What do these quotations reveal about characters/themes/ideas?
Part 1:
Exposition as to Okonkwo's character and his undoing as a tragic hero (Unoka, his achievements, Ikemefuna)
Male vs female roles (crops, domestic duties, crimes)
Festivals and rituals: bride price, funerals, new yam festival, egwugwu, punishment
Chapter 1:
Men’s worth come from actions, as opposed to western standards of class
“His fame rested on solid personal achievements and brought honour to his village by throwing Amalinze the cat”
Amalinze was the great wrestler who was invested for seven years
Honour drives O into wanting more titles
“He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father”
“Unoka was lazy and provident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow”
“Unoka was a debtor and he owed every neighbour some money”
“Playing on his flute”
“Unoka was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat”
“Okoye had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives”
“Age was respected among his people but achievement was revered”
Kola nuts
Chapter 2:
Feminine responsibilities and traditions - taking care of children
Masculine responsibilities and traditions = respect and success
Superstition: Darkness held a vague terror
"He was a man of action, a man of war. Unlike his father, he could stand the look of blood"
"There were indeed occasions when the oracle had forbidden Umuofia to rage a war"
Okonkwo ruled his household with a "heavy hand" - tragic flaw of being afraid people would view him as weak
It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father
His father was agbala. That was when okonkwo came to know that it was another name for a woman, but also it could mean a man who had taken no title
Nwoye was already causing his father great anxiety to his incipient laziness
Do what you are told, woman
Nwoye’s mother/most senior wife
Chapter 3:
Agbala; when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute
Unoka was an ill-fated man. He had a bad chi
He died of swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess. He was carried to the evil forrst and left there to die (so they won’t offend her)
He was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death
The cup went to okonkwo, who must taste his wine before anyone else
Anasi was the first wife and others could not drink before her
Women’s crops, like coco yams. Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop
Since I survived that year, I shall survive anything
Chapter 4:
Even okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy - inwardly of course
Okonkwo knew how to kill a man's spirit
"Looking at a king's mouth one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast" - use of proverbs was a major way for villagers to teach (same goes to the use of stories)
When a man says yes his chi says yes also
Ikemefuna "knew the names of all the birds and could set clever traps for the little bush rodents"
"She has gone to plait her hair"
"But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody halfway through, not even for fear of a goddess"
"Take away your kola nut. I shall not eat in the house of a man who has no respect for our gods and ancestors"
"We live in peace with our fellows to honour our great goddess of earth without whose blessing our crops will not grow"
"No work was done during the Week of Peace"
"Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed"
Chapter 5:
the feast of the New Yam was approaching [...] it was an occaision for giving thanks to Ani, the earth goddess and the source of all fertility"
"he was always uncomfortable sitting around for days waiting for a feast or getting over it"
Symbol of the "old rusty gun" - Western culture. Foreshadows the destructive events that take place later
"guns that never shot" - double entendre in his wife's comment on his masculinity: bad aim/insulting his ability to be fertile
Ekwefi "ran away from her husband"
"Ekwefi and her only daughter, Ezinma"
"Ezinma, unlike most children, called her mother by her name"
"But his fondness [for Ezinma] only showed on very rare occasions"
Chapter 7:
"Nothing pleased Nwoye now more than to be sent for by his mother or another of his father's wives to do one those difficult and masculine tasks in the home"
"Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development, and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna" - possible solution to Okonkwo's flaw, since Ikemefuna demonstrates that masculinity does not exclude gentle traits
"Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell"
And then quite suddenly a shadow fell on the world, and the sun seemed hidden behind a thick cloud
That boy calls you father, do not hear a hand in his death
Yes, Umuofia has decided to kill him. The oracle of the hills and the caves has pronounced it
Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears whereupon his father beat him heavily
“Okonkwo looked away” when the man first strikes Ikemefuna
My father, they have killed me
Dazed with fear, okonkwo drew his matchet and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak
Something seemed to give way inside him, like the snapping of a tightened bow
Nwoye had felt for the first time a snapping inside him like the one he now felt
Nwoye had heard that twins were put in earthenware pots and thrown away in the forest
Chapter 8
Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of ikemefuna
“You have not eaten for two days” Ezinma is assertive and practical - action > emotion, to which Okonkwo thinks “she should have been a boy”
