Okonkwo: A Teenage Girl

Okonkwo sucks. I've decided that he is the equivalent of a stereotypical basic teenage girl (exactly like one from Mean Girls). At times, he shows glimmers of love, but in the end he only really cares what others think. Also, he does the opposite of what other people tell him. After awhile, Okonkwo begins to cherish Ikemefuna. It's like he is his son. But then Ezeudu tells him they will kill him and that Okonkwo shouldn't be a part of it. Of course, Okonkwo doesn't listen to what he says. He ends up being the one to kill Ikemefuna because he doesn't want to be seen as 'weak'. ALL HE CARES ABOUT IS WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINKS OF HIM. It's honestly like he is a teenage girl. When he cared about Ezinma, that showed his love. But then of course, he goes to kill Ezeudu's son at the end of Part 1. He must be incredibly stupid or just extremely oblivious to his surroundings. Like I said in my last post, I was rooting for him to turn into a better character, but that clearly isn't happening and I have lost all hope. 

Other than me hating Okonkwo, I liked this part of the book a lot better than the first section we read. It picked up and got to be more interesting. I believe that 'things fell apart' when Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna because everything seemed to turn bad from that point on. People are dying and getting sick and it seems terrible. One uplifting part of the story that I like is the fables they tell the children. They seem to have a story that explains everything, from mosquitoes and ears to tortoise shells. That helps keep the story upbeat and shows the culture. Also seems that everyones names begin with vowels, is this a culture thing? Do any other cultures believe in "ogbanje"? 

I'm glad that Okonkwo has to leave the tribe for 7 years. Amen. Maybe he can turn his life around. 

(P.S. does anyone else think that he could be an alcoholic? I see some signs...)

Achabe Essay

I probably should have read the essay before I read Things Fall Apart because I would have had a better appreciation for the book. I thought the book was merely just a story. Now I know that it’s much deeper than that, it is showing an African culture deeper than just a story line. I know it is historical fiction, but is any of it actually real? 

This essay also made me think about the African literature that I have read. The only book I can think of is one I read last year (I can’t think of the name) but there was a priest and the word “shantytown” was used a lot. I’m sure I’ve read a bit more than just that.

So from the African literature, or any literature, that I have read, I have found that non put Africa in a good light. It would be interesting to read something that does. I’m not sure what the novel is saying about Africa at this point. 

I also liked how Achabe talked about Africa being a foil for Europe. I hadn’t thought about this but that fact makes sense. 

Conrad’s writing shocked me. I don’t know who he is but he says terrible things about African Americans and I was definitely surprised to read the excerpts. I think it takes balls to pull in excerpts like that, so mad props to Achabe. One of my favorite lines from this essay is, “‘A black figure stood up, strode on long black legs, waving long black arms’ - as though we might expect a black figure striding along on black legs to wave white arms!” That man has some humor!!! (and it also shows the racism and how Conrad felt like he had to say “black” 3 times to emphasis that it was a person of color.

My second favorite quote is, “Travellers with closed minds can tell us little except about themselves”. He then gives the example of Marco Polo. But that quote is so true. I can visit a country and tell you what I see, but I couldn’t say much more about it than that, even though I don’t have a closed mind. This was a difficult and dense read at times, but I value what Achabe had to say. I really liked how he analyzed parts of Conrad’s work to connect back to racism. Very well done. 

The Name Game: Things Fall Apart post 1

The first 50 pages were a bit difficult for me. I struggled with keeping track of who was who because the names sometimes sounded very similar. From the beginning, I thought Okonkwo would be a hero, but I quickly found out that he did not have any traits to make him a hero. He seems way too aggressive and hot-headed. I took sympathy to his father for all the death that he was in. It made me upset that they didn’t get along too well. I believe that the only good thing to come out of their relationship was Okonkwo’s motivation to work hard in life. I also thought that it was interesting how their village asked for a young man and a virgin when a woman from their village was killed. I would understand asking for a woman, since they killed a woman, but I don’t understand why they asked for a young man too. Often times, the narrator says that Okonkwo is feared. I think that is a horrible thing to be thought of as. That is not the trait of a leader. I believe that Okonkwo could make a fantastic leader if he was more loving and less aggressive. Also, he wanted “to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved” (Achabe 13) which I think is a pretty stupid goal for life. One part of the book that stuck out to me was when they talk about the priestess Chika. China has a leadership position in their village and also has the power of god. It’s not often that women have leadership positions in novels and it’s rare to hear about them. I did not think that in this book a woman would have a role like this, so I enjoyed to see that a woman was in power and that a man would go to her for advice. I also liked how she told him to “Go home and work like a man” (18). I also liked how when Okonkwo was young, he went to Nwakibie and asked for seeds. This shows his determination at a young age to do something great. This is a positive leader trait. Some of my favorite parts was when Okonkwo showed affection for his kids, even Ikemefuna who wasn’t technically his son. But I felt that whenever he showed love, he would counter that with aggression, like shooting at his wife. I am rooting for Okonkwo to change the way he acts and become more loving and lose all of his aggression, but at this point I’m not sure that will happen. 

At times, this book seems a bit dull, but I think the character development is growing and really helping the story.