Thursday, February 7, 2008
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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I think Achebe uses Okonkwo's exile as a way to make the Whites show up -after the fact. Because by the time Okonkwo gets home, they are already entrenched in daily life.
The villagers seem to tune out his cries that the village needs to rid themselves of the Whites. As you point out the so called "Evil Forest" doesn't seem to do the job.
The Nwoye vs Okonwko showdown was bound to happen at some point. I'm sort of glad he took a stand against his bully father. I wish they could have worked out a compromise, but that might be asking too much from Okonkwo.
I like some of the points you make about the father-son relationship. You are right in that Okonkwo made his son into what he is, and again we see that your thesis of the reoccurring cycle shall continue.
Great comments.
Mr. Farrell
Post a Comment