Mythology of Hinduism 3

Wow. Alan Watts is deep. He had my attention at first and I understood the basic jist of what he was saying and then he just obliterated my head. I'd never thought of dreaming like the way he explained in the podcast. It was sort of interesting, and was also very true. The only problem with what he was saying would be the whole falling into dreams for 75 years. If you think about it, you would go out and chase danger for thrills and change because you would get bored of having everything you want all the time. This can be compared to teenagers. We've been tired of having hat secure place where everything is nice and happy and we explore danger and thrills. This is due to not only lack of judgement, but also want of some change and thrill. It is true what he said about how we use technology for our every need. We use it for pretty much everything which is now coming back to haunt us because of pollution, laziness of people, expenses, and also war has been more prominent with better technology. I don't agree with his statement that all futures are past and that they have already happened because I can do things tomorrow that I have never done before. Maybe it's just me but that statement doesn't seem right. I really liked how Watts linked the gods and the religions to play through music and dance. This really puts things into perspective. He seems to like to use play and music together because I was watching a video on YouTube and he was talking about how we can make work play by treating work as play and becoming fascinated by moving cars, building things, treating peopled, etc. His comment about how the self is both the audience and the actor to Hindus was confusing at first. Actually, now that I think of it, it does make sense because people do tend to hide from themselves. Sometimes we will fool ourselves into thinking that we feel emotions or want to do things when we don't actually want to. In other words we hide ourselves from our true feelings about things all the time because of what society, our peers, or the government want from us. I really liked how Watts talked about music and dance, although I do think that art could be put into that category. Art, dance, and music all are forms of expressing oneself and are not done for a purpose such as getting somewhere or doing something. They are a representation of how a person is reacting/feeling about him or herself, feeling about life, and feeling about the world in general. These arts try to evoke emotion from viewers and listens and/or present the emotions that the artist(s) is feeling. I didn't really care for his way of saying that play has many different meanings. It seemed to sort of take things a little overboard to me. The views that Alan Watts has are very interesting and I don't mind listening to him too much. The audio files are a little rough because a moving picture always makes things more endurable. I might look into what he has to say a little more in the future.

Comments: I commented on Kurtis and Tyler's blogs. I agreed with Tyler in that it was easier to understand when we learned it in class. I also agree that it was really tough to understand, but I found that a second viewing really helped me get a grasp on things. I agreed with what Kurtis was saying but I mentioned to him that he sorta has to look at things from a whole new angle and that will help him understand them. I told him that same thing that I told Tyler which was that a second viewing helps out a lot.

Common Theme

The common theme between all four stories is that you will need to leave the ones around you at some point because it is something that will need ot be done. In each story one of the characters leaves another one in order to go on their own to think, live alone, or even ditch their new wife. In The Life You Save May Be Your Own Mr. Shiftlet leaves his new wife in order to go on his own probably because he thinks it's for the better. Meimei goes off on her own to escape the pressure of her mom in The Rules of the Game. The father leaves in order to think about the sculpture his daughter has made for him in The Book of the Dead. And finally, the son leaves his family in order to pursue whatever his ambitions are without being "controlled" by his family in Teenage Wasteland. This is an important theme because we are going to have to embark on leaving our families to go to college or a job to fulfill our dreams. This will be very hard if we can't even depart from our families. It did seem easy enough for the characters in this book though. Everybody has to leave another at some point.

Teenage Wasteland

By far my favorite story so far has been Teenage Wasteland by a long shot. This was actually a story that I could relate to. The story had to have taken place during the latter part of the 1960s or the early 1970s since they were listening to Baba O' Reily by The Who. The parents were also mad about their child listening to rock music which also hints when the story was taking place. This was a story that I could relate to because it was of a kid who was around our age. The problem with the story is that the parents and the tutor couldn't find the balance between having fun and having trust and cracking down to get school work done. At the beginning I thought that the tutor was doing the kid good by giving him a place to go so that he could have fun and also get his school work done. It really seemed like everything was going great, but then all of a sudden the kid's grades start to slip again. This revealed what the tutor was all about. He said that the parents, particularyly the mother, were being way to controlling. I think that the tutor was on a mission to free teenage kids from their parents who are too controlling. Eventually the tutor actually led to the kid's downfall. The kid failed his classes and pretty much hated the world. Finally, he left after school one day and never came back.

