder how many other cultures in the world have been supressed like this one. . .

Conquest

Did anyone else notice how close Okonkwo's name is to the pronunciation of the word conquest? I think the author planned this, because it really fits his character. He always had to be in control of everything around him, and forcefully if necessary, as evidenced by his treatment of his family, and was always striving to get the highest place in the tribe. Even until his dying day, he was telling the tribe that they had to fight back and take back their land, even though most of the tribe didn't agree with him. I wonder if any of the other names were similar to an English word that described the character?

Over-arching Themes

From the beginning, i liked very much how the story always followed Okonkwo, and how it wrapped up with him at the end too. How it told the story of his entire life was very moving and really helped to set up for the conflict at the end. It seemed that everything in the story went full circle. Many things turned around entirely. The ways of the tribe got completely changed from the way they started out, and Okonkwo was never going to disgrace himself or family intentionally at the beginning, but at the end he hanged himself. A very full book.

Checking In

Hello! I am loving the comments so far--great job! A few of you have emailed me about blog invites. I have resent the invitation to anyone who has contacted me. Let me know if you didn't receive it! I just wanted to offer a friendly reminder about outside sources. You must use three. You may NOT use sparknotes, about.com, wikipedia, or any kind of plot summary. Stick with academic sources and you'll be fine.

One of the biggest problems students seem to have with the summer homework is finding appropriate sources. Feel free to share any resources you've found particularly invaluable. Don't forget to access district databases and check out the local library (and their online databases) as well.

There are only two weeks to go until the July 25th essay due date! So far the essays that have been submitted are looking pretty fabulous :)

Point Of View

When I read Things Fall Apart I realized that their were many similarities to the Poisonwood Bible. Except the fact that the point of view was switched from African tribe to American missionaries. This lead me wonder why Chinua Achebe used third-person omniscient and if he just used a point of view of Okonkwo how it would have effected the novel?

Suicide

In the end, is the death of Okonkwo due to fear of what the white men would do to him for killing one of their messengers, or because he knew they would kill him, and he would've rather killed himself then be killed by the men he despised so much?

Ikemefuna's Death

In the beginning of the book the Oracle sentences for Ikemefuna's death, and without questioning it the Men go out to the forest to kill him. Was there reasoning behind his death at all?

Okonkwo's Chi

Throughout the book the author talks about one's "chi" or personal god. The people of the clan believed that if you had a bad "chi" then you lived a bad life, full of misfortune. When Okonkwo's life continued in a downward spiral, he blamed his "chi". If Okonkwo knew that his "chi" was bad, then he knew that this misfortune would follow him to his downfall. Why did he try to prevent his father's footsteps if he already knew he had an ill fate?

Confused

I am confused on the essay prompt. Are we supposed to answer all those questions, or do we just pick one to focus on in our essay?

"Rough Beast"

Does anyone else think that the "rough beast" from the Second Coming is relgion...?

Like father like son

In the very end Oknokwo became a abomination much like his father.  This was completely ironic because Oknokwo spent his whole life trying to escape the shame of his  father. 

Change

Most of us have certain routines in life and when it changes we have to figure out how to respond.  In this novel I believe that it portrays the importance of routine.  Such as the importance of routine in their farming and religous beliefs. It is true that change can cause complete tumult and I believe this happened with Okonkwo and the villages.

Half way through

Reading into the final chapters of the book I began to realize that it is not how Okonkwo handles himself but how he handles those around him. Weather it be aiming a gun at one of his many wives or his numerous responsibilities to the village. The way that they scrub the village for the families that are coming shows that they care and shows how they want everything to be perfect for there guests.

Onkonkwo's Mistreatment of Family

I feel that Onkonkwo mistreated his wives and children. He had a lot of anger built up that he took out on people that didn’t deserve it. He was perpetually angry at his father and often overreacted with rage when a family member did something he didn’t like. Even in the clan, some people were shocked to hear that he almost killed Ekwefi with a gun. Although that the customs and culture in Umuofia didn’t have as strict of views on treatment of women and children as society nowadays, I still believe that Onkonkwo overstepped the boundaries a few times.