My thoughts On His Suicide. !

I think that what Okwonko did was real stupid. I mean why would you kill yourself? I think that is the most selfish thing you can do. After all the things he did and been through I would not think he would kill himself. He did not even  like his own father. He beats his wives, he did not love all his children equally because he favored Ezinma more than the others because she knew just what he wanted and knew what kind of mood he was in. But still why kill yourself? I would want to stay on this Earth to at least be there for my kids. Would his kids even miss him though.? He just looks like a killer because he killed his "son" then hung himself. Okonkwo took the easy way out instead of facing his fears he would rather be seen to as weak. To me he should have just stayed on this Earth and worked out whatever he was scared of. Because of course it has to be a reason of why he did it. Not just because he felt like it. Right? Maybe he thought he was not doing all that he could do. Or maybe he knew that people was out to get him or something. I just think its stupid and crazy. If he was any type of real man he would not have to hide from the world, he would not have beaten his wives, and he most definitely would not have killed his self. Like that is just unbelievable to just do such a thing. To me Okonkwo was to worried about becoming his father, that he actually became worse than him. He messed up his self by trying to not be his father. Maybe if he would worry about him self this would not have happened. The people that followed him did not even think about moving the tree or taking him down. That should tell you who his real friends are also. Because he does not really have any. If he had any real friends they would have taken him down or moved the tree but maybe because he was so all in to him self he drove all the friends he had away? Okonkwo's father died with his pride but Okonkwo did not die with his pride. He died with disgrace, and he died weak. Therefore he did actually become his father. But if I was in his situation I probably would not have taken the easy way out. I probably would have worked through my problems and tried to fix everything instead of leaving it how it was. I really do not think Okonkwo know what a REAL MAN is, because if he did he would not have committed suicide.

Okonkwo's Suicide

For the first time in years Okonkwo was happy. But he was angry when the clan returned false on him and then became happy again with the destruction of the church.The District Commissioner sent his messengers to gather six leader and of course Okonkwo was one of them. The six of them had destroyed the church that's why they had to go see the District Commissioner, which he decided that they have to pay a fine of two hundred cowries. After the men said yes they got their heads shaved and were handcuffed. Okonkwo got mad and admittted that he was right when he said they should have killed the white man. Okonkwo's hosehold was very quiet and Ezinma had broken her 28 day visit to the family when she hear that her father was imprisoned and was going to be hanged. Okonkwo and the prisoners paid their fine and was set free, they were no longer worthy men. They went after Okonkwo and found him hanging from a tree dead. He committed Suicide.

Chapter 20-22

After Okonkwo came back from exile he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who had justice in the clan, the chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion, which had gained ground. Okonkwo was still mad at Nwoye because he had went with the missionaries  and called his five sons and had a tlk with them. Okonkwo told them that if they wanted to be a woman like Nwoye, they need to follow in behind Nwoye and he told them to do it while he was alive so he could curse them. He also said that if they turned against him when he die he would come back and haunted them and break their necks. He still loves Ezinma because she could always tell what mood he was in without him telling her. She grew up during his exile and became the prettiest girl and they called her beauty which her mom was called the same when she was younger.Okonkwo asked her and her sister to wait until they got back to Umuofia to marry.

Okonkwo's Traits

Some of his traits didn't lead him to be strong, but for him to don't want to be anything like his father made him to become worse than his father. He has killed, beats (Which is typically normal). But why did he end it the way he did? Maybe because he didn't have any excuses to back him up so he just gave up. In their land a man doesn't give up unless that man is weak, wants to be a failure. His traits led him to what he was about to face, but his traits didn't lead him to his ending. He did it all by himself. Okonkwo was known as strong, powerful, leader, but wasn't lazy at all. He was nothing like his father until the end were he became weak and a failure. Why would he kill himself? Was he just that selfish that we didn't know about or he just didn't wanna deal with all the power or maybe he didn't wanna be the leader anymore? In all his life was just pointless.