The Book of the Dead

This title only sets the reader up for a huge let down. When I read the title, I thought that the story would include adventure, action, and maybe even a little violence. I also thought that the title may have set it up for a character to make a trip to the underworld. The pictures also suggest that it would have something to do with some sort of action or adventure. As it turns out, the story had absolutely nothing to do with any of these themes. This was a huge disappointment. The story was rather stupid. Not as dumb as The Life You Save May Be Your Own, but it did come pretty close. I thought that the whole story was rather stupid. It all revolved around a perverted sculpture of her father naked on the floor. The biggest question that came to my mind is, why is anyone in the right state of mind making a naked sculpture of his/her naked father in great detail. I don't blame Annie's father for throwing the sculpture in a lake. If one of my children made a sculpture of me naked I would say, "Thank you so much," and then throw the sculpture into the furnace so that no other human would konw of its existance. What really freaked me out was how the famous actress was willing to pay great money for the sculpture because it reminded her of her own father. You can't tell me that they are not completely insane. I also don't blame the dad for running away for a while. Once again if my child made a naked sculpture of me and we were on the road together for an extended amount of time, I too would run away. I liked how Annie and her dad went to the actresses house anyway. They completely just wanted to meet the lady but if I drove for two days to California just to give away a sculpture I would like to meet the actress too. This story is just really really wierd. The dreams that he was having were better than the actual story line. I wish that the author would have expanded upon the dreams. This book just goes to show you how messed up some people can be.

Rules of the Game

Well, at least this story wasn't as bad as the first one. I sort of found it interesting how a little girl was completely owning 50 year old guys who probably played chess everyday. I had some issues with how Waverly's parents ran the household. They let the boys do all of the work while she studied chess. I think that it should have been made clear that Waverly had to keep all of her responsibilities at home while also studying chess with the occassional pass from chores before a big tourney. The way that her parents pushed her reminded me a lot of how the infamous child star parents pushed their children to be great almost to the point where they didn't really have a childhood. As much as Waverly liked chess I still think that she sort of missed acting like a kid because she was naturally absorbed by chess, but there were also times when her parents (chiefly her mom) would push her to study more and become better. Sometimes I can understand this because her family was very poor and needed a way to put food on the table, but I think that they parents sort of abused Waverly's talents in order to gain money rather than let the child learn to love the game for joy and fun with a little money on the side. It got so bad that Waverly ran away for a while which is completely understandable to me. I think I would do the same no matter if I LOVED the thing they were forcting me to do. Wether you love it or not, there is still extra pressure put on someone in that way because often times it becomes more than just a game. Like I said it was better than the first one, but it still wasn't anything that special.

The Life You Save May Be Your Own

This story to me was very very agregious. It was just wierd that a random guy would walk up to a house and start to fix things for no apparent reason. He just shows up and fixes basically the whole entire house without asking for anything in return. My first impression of this guy was that he was going to take advantage of the old woman by stealing/mooching from her, or was just one heck of a nice guy. My instincts told me the first notion would be correct, but my feelings were wrong. It seemed like he was just there to do a good deed (or maybe more like 20). Then all of a sudden the old woman starts offering her daughter to the man. She rambles on about how much the girl means and all this and that, but it sort of seemed to me like she was trying to pay the guy with her daughter. It seemed like that because she said about how devastated she would be if her daughter ever left, but then she keeps insisting that this random guy should marry her daughter who is deaf and can only say "bird". Finally, the guy marries her and they act like they are going to some hotel for a honeymoon. They stop off at a diner and the guy just leaves his "wife" there all alone passed out on the counter. Actually, on second thought he really was mooching off of that old lady. He made her give him money for the honey moon and then the guy just ditches her. He also pretty much just takes the car and even though he fixed it he still should have said, "No, you should keep it to go into town." That seems a little fishy to me. Then the guy picks up some kid walking down the road and they start talking about their mothers and all of a sudden the kid calls the other guy's mom a "polecat" and just jumps out the car. The end. This is a completely random story. Just think about it. Guy just shows up and does chores. Guy marries deaf daughter whom he just met. Guy ditches "wife" for no real reason. Guy picks up boy who later jumps out of the car. The message it tries to convey is unclear and the story just was completely random. This story reminds me a lot of something that Kurt Vonnegut would have written. This story can be summed up by the word agregious.