“When did you become a shivering old woman”
“You worry yourself for nothing”
“Okonkwo was not a man of thought but of action”
“She was about sixteen and just about ripe for marriage”
“The birth of her children, which should be a woman’s crowning glory, became for Ekwefo mere physical agony”
Chapter 9
Ekwefi had become a very bitter woman. Her husband's first wife had already had three sons, all strong and healthy
She did not blame others for their good fortune but her own evil chi who denied her any
Okonkwo [was] diggin the pit to find where Ezinma had buried her iyi-uwa
all the women shouted with joy because Ekwefi's troubles wer at last ended
Chapter 10
Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders [...] the egwugwu with the springy walk was one of the dead fathers of the clan - ironic narration - they know it's not real but kept those thoughts to themselves
"I married her with my money and my yams. I do not owe her anything"
"i do not know why such a trifle should come before the egwugwu" - subservience of the wife is the norm, and the trial highlights how quickly this violence is forgotten
Chapter 11
Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god
"Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware"
"Okonkwo pleaded with her to come back in the morning because Ezinma was now asleep"
"I am following Chielo" - Ekwefi goes against the gods and follows her maternal instinct - this contradicts Okonkwo's ideas of femininity
"Chielo was not a woman that night"/"It was not the same Chielo who sat with her in the market"
"A man stood there with a matcher in his hand. Ekwefi uttered a scream and sprang to her feet [...] tears of gratitude filled her eyes"
Chapter 12
"The entire neighbourhood wore a festive air because Obierika was celebrating his daughter's uri"
"Altogether there were 50 pots of wine"
Chapter 13
Rituals of a funeral: drums banging, guns firing
Ezeudu: "oldest man", "befitted a noble warrior", "three titles"
Okonkwo's gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy's heart
Violent deaths were frequent but nothing like this had ever happened
It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansmen
"The crime was of wo kinds, male and female. Okonkwo had committed the female, because it had been inadvertent"
"They were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman" "justice of the earth goddess", "merely here messengers", "no hatred in their hearts against Okonkwo"
Proverb: "if one finger brought oil it soiled the others" - importance of harmonious relationships
Part 2
Chapter 14
"Each of Uchendu's five sons contributed three hundred seed yams to enable their cousin to plant a farm"
His life had been ruled by a great passion - to become one of the lords of the clan [....] then everything had been broken"
"like a fish on to a dry, sandy beach, panting"/"like learnning to become left-handed in old age"
"Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things"
"one of the commonest names we give our children is Nneka, or 'Mother is supreme" - appreciation for mother/feminine energy. In Part 2, readers are introduced to a more vibrant aspect of Igbo society, and we are more aware of Okonkwo's ignorance
"when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland" in Igbo culture you want to seek balance, unlike what Okonkwo exhibits in Part 1
Chapter 15
"Three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market [...] and they began to shoot" Retribution and demonstration of power of the white colonizers - waited until Sunday so that evereyone would be at the marketplace
Uchendu's message "Never kill a man who says nothing" vs Okonkwo's belief "they were fools. they should have armed themselves with their guns and their matchets"
Obeirika "who knows what may happen tomorrow?" - open minded and receptive
Chapter 16:
At first, the converts were "efulefu, worthless empty men"
Chielo called the converts "the excrement of the clan"
Christianity was seen as a "mad dog that had come to eat it up"
"I am one of them," replied Nwoye
"I don't know. he is not my father"
The interpreter was an Ibo man but "his dialect was different"
"the white man was also their brother because they were all sons of god" - a challenge to Ibo beliefs
"A vague and persistent question that hanted his young soul" Nwoye is touched by the inclusivity of Christianity
"He felt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul"
Chapter 17:
An 'evil forest was alive with sinister forces and powers of darkness
The inhabitants of Mbanta expected them all to be dead within four days and none of them died. Everyone was puzzled
As the Christians gain power, the villagers see that their traditional beliefs are outdated and powerless - "not long after, e wn his first three converts"
-> They believed "gods and ancestors were sometimes long-suffering and would deliberately allow a man to go on defying them. But even in such cases they set their limit at seven market weeks or twenty eight days" -> "at last the day came by in which all the missionaries should have died. But they were still alive"
"come in every seventh day to worship the true God" - everyday aspects are challenged by Christian forces
"They had won a handful more converts... for the first time a woman"
"Nneka was very heavy with child" ... "four previous pregnancies and childbirths were twins" "her husband and his family were already becoming highly critical of such a woman" -> accepting of oucasts = first female convert
"Nwoye, who walked away and never returned" when Okonkwo "sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck"