Igbo Tribe Before And After Colonization

Before European Colonization the Igbo speaking people weren't united as single people.They lived in small dispersed compounds in the rain forest. The compounds were built up of clusters of huts belonging to same people.The largest political unit was the village group averaging almost five thousand people who shared a common market, meeting place, common beliefs, and cults. The village groups were ruled by the elder people, influential wealthy men. The arrival of the British in the 1870s and increased encounters between the Igbo people and other Nigerians. They led a deepening sense of a district identity. The Igbo also proved decisive in their embrace of Christianity and Western Education. The Hausa and the Yoruba became sharer. The diversity within each of Nigeria's major ethnic groups slowly decreased and distinctions between the Igbo and other large groups. So they are a little different from each other but they changed a lot.

During Exile

Okonkwo was received by his mother kings man and taken to Mbanta during his exile. When a woman gets married the final ceremony is the Ceremony of Confessions.The bride is asked questions and she has to answer them truthfully. During his exile Obierika visited him and told him how Abame was wiped out and three months ago on a market day a little band of fugitives came into town and during the last planting season, a white man had appeared. They decided to kill him and they did it. But it was a mistake because you don't suppose to kill a man who didn't do anything, bad future would be bought among the village and the white man did not talk.Obierika said Okonkwo could thank him by killing of his sons or himself. Obierika came back with more upsetting news. The missionaries had come to Umuofia and that he had seen Nwoye with the missionaries.

The Missionaries

The missionaries came and there was six of them and one was a white man. He was telling them that they were all sons of God. He told them all about God, the creator of all the world, men and women. He also told them that they worship false gods. He told them that the good men who worship the true God lived forever in his kingdom. The missionaries are more like the people who walk around spreading Gods word, like Evangelist people. The missionaries spent their first four to five days in the market place and went into the village that morning to preach the gospel. The people gave the missionaries a piece of land to build their shrine which I thought was very generous of them. Obierika told Okonkwo that he had seen Nwoye with the missionaries and his father found out and got mad. Nwoye ended up going to their school to learn how to read and write and Mr. Kiaga's joy was very great. And Okonkwo thought that it wassn't worth fighting for Nwoye which is kind of wrong but that's their culture.

How Come Part 2 Is Shorter Than Part 1?

I think part 2 is shorter because in part one we are meeting mostly the main characters and who is married to who and who kids is who. We are basically seeing who belongs to who and who doesn't like who. We are learning how they act and we also learn about some of their traditions. Like the man stays in the bigger hut and all the wives stay around that hut. Also the men in the story have more than one wife and lots of children they take care of. Other traditions are Uri's, Which are like weddings, Peace Week, When you suppose to act loyal and don't do anything mean and hurtful, and how when women have twins they throw them away into the Evil Forest. Part two is mainly about when Okonkwo was exiled and how Obierika visited him twice and ending with them having this big feast for him leaving and going back to his village.

Why Does The Author Includes This Portion Of Okonkwo's Exile In The Book?

I think the author included this part because the end of part one Okonkwo killed Ezeudu's sixteen year old son. So the author probably included this to show he was exiled for seven years, what would happen and how he and his village had to start over. He has to leave everything from his village, wives, his compound and his best friend Obierika. But Obierika helps the villager set his compund on fire. So when he starts over its ever harder than before. I know starting over is really hard especially since his village had all become weak and they didn't fight with their guns or machetes. And planting seeds isn't easy either because we don't control the weather so who knows when it is going to rain. Also in part 2 we meet the missionaries who in the story plays an important role, a white man who doesn't talk, and how Abame was wiped out after they decided to kill the white man.

What's The Purpose Of Part 2 ?

Part two tells what happened when Okonkwo was being exiled, he was in exile for seven years. Another purpose is how when he was in exile his village was bad and how they had to start over. It also shared with us how he reacted while he was in exile. I'm kind of glad the author did not skip this part because if he would have, once we got to part three it would tell about when he came back and then we would be missing what happened while he was in exile. If the author would have skipped this part the book wouldn't make since once we got to part three. If he would have skipped it would there even be a part three? I really don't think so because if he wouldn't have talked about anything while he was in exile it would've just skipped all the way to part three which would eventually become part 2 and that would be the end of the book. So I am glad he talked about this subject.