Chapter 25

Well looks like I was wrong once again. The District Commisioner visits Okonkwo's compound and asks for him but the men standing outside the hut tell him he's not home. The Commisioner gets mad and asks again but he is answered with the same answer again. Then Obierika leads him behind the house where Okonkwo has hanged himself. He hanged himself. That to me is the most womanly thing that someone can do. He brought most of the thigns upon himself and he ends up killing himself as a result. This all came out of his resentment of his father. His whole attitude is what made him beat his wives, kill Ikemefuna, and kill the messenger. If he could have controlled himself and not worried about what otheres thought of him and didn't always have a maks on he may have lived on, but then again he probably would have been hanged by the Comissioner. I still don't agree with Okonkwo's decision to kill himself. He was always so mad at his son for not obeying the tribes rules but here he is killing himself which is a horrible sin in the eyes of the tribe. They can't even touch him or bury him because his body is considered evil. I really disagree with Obierika in this chapter. He blames the Commisioner for Okonkwo's death. It was totally Okonkwo's fault. He brought everything upon himself. I think Obierika was just trying to validate Okonkwo's death instead of accepting the fact that his friend committed a huge horrible sin. Okonkwo's body is buried though by the Christians and strangers from a neighboring village. Although Okonkwo's possessions were great he was a terrible man. He single handedly tore his hand apart. He brought pain to his people. He is not a good man and the sad part was that he could have fixed it all if he wanted to but he had a macho man figure he had to uphold. That's also present in today's society. Men today have to put on a mask for people to accept them but I think that is so wrong. You should be who you are no matter where you are or who you are with. Take Okonkwo for an example if you don't believe me. He had a mask and he killed himself. Personally I thought the book was alright I guess. I really hated Okonkwo from the get go. The most valueable thing I got out of the book was the lesson that you should show emotion to those you love and care about because if you don't you can really hurt them or send them the wrong message. The other message I got from the book was always be yourself no matter what other people think. If you put on that mask you can only be headed for bad things. You only do harm not good. I sorta hated the ending. I was hoping for more bloodshed or something like that. I did enjoy reading about and comparing the African culture that Okonkwo experienced to our own and seeing the similarities and differences that were present.It seemed like it hyped up all this tension between the two tribes and then it just ends when a man hangs himself. I think Achebe definately could have done a better job with that. Overall I would give the book a B-

Chapter 24

The villagers return to the village and they seem a little mad. Actually really mad. The women and children are afraid to even great them. When Enzima and Obierika visit Okonkwo they notice whip marks on his back. He can't get any sleep because of anxiety. Another tribe meeting is caled the next morning to decide what should be done about the white man. Then Okonkwo acts dumb again. He decides that he will attack the Christians no matter what the tribe says. I would probably wait to see what the tribe is doing before I run in there alone to get slaughtered, but hey that's just me. I think that when Okonkwo does show up at the meeting he may sway some of the people through his obvious passion for the tribe and they will go to fight the missionary. The description of the war dress that Okonkwo has on sort of reminds me of what a native american may where into battle. Anyway a man talks about how much the church has done to their tribe and they need to stand up, but then district messengers come and tell them to stop the meeting immediatly. As soon as they say this Okonkwo just macks him with his machete and kills him with two strokes. The villagers end the meeting and let the messengers escape which isn't what Okonkwo was hoping for, but he just wipes the blood from his machete and departs anyway. I have no idea what to expect from chapter 25. I think maybe the Christians will kill off the tribe because of what Okonkwo did.

Chapter 23

Well it's not exactly an all out war, but we're getting there. The district commisioner wants to meet with the leaders who have been arming themselves and their people for several days in case of an attack. They go to the meeting as friends with only macthetes. They are dumb. As soon as they set the machetes down they are captured and thrown in jail with a bail of 250 bags of cowries or else. The town calls an emergency meeting where everyone goes. They agree that they will pay the bail price. Who knows maybe there is a little hope that after the bail is payed there will be peace and forgiving, but I wouldn't bet on it. I think that the Umuofians will capture one or more of the Christians. The story about the leaders sort of reminded me of the story of the African tribe of Zulu where they had a dance off against the whites. The Zulus broke it down and the whites.......shot them. Sometimes people are so naive. I would have brought some warriors along with me if I were the leaders and all I had were some machetes. I think that the relationship between the two communities could go either way, but I still think it's leaning towards the war side. I don't know though. Maybe there is some hope for the people of Umuofia and the Christians.