"Nwoye did not fully understand [the Christian theology] but was happy to leave his father"
Okonkwo's own actions drove to the downfall and separation of his family, as Nwoye would later "return to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith", yet, Okonkwo did not reflect and felt that he was "cursed with such a son" and blames his chi
Chapter 18
"We are all children of god" - acceptance of osu (outcasts) weakens the clan, as they are believed to absorb the sin of the villagers
The two outcasts became the "strongest adherents" of the new faith and "nearly all the osu in Mbanta followed their example"
Chapter 19:
"Although he had prospered in his thrland Okonkwo knew that he would have prospered even more in Umuofia, in the land o his father where men were bold and warlike"
Part 3:
Chapter 20:
"lost his pace among the nine masked spirits who administered justice"
"lost his chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion"
"lost the years in which he might have taken the highest titles in the clan"
"he never stopped regretting Ezinma was a girl"
"She was called Crystal of beauty, as her mother had been called in her youth"
"She had her moments of depression when she would snap at everybody like an angry dog"
"As long as they lasted, she could bear no other person but her father"
Ezinma agrees to marry someone in umuofia despite having many suitors, as this can help her father gain power again
Changes in Umofia:
"Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years": a "worthy man had joined it"
Ogbuefi Ugonna, the man with two titles, is described to be "like a madman" by casting away this prestige to join the Christians
"Apart from the church, the white me had also brought a government", a "court" , a "prison" - some of the prisoners were "men of title [who were] grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms"
"I cannot understand these things you tell me. Why have they lost the power to fight?"
"it is already too late. our own men and sons have joined the ranks of the stranger" - loss of Communal harmony. They cannot act as one anymore"
Chapter 21:
The white man had also brought good change to Umuofia "for the first time, much money flowed into Umuofia"
Mr Brown was "very firm in restricting his flock from provoking the wrath of the clan" - he is kind and compaasionate, and wants a peaceful relationship
Mr brown came to be respected even by the clan, because he trod softly on its faith. He made great friends with some of the great men of the clan"
Neither Mr Brown of Akunna succeeded in converting the other "but they learnt more about their different beliefs"
Mr Brown understod that a "frontal attack on it would not succeed" so he "built a school and a little hospital"
"If Umuofia failed to send her children to the school, strangers would come from other places to rule them" (ironic statement)
"From the very beginning religion and education went hand in hand"
"Nwoye, who was now called Isaac"
"Okonkwo was deeply grieved and it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan"
Chapter 22:
Mr Brown's successor, Rev James Smith was a different kind of man. He condemned openly Mr Brown's policy of compromise and accommodation"
• when Mr Brown falls ill, he is forced to return home to Britain and is replaced by someone who is his antithesis, the Reverend James Smith. Reverend Smith is strict and uncompromising. Believing Igbo beliefs and customs are paganistic, he is intolerant of them, such as when he suspends a woman from church membership when she followed Igbo tradition regarding her dead child
• Reverend Smith has a negative influence on the converts who become almost fanatical about their new faith. When Enoch disrupts the Igbo ceremony, the egwugwu set fire to his hut and then destroy the church. Reverend Smith is only saved from attack because of the respect Mr Brown received from the Igbo leaders.
"It was Enoch who touched off the great conflict between church and clan in Umuofia whih had been gathering since Mr Brown left"
"one of the greatest crimes a man could commit was to unmask an egwugwu in public"
"Enoch had killed an ancestral spirit, and Umuofia was thrown into confusion"
Ultimate irony as the destruction of the church is due to a converted clansman
Chapter 23"
It happened so quickly that the six men did not see it coming" oppressive nature of colonial power - strategically attacking when their guards are down
"shaved off all the hair on the men's heads" humliation
"We should have killed the white man" Communal spirit is broken
"The village ilo where they always gathered was empty"
"Umuofia was like a startled animals with ears erect, not knowing which way to run"
"Ezinma was satisfied that something was being done" - like Okonkwo as she is happy action is taken for her father being imprisoned
Chapter 24
"In a flash Okonkwo drew his matchet"
"he knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape"
"He knew because they had let the other messengers escape"
Chapter 25
Language in Part 3 is more dominated with the language of white men "superflouous"
"They came to the tree from which Okonkwo's body was dangling, and they stopped dead" ultimate disappointment, since suicide is the symbol for weakness. Suicide allows him to evade European judgement
"That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself and now he will be buried like a dog"
"every day brought him (District commissioner) some new material"
"perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph" - loss of humanity inherent to colonization