I just love how Nwyoe is going to be a total jerk like his father. He is sixteen and is already starting to think of women as objects. I seriously just want to stop reading about this.
I looked up a couple words this chapter as I have been. First I looked up foo-foo. It is a doughlike West African dish of boiled and ground plantain, yam, or cassava, made into balls to go with soups or stews. Also I looked up entrails. They are the internal parts of the trunk of an animal body, which is pretty sick because Okonkwo was eating them.
I think that it is kind of interesting that everything they have has a story or is somehow related to their gods and goddesses. The locusts for example had this entire story when really they are just a bug that comes every seventeen or fourteen years. I can't remember which. I remember when we had them hear in either fourth or fifth grade. I hated them but to these people they are a delicacy.
I can't believe that the tribe killed Ikemefuna, but even worse than that I cannot believe that Okonkwo slashed him. I mean why was he even there? That guy told him that he should not have anything to do with it. Just the chapter before Okonkwo was just thinking about how much he liked having him there and the good that he had done for his family. I know that it is their culture to beat women and for the men to make themselves look like jerks, but they have to draw the line somewhere.
Does Okonkwo's family know that he did it? If they do will they say anything? If they don't will they find out what a sick and twisted person their father is? After this I believe that Okonkwo is exponentially worse than his own father was. His father may have been lazy, but at least he wasn't a murderer.
3 comments:
You know, I was wondering the same thing. I have no idea if Okonkwo's family knows if he killed Ikemefuna or not. I would really love to know. If my father killed an innocent child, I would be so scared of him. I wouldn't know what to do.
There is an old saying that "The sins of the father are carried on by the Son." Nwyoe is rebelling in his own way I guess. Their relationship is strained. It is a cultural difference the way they treat women, which should make you realize how lucky you are to grow up in America.
Yeah, foo-foo is kind of funny sounding, and doesn't sound very good to eat, but it seems to be a main dish of sorts for their people.
Entrails are also Hot Dogs. So before you go judging Okonkwo for eating them, ask yourself what is in a hotdog or what is the casing made of before eating one. We must be careful not to pass judgment on other people's cultures, when we ourselves are equally barbaric.
As for the stories w/ Gods, that is what the novel is all about. Short stories or tribal snipets that the reader gets taken into. Don't think of this novel as one big
story, but instead think of it as being short stories about a tribe.
The killing of Ikemefuna is definitely a horrible scene. I kept waiting for him to stop the group and save his adopted son, but he does not! Okonkwo should have listened to his friend, but again we see his fear of weakness. He can't make himself "not do it". Instead he helps butcher his own son just to prove to himself he is a man. The route of his own undoing later in the book.
Achebe does this to prove a point about Okonkwo. Imagine the resolve and mindset you'd have to have to kill your own child??? Especially just because the Oracle told you to do so??? This is not your typical character read about in most novels. The man is a monster.
You bring up some good questions about what does Okonkwo's family know... and for the most part not many answers are given to the reader. Surely they would have a hard time forgiving him I'd imagine.
"After this I believe that Okonkwo is exponentially worse than his own father was. His father may have been lazy, but at least he wasn't a murderer."
Great line, great observation. Keep it up, now we are getting somewhere.
Mr. Farrell
I know when the locust came too. They were so creepy and discusting and these people eat them like they are some kind of desert. Yuck! I totally agree about how he is worse than his father because no one can really be as bad as Okonkwo killing practically his son what a jerk. He is much worse than his father.
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