Chapter 22

Well it looks like I was completely wrong in predicting that the two communities can live together. I was WAY off. Of course a strict mean man replaced Mr. Brown and of course tensions grew and were unbearable when a zealous convert, Enoch, dared to unveil an egwugwu. Everyone in the village was made at him for this and the egwugwu burn his compound down the day after. As a result of the actions of Enoch, the egwugwus confront Reverand James Smith in front of the church and wish to burn the church down to rid the village of Enoch's sin. Reverand Smith says that he will stand his ground, but his words were changed by the interpreter to make them not sound so offensive and save him from possible punishment. Turns out it didn't really matter what he said because the egwugwus burnt down the church anyway. Gee it looks like things are going just GREAT. I really think now that this will be the end of one of the communities because this is just a little out of hand and I have the feeling a holy war is going to break out and some people are gonna get slaughtered. At least the tribe isn't wimpy anymore which is good news for Okonkwo but maybe a war will break out and Okonkwo will die or something like that.

Chapter 21

The relationship between Umuofia and the Christians is better explained in this chapter. Instead of the mission taking down the tribe it seems like they work off of each other. The missionary uses the tribe's people to teach and the tribe trades with the whites and brings tons of wealth into the village. There are a hospital and a school built near to village where many of the youth go to school. The leaders of each community meet often and talk to each other about what they want and try to learn about each other's religions. Things seem to go well, but Okonkwo is not being welcomed home like he wanted to be. His daughters are attracting many men, but no one really pays any attention to Okonkwo. Mr. Brown, the leader of the missionary, comes to tell Okonkwo that Nwoye is going to become a teacher, but Okonkwo being the guy he is threatens Mr. Brown and not long afterwards Mr. Brown leaves the missionary. It really seems like the two communities may be able to survive together but I think that eventually the tribe will be takne over by Christianity, but the actual tribe will stay intact. Okonkwo can't get his sons initiated which irritates him and he longs for the manly tribe he once was a part of. Okonkwo could be the person who holds the tribes fate in his hands because if he ticks off the missionaries enough violence may occer and tear the people apart once again and with Mr. Brown gone I'm not entirely sure how things are going to play out.

Chapter 20

Okonkwo makes plans for a bigger and better compound than he had before and to marry two more girls. He also plans for his daughters to marry in Umuofia as a plan to help him regain his status as a power in his tribe. Okonkwo has all these high hopes of regaining everything he lost and gaining even more than he left with but when he returns he finds Umuofia very different than when he left. It had experienced trauma from the Christian missionaries stealing their youth. Okonkwo once again wants to be manly and fight the missionary through violence but they are unable to do so because the people are doubtful in the ability of the tribe to do so and if they can even get anyone to stand up to them because so many have already allied themselves with the Christians. What I don't get though is why the people have gone to the missionary becasue the white men have treated the people so badly. It makes me wonder why they would want to join them because they have hanged people just for breaking their laws and are arrogant and shrewd. I'm almost 100% positive that this will lead to the destruction of the whole entire tribe. I'm really starting to not like the story anymore. It seems rather boring now because I've seen it coming for quite some time now.

Chapter 19

Finally Okonkwo's exile is over. He holds a feast of thanks for all of his family. He acts like he is deeply thankful but he really is unhappy that he wasted the chance to gain status and influence in his own clan and wasted time with a womanly clan. This just deepens my dislike for him because he is so ungrateful to his family for basically accepting him when no one else was going to for 7 whole years. Everyone at the feast seems to be so happy to have met Okonkwo and two men praise him greatly. One problem is in Umuofia's near future. THat is the loss of some of its youth to Christianity. Many young people are leaving tradition and most importantly their families in order to pursue worshiping God. This chapter did two things for me. It made me hate Okonkwo just that much more and it validated even more my theory that Umuofia is going to be in pretty deep trouble in the future as a result of them giving the Christians land. Even though it was in the Evil Forest.