Ezeudu Died and His Son.

Ezeudu was a great man and also the oldest man in the village. But unfortunately he had died. At his death there were only three men in the whole clan who were older and four or five others in his own age group. his funeral was great, such as befitted a noble warrior. Ezeudu had taken three titles in his life, it was a rare achievement. Because he had titles he was to be buried after dark with only a glowing brand to light the sacred ceremony. The drums and dancing began and reached fever heat. Guns were fired the last salute and the cannon rent the sky. From the center came a cry of agony were a boy laid on the ground in a pool of blood. And it was Ezeudu's sixteen year old son who had been dancing. But it was the gun of Okonkwo and it was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman and the man who committed it must flee from the land. Okonkwo collected his valuables and headed out. Okonkwo had seven years in exile.

Ezinma Gets Sick

Ekwefi woke up Okonkwo early in the morning becauase she said Ezinma was dying. Since Okonkwo love Ezinma he runs to their hut and sees what is wrong with her. Ezinma was laying down shivering on a mat beside the fire. Ezinma was the center of her mother's world since she had lost all her other children a couple months after birth. The medicine man was trying to get them to leave Ezinma alone but they wouldn't because Okonkwo wanted to know were did she bury her iyi-uwa, which is a special kind of stone which forms the link between an obanje and the spirit world. Only if the iyi-uwa were discovered and destroyed would the child not die. So Okonkwo went out to the bush and came back with grasses, leaves and roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. They cooked the medicine and let the steam overpower her face so she would not be sick anymore.

Okonwo's Kids

Ezinma is Ekwefi's only daughter and Okonkwo is her father. Okonkwo wishes over and over again that she was a boy because he understands him without him telling her. Ezinma does everything Okonkwo tells her. He sees her as the perfect child. But when it comes to Nwoye he thinks differently. He sees Nwoye as womanly. Nwoye became quite inseparable  from him because he seemed to know everything. He could fashion out flutes from bamboo stems and even from the elephant grass.  He also knew the names of all the birds and could set clever traps for the little bush rodents. And he knew which trees made the strongest bows. But Okonkwo thinks he is womanly and must take after his father. But to me Nwoye seems very intelligent and smart I would be happy to claim him as my child if he was. But maybe its different where they are from. And his other "child" Ikemefuna, who Okonkwo took in and even Nwoye's mother treated him as her own. Okonkwo like Ikemefuna better than Nwoye. When Okonkwo went to big village meetings and ancestral feast he allowed Ikemefuna to join him. But I truly think that he shouldn't love one child more than the other. he should love them all equally so they won't feel down about themselves or they won't feel as they aren't trying hard enough.

After Ikemefuna's Death

After Ikemefunas death Okonkwo started to feel sad and stared getting emotions after he killed him. He would think about it everyday and tell himself he need to get Ikemefuna out of his mind because the more he thought about Ikemefuna, the more sad and emotional he got because he knew it wasn't the right thing to do. He was so sad he didn't even taste food for two days and he drunk palm-wine from morning to night. He couldn't even sleep because every time he would go to sleep he would think about him. I think that is what Okonkwo gets because they told him to not kill him to just go and watch but he killed him instead and now he feeling guilty and it is going to be on his conscience for the rest of his life, even if he say he don't think about it, in the back of his mind he will always remember what happened.

Traditions

They had this tradition like thing were if the woman had twins they would not keep them. Twins were put in earthenware pots and thrown away in the forest. I myself think that this is wrong because kids are more of a thankful thing and you shouldn't just throw twins away just because its a set of two. If you are just gonna throw them away then don't have them because someone else might want them and they may not be able to have kids for a genetic reason or just a health reason. And the hurtful thing is that people today have kids and get abortions because they don't want them, but its many people out here in this world who want kids but can not have them and you have people who have kids but they die right after the birth. You do not know how they feel, they could get depressed easily. But its somewhat a lot of young females having kids and getting abortions because they do not wanna take care of it.