Chapter 18

It seems that the new church is gaining momentum against Umuofia even though it is only gathering the outcasts and those without any social status. It has many members now but the church is almost split because of the outcasts joining up in the church but the head missionary calms everyone down and things proceed like normal. One of the Christians says that he has killed the sacred python. Okonkwo is enraged by this and pleads with the elders to go in and kill them all, but the elders decide to ostracize them instead. Once again Okonkwo thinks the tribe is wimpy. That seems to be his excuse for everything. Everytime something doesn't go his way it seems to be wimpy or womanly. Sometimes I think he needs to man up and look at himself and change his ways because the way he acts is no good for anyone and especially for himself. Then all of a sudden the guy who said he killed the python dies and the Christians lose all of their momentum because Umuofia is once again faithful in their gods after this death. To me it just seems like a coincidence but I still think that it is going to be a long struggle between the Christians and the tribe. It might possibly end in violence. Who knows?

Chapter 17

It seems now that not only Okonkwo's life is falling apart but all of Umuofia is crumbling down as a result of the new white men. The whole religion of Umuofia is put into question and tested by the whites because they are granted a plot of land in the Evil Forest where it is believed they will be killed but even after 28 days nothing happens. At first they only had 3 converts but after 28 days they had many more. A pregnant woman who have many twins comes into the churhc and her family is happy to see her go (no surprise there after seeing the views towards women). Nwoye returns home only to be choked by Okonkwo until ordered to stop by Okonkwo's uncle. Nwoye returns to the convent where he is learning to read and write, but Okonkwo still wonders how he could has raised such a weakling. I really don't blame Nwoye for gong away. He had nothing in that village that he wanted and it looks like he has found something to satisfy him. I think Okonkwo is wrong in saying his son is weak because it would take a lot for him to walk away from his family no matter how he was treated. Nwoye is smart because he is being educated which is the biggest key to success because without education one can only go so far. Okonkwo really needs to look inside of himself because he is the reason that Nwoye didn't want to work. Okonkwo never wanted him to work with him and never showed an emotion toward him which would result in total resentment. Sometimes I think that saying someone is weak is Okonkwo's excuse for how he makes people act as a result of his actions and/or words.

Chapter 16

Finally some comedic relief. The funniest part of the book is when the interpreter for the missionary is talking to the village of Mbanta and speaks so that when he tries to say myself he is really saying the Umuofian word for my butt. That's pretty funny. Obierika makes another visit to Okonkwo to ask about Nwoye and his conversion to Christianity. It seems as though Okonkwo has erased the memory of Nwoye because he will not talk about his son, but his wife tells the story. Six missionaries came to the village and spole of Christianity and called the gods of Umuofia false. The crowd basically laughs out loud at the missionaries because they can't understand some of the things that the missionaries are saying to them such as the Trinity, how God had a son without a wife, etc... After a while the whole crowd just leaves They start singing songs about God and Okonkwo joins with the other villagers and believes these men are nuts. Nwoye on the other hand likes what he is hearing and is comforted by the words. I don't know if Nwoye is really into what the missionaries are saying, or if he is just looking for a few answers and thinks that Christianity holds the key, if he is looking for a way to get out of his father's grasp and go looking at what else the world has to offer. You have to pretty much see this coming. I knew from the get go that if anything presented an escape to Nwoye that he would take it because he couldn't stand his father. I wonder what will become of the rest of Okonkwo's family after this.

Chapter 15

Although they've been mentioned before I have a question about yams. What is the difference between a seed yam and those that they eat and/or sell at the market? It also seems that in the last few chapters Obierika has been mentioned much much more and I think that his relationship with Okonkwo is growing more and more every time that they see each other and Obierika is realy Okonkwo's only tie to his old village and sells his yams at the market and gives Okonkwo the profits. That's a pretty nice guy right there. I would expect the occassional visit but to seel my plants for profit for nothing is pretty nice. I would definately take a cut of the profit if I were Obierika. Finally we see the white man. I was wondering if we were going to see him because this story is written back in the days when the slave trade was starting to die off and the continent was being explored. My biggest question though is what was this guy doing in the middle of the jungle riding a bicycle. I know I would definately not ride my modern bicycle in the jungle let alone one of those old fashioned ones and the man must be an idiot because he's traveling in unfamiliar territory were there are hostile people on a bike. Call me crazy but this guy is an imbosile. I also wonder why the tribe killed him. He didn't seem to do any harm to anyone but they killed him anyway and tied his bike to a tree instead of destroying it like any man who is thinking would do. Instead they put it on display for the world to see and sure enough some white men see it and slaughter everyone. I also was wondering why they didn't listen to the Oracle and arm themselves. They seem to listen to absolutely everything the thing says any other time and the one time they don't listen the Oracle is right. Talk about ironic.

Chapter 14

Okonko arrives at his mother's village and is welcomed by his family. He basically has to start over, but this time he has the helf of a family that helps him build new huts and raise new animals and lend yam seeds to start a farm. What's noticeable is that Okonkwo doesn't want to work as hard anymore because his ambitions are ruined and there is almost no way to fulfill them anyway. One good thing is that Okonkwo's emotions can be seen now because his uncle, Uchendu, notices Okonkwo's feelings, but then again how can one not express emotion after being through everything that Okonkwo is faced with. It seems page by page Okonkwo is wasting away because everything around him is being crushed and destroyed. I think that Okonkwo is better off in this village because he has a support system in his family. They seem willing to help him with whatever he needs and have welcomed him with open arms. This tribe values women more than his former tribe too. They talk about how woman is sort of like a refugee camp and that she is always there to comfort someone. Okonkwo's old village seemed to despise women and think of them as pretty much useless or maybe it's just me. His uncle even gives him words of advice. Who knows maybe this is for the better of Oknokwo and his family although it is hard to see that. Uchendu I think may have been sensing that Okonkwo was contemplating suicide because he mentioned how much he had been through and here he was still living. I wouldn't be surprised it Okonkwo committed suicide towards the end of the book.

Chapter 13

Once again Okonkwo's world is completely crumbling before him. His friend Ezeudu dies. sThis is the man who warned Okonkwo about taking part in Ikemefuna's murder. Ezeudu was a highly respected man and as a result the funeral was a huge gathering of a lot of members of the clan. There were drumers and the men shot off their guns in rememberance of the great warrior. When Okonko shot his gun off it exploded killing Ezeudu's sixteen year old son. Talk about unlucky. Every day it seems like something goes wrong for Okonkwo. As a result of the killing, Okonkwo and his family are exiled for 7 years and they go to live at his mother's village. The clansmen burn the huts and kill Okonkwo's animals to rid the village of his existance. I am like Obierika in that I wonder why the clan punished Okonkwo because it was only an accident and the villagers should have seen that. I can also relate with them because this is not the first time that Okonkwo has broken the clan laws and the people may have been fed up with his ignorance of the rules and customs and decided to banish him. Who knows what the future will hold for Okonkwo.

Chapter 12

Okonkwo is a masked man. Several times so far in the book he hides his emotions behind a mask. Internally he is being ripped apart through worry about Enzima, but once again he neve lets anyone see this worry for fear that it may show weakness. He makes 4 trips to the Oracle's cave and this shows extreme worry for his daughter. Another event that took place in the chapter was Obierika's daughter's feast in honor of her marriage. The custom was that the villagers donated food and Obierka bought a huge goat for his future in-laws. I didn't understand why it would be a goat and not like a huge cow or some wine or yams or something of that nature. Obviously Obierka was skeptical about his future in-laws and how much they would bring to the feast but they ended up bringing tons and tons of wine. The feast was a good success and everything went pretty well except for the escaped cow. I found it a little amusing how the one farmer was fined because his cow roamed onto another farmer's land.

Chapter 11

All I have to say about this chapter is wow. The book seems to be jumping around a lot at this point. It doesn't seem to want to expand on any themes that it presents and each chapter is about something different happening in the tribe. The whole jist of this chapter is that Enzima is being called by the Oracle to go see her. Ekwefi protests Enzima's calling to the Oracle. I don't blame her after the stupid thing ordered Ikemefuna's death. Chielo is the preistess for the Oracle and she has got to be ripped because she carries Enzima for miles on her back. Ekwefi disobeys Chielo's commands that no one is allowed to follow. She decides that if she hears Enzima cry she'll run in and bust some skulls. Then Okonkwo comes with a machete and they sit at the entrance together. Then the wow part comes. She remembers running from her husband's house to Okonkwo. He opens the door and they just go to the bed and start getting naked. Could you imagine that? Somebody just knocks at the door and you just go right to bed with them. It really seems a little farfetched in our society, but it seems like women are only used for work and reproduction so maybe it isn't so hard to believe for them. That just goes to show the differences between cultures throughout the world.