The Week Of Peace

Other things that happened in part one is that during the Week of Peace everyone was suppose to be nice and not mean. Okonkwo had beat one of his wives because she left the village to go get he hair plait and she didn't cook but he knew he wasn't suppose to beat her during that week. They had a Feast of the New Yam which was held every year before the harvest to honor the Earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan. The New Yam Festival was an occasion for joy, but Okonkwo never got excited about the festival unlike the other people who were over joyed and excited.  Ikemefuna was sent to his village as a sacrifice and the other men was suppose to kill him but when one of the guys had cut him he ran to Okonkwo and told him they have killed him and then Okonkwo raised his machete and sliced (Killed) him because he didn't wanna be seen as weak.

Okonkwo's Village

To me Umuofia is very grassy and sandy. It has a lot of trees and looks like it is near the mountains. The people there live in thatched houses. Thatched houses is made out of mud and cow maneuver and sticks. Also it seems like everyone knows everyone and they might look out for one another. Umuofia is kind of close to the Niger River, which means there must be a lot water. Their main crop is yams. Yams is all that they plant and harvest yearly. But of course they have to buy the seeds first. Umuofia is located west of the actual city Onitcha on the east bank of the Niger River. Umuofia is an independent village ruled titled elders. Umuofia is a fictional place. Nwakibie was the wealthy man in Umuofia with three huge barns, nine wives, and thirty children. To me I think Umuofia was a good place because everyone knew each other and if something was to happen to someone's stuff im sure someone would see it.

What Are Some Of The Igbo Tribe's MostImportant Customs?

Some of their customs and traditions include the Igbo people's visual art, music and dance forms, as well as their attire, cuisine and language dialects. Because of their various subgroups, the variety of their culture is heightened further. The women carried their babies on their backs with a strip of clothing binding the two with a knot at her chest. This technique was and still is practiced by many groups across Africa along with the Igbo who still carry their babies this way. In most cases women do not cover their chest area. Maidens usually wore a short wrapper with beads around their waist with other ornaments like beads, both men and women wore these. Males wore loin cloths that wrapped around their waist and between their legs and fastened at their backs. Men could also tie a wrapper over their loin cloth. The traditional Igbo attire is made up, for men, theirs are patterned with lions heads embroidered over the clothing, and it cold be plain. For women, an emboided puffed sleeve blouse along with 2 wrappers and a head scarf. So they are mostly covered up. 

Who is Okonkwo?

Okonkwo fear is weakness and failure. He is also a leader of the Igbo community of Umuofia.. The author describes him as tall and huge with bushy eyebrows and a wide nose that gives him a severe look. His breathing is heavy and when he walks his heels barely touch the ground. He is re-owned as a wrestler, a fierce warrior and a successful farmer of yams which is a manly crop. He has three wives and many children who lives in huts on his compound. He is quick to anger and he despises his father because he was lazy and improvident and. So he sees his father as womanly. Okonkwo acts before he thinks. Okonkwo is advised not to participate in the murder of Ikemefuna, but actually kills him because he doesn't want to be seen as weak. But to me I don't think that it was called for because he was told to not participate in it.

Part 1. Igbo Tribe ? Where Are They Found?

Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and beyond. His dads name was Unoka, he was very lazy and improvident and was uncapable of thinking about tomarro. Igbo or Ibo is a ethnic group in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects, but most of them also speak Nigerian English. Igbo people are one of the largest influential ethnic groups in Nigeria.In rural areas in Nigeria, they are mostly farmers. The city of Nri is considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture.Nri and Aguleria, where the Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umueri clan who trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure Eri. In the United States the Igbo were found in most states of Maryland and Virginia where they remained the largest single group of Africans. Past Igbo speaking immigrants have also settles in Maryland, attracted to its strong professional job.




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