Chatper 10

Wow this chapter sort of made me laugh a little. I thought it was funny how everyone thought that the spirits were really real and not just the masked men that they most likely were. I thought it was sort of like when little kids take a sheet and put it over their heads and act like ghosts. What really shocked me though was the story about the man who beat his wife to the point where she had a miscarriage. I don't blame the brothers for taking their sister. She obviously needed to be removed from that environment. If I were the brothers I would'nt even consider letting her go back to the abuser that's called her "husband". I don't blame them for threatening to cut of his genitals if he does it again. Although I figured they would threaten to kill him rather than castrate him. I thought that was pretty funny.It sorta reminded me of The Godfather when the brother kicks the crap out of his sister's husband for abusing her except for the fact that he didn't threaten to castrate him. The biggest shocker though was how the guy complained that something so small was brought in front of the court. That's totally unbelievable to me.

Chapter 9

Finally a break from that drama queen Okonkwo. Well to an extent. This chapter is all about Enzima, Ekwefi's daughter. She is really sick and Okonkwo must go to find a medicine man to help save Enzima. Ekwefi is really really worried because she has had 9 other babies die when they were still very very young. What I am noticing though is how the title of the book , Things Fall Apart, is relating to Okonkwo's world. It really seems to be crumbling around him. Everywhere he turns someone is dying. Some things are his fault and others are not, but there is no hiding it that this is going to take a major toll on Okonkwo's spirits no matter how mean or unsensitive he is. I wonder how things are going to go throughout the book for Okonkwo and his whole family.

Chapter 8

I officially pretty much hate Okonkwo. Here he is moping around because of something that he brought upon himself. He could have just stayed at home and not bothered anyone, but he decided to go along with the clansmen to kill Ikemefuna. Not only was he there but he had a hand in the the killing. I perceived it to be a move that he made just to protect his manliness. In my opinion he is a wimp. If he was a true man he would stand up for what was right and fought against the Oracle who ordered his death. Instead Oknonkwo just wimpers down and listens to his commands. If he had any masculinity and smarts at all he would try to talk some sense into the murderers. At first it seems that he is so devastated but then he goes to talk to a friend and he is way better. His emotions seem a little superficial to me. I found it interesting how the culture basically puts a price on a bride. Although we have rings and such, we don't HAVE to buy anything. 99% of guys do, but it is a token of love and affection and not of permission which is what this culture seems to do. They almost have to bargain with the father for a price for the daughter's hand in marriage. I wonder if they have clearance sales if a daughter gets to be to a certain age haha. I found that Okonkwo's doubts in his own sons may be validated in the future because when Ikemefuna was around they were successful but now that Okonkwo slaughtered Ikemefuna I gess those hopes when right out the window.

Chapter 7

I hate chapter seven with a sincere passion. It is the dumbest chapter of almost any book i have ever read. What really made this horrible was that the men of Umuofia kill Ikemefuna and Okonkwo has a hand in it. Remember that Okonkwo was so pleased that his son Nwoye was working harder and was becoming more like a man as a result of Ikemefuna's influence. This is what Okonkwo wanted out of his son and he knew that it was due to Ikemefuna and yet he slaughters the boy just because some "Oracle" says it's the right thing to do. In my opinion it is the Oracle that needs to be taken out into the woods and slaughtered like a pig for being a complete idiot. Then when Ikemefuna is killed, Nwoye is completely heartbroken and this can only lead to bad things for the whole family and greater resentment towards Okonkwo. It seemed like Nwoye was only putting on a mask for his dad when he resented women and spent time in his hut just to please Okonkwo. Now I don't think that will happen anymore. What I really thought was stupid was that Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna because he wanted to protect his manliness and not look like a wimp. He's an idiot. I mean that's like some guy walking up to you and handing you 100,000 bucks and he solves your problems and you slit his throat. It makes no sense at all. I found it really wierd how the people ate the locusts because I know I would never eat a grasshopper, but then again they live in Africa where thier favorite food is stinking yams. I wondered where they got the idea that the locusts went into the cave for a whole lifetime while being guarded by two guys. It sorta made me chuckle. I do think it will be interesting to see what will come of the relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye.

Chapter 6

I was really disappointed with this chapter. For all the hype that was put into building up the wrestling match it sorta was pretty lame. I thought there would be tons of matches but there was only one and it just said they both got tired and the guy fell on his back and that was about it. It seems like wrestling to them is like football to us and soccer to the rest of the world. I figured they might have a different sport somewhat relating to lacrosse or something of that nature but this seems to be their only sport so far. I also really think that Achebe could have done a lot better with this chapter. It was a total disappointment.

Chapter 5

I can't believe the trouble that Okonkwo goes through to beat the crap out of his wives. It's like he's waiting for one of them to make a mistake so he can be ready there to just punch one of them right in the face. The one wife took a few leaves from a tree and the guy beats the crap out of her and then pulls a gun on her for nothing. I was wondering too while reading if this might have been a gun from the slave trade that was happening around that time because the gun was rusted which would suggest it is older and may have been payment for slaves. Then again it is a completely different culture than what we're used to. I thought The Feast of the New Yam was a little wierd and I'm sort of anxious to find out what yam foo-foo is. It'd be awesome if that story of the wealthy man was true. I'm pretty sure that would top any of our Thanksgiving dinners, although my mom makes one mean yam haha. I don't understand what is going through Okonkwo's head when he would rather be in the fields working than be feasting with friends and family. The whole work because my father was lazy thing is getting out of hand in my opinion and it's sort of annoying. I'm looking forward to reading about the wrestling competition. I have the feeling it will be a highlight to the book. My favorite part of the chapter was the description of the drums as the pulse of the village. Also, I can't help but notice how Achebe writes about the young girls with their names, but he refers to the wife mainly with Okonkwo's X wife with the occassional name thrown in. That suggests that this really is how they treat women and is no exageration. Women treated like dogs...who'd have thunk it. I'm only kidding girls, so don't kill me.

Chapter 4

This book is pretty interesting. I'd have to say that the most interesting aspect of it is comparing the cultural differences between our society and theirs. Even though this book is taking place 100 or more years ago, it's hard to imagine that these kinds of things aren't going on in Africa today. As we learned in class African men treat their cattle better than their women. It's just really different I guess. I liked at the beginning when Okonkwo called the other man a woman at the meeting and everyone basically said, "Hey that's not nice. Take it back," but what else are they going to say to the best wrestler in all of the lands. I can't imagine being in Ikemefuna's shoes. He was just taken away from everything he knew and thrown into a hut to be adopted by a whole new family. That's sort of what would be happening with human trafficking going on all over the world. The thing that I really don't like about the book is how Okonkwo just beats his wives for the smallest most superficial mistakes that they make and just beat them silly. It's like if one of the girls in class turns in something late and all the guys gang up on her and curb-stomp her. It just doesn't seem right, and what I really don't get is why Okonkwo is doing it because his father never was mentioned as beating his wives the way Okonkwo does. That might just be the reason that he does it though is because of total resentment of his father. He shouldn't take it so far as to make other people pay for Okonkwo's past experiences because as I said in earlier posts, the broken chain will never be able to be prepared unless changes are made.

Chapter 3

I'm at least glad to say that the book is getting more and more interested as I go further and further into the novel, but I am only on Chapter 3 so far. In the last blog I talked about why Okonkwo was so afraid of becoming like his father, and this chapter gave a little bit of insight as to why he feels this way apart from those I have mentioned earlier. I think that Okonkwo realized how much hard work and dedication could get him because he received hundreds of yam seeds from Nwakibie who normally didn't give out any seeds because the younger generations were becoming lasier and lasier as time went by. Another reason for his fear and anger towards those who are lazy is the story of Unoka being chastised by the Oracle. Okonkwo's hard work did come back to sort of stab him in the back because that whole year was completely messed up as far as the rainy and dry seasons are concerned. I found it funny though that the lazy people of the village who planted their seeds later in the year had a better turn out in the harvest than they steadfast planters who planted at the same time every year. Now that is validation for procrastination, so Mr. Farrell I will use this book as an excuse from here on out. Not really. Anyway, I think the tough year sort of hardened Okonkwo as a person and made him realize that he must work hard to survive let alone prosper in the eyes of the other villagers. Maybe this is why he is so gung-ho about working. I also found it amusing how Achebe compared yams to all the other crops by calling them women's crops. I'd like to know how he figured that out.