Sorry this is so late going up.
Pick a specific moment (passage w/pg #) and explain either how Achebe pulls you into the story or how he pushes you away. (In other words, explain a moment where you connect or fail to connect with the text.) Then, briefly explain to what extent this connection/discord is due to Achebe and to what extent it comes from your own predispositions.
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Unoka, the indolent debtor father of Okonkwe, is the character of the novel to whom I am the most drawn. He represents everything universally human in an unfamiliar culture. This might not be the case for a reader familiar with African lifestyles, but to me, he is the epitome of traits common to all mankind (even if they aren't necessarily good ones). Unoka loves "good fare and the good fellowship" (5), revels in "gentleness and... idleness" (13), he has no title, no work, but still he "always [succeeds] in borrowing more [money], and piling up his debts" (5). He has no military prestige because he is a "coward and [can] not bear the sight of blood" (6). But despite all these well-recognized shortcomings, he is a good-natured man and I feel that I can identify with him simply because of his imperfection.
"With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. He neither inherited a barn nor a title, nor even a young wife. But in spite of these disadvantages, he had begun even in his father's lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future. It was slow and painful. But he threw himself into it like one possessed. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father's contemptible life and shameful death" (18).
I would have to say that this passage pushed me away. It's upsetting how Achebe makes Okonkwo's life seem so incredibly unfortunate, when in reality he is lucky. Because of the village society, Unoka is seen as an embarassment. I do not think that in our world, Okonkwo's situation is the worst. In fact, an idle father is better than an abusive father, or no father at all. This is entirely based on my own predisposition, because I failed to see what was so horrible about Unoka that would make a son so ashamed. Okonkwo is a stern and overworking person because he is the opposite of his father, but this is not the worst case scenario.
"[The stomach swelling] was an abomination to the earth, and so the victim could not be buried in her bowels. He died and rotted away above the earth. Such was Unoka's fate. When they carried him away, he took with him his flute." (18)
Somehow, this passage made me very sad. I felt a strange pity towards Unoka - a simple man who held close his desires (i.e., his love of music) and did not fear displaying open attachment to them. At this moment, I was pushed away from the story. Achebe speaks highly of Okonkwo and the accomplishments, of this tough, steadfast man who does not allow inner emotions to interfere with his goals. However, because of this, I feel Okonkwo lacks real joy in life. Further, Achebe speaks down on Unoka, calling him a "failure" (5). Due to this statement on the author's part, I felt myself pushing away from the text as I failed to understand how a person could belittle the man who may lack fierce qualities but demonstrates those that are far more important - appreciation and love for the small pleasures of life.
"Unoko, the grown up, was a failure. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. People laughed at him because he was a loafer, and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back. But Unoka was such a man that he always succeeded in borrowing more, and piling up his debts(5)...Unoka was never happy when it came to wars. He was in fact a coward and could not bear the sight of blood (6)."
I am drawn to Unoka because of the way Achebe makes the father resemble the opposite of what a good parent is supposed to be. He resembles a sterotypical mother in his fear of war and general cowardice. I am interested in seeing if Achebe will continue to make Unoka appear timid. Also, I wonder if his cowardice is a major cause of his inferiority and the apparent failure that the father apparently posses. I also question what Unoka's priorities are that make him appear to be a failure. Overall, Unoka fascinates me more than anything else appearing so far in Achebe's novel.
"Worshippers...crawled on their belly through the hole...The fire did not burn with a flame. The glowing logs only served to light up vaguely the dark figure of the priestess...when such a spirit appeared, the man saw it vaguely in the darkness, but never heard its voice. Some people even said that they heard the spirits flying and flapping their wings against the roof of the cave (16-17)."
This description is just so vivid to me. I feel that this is intriguing and mysterious, but also sad. The people have to struggle and crawl in the dirt just to be able to reach the priestess and even then, they don't get a full answer. I wonder if they receive satisfaction just from the spiritual experience, because the spirits can't even speak.
"And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion--to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness."
Okonkwo's relationship with his father was what was most thought provoking for me. Because his father was considered a failure, a man with no title, he brought his family shame and dishonor. The failure of his father was what propelled Okonkwo into his extreme behavior. However, even though his father was a myopic person who plunged himself in debt, he had certain qualities of gentless, that were admirable, that Okonkwo chose to disregard. It's interesting that in Okonkwo's deliberate oath to be nothing like his father, he also shuns such a trait, showing himself to be a bit shortsighted.
Achebe pushes me away from the story in the instances where Okonkwo lets out his anger by beating up one of his wives. The way women in this book are treated as objects, are hurt at leisure, and are considered so much lower than men, results in my failure to connect with the text.
"And then the storm burst. Okonkwo, who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in surpressed anger, suddenly found an outlet.
'Who killed this bana tree?' he asked...As a mater of fact the tree was very much alive. Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food, and she said so. Without further argument Okonkwo gave her a sound beating and left her and her only daughter weeping" (38).
This discord is mostly due to my own predispositions. I live in a country where women are highly valued and are usually viewed as equal or at least very close to equal to men. I believe very strongly that women have rights and are just as human as men. It is apalling to me to think of women being treated so badly. If I did not live in the world I live in, I might see this differently.
I was disturbed by the casual tone in which the author, Achebe, referred to the practice of polygamy in Okonkwo's village. It seemed only natural to him that the rich men in the village would have several wives: "each of his three wives had their own hut" (14) Women were also treated like property; Udo was given a "virgin as compensation" when his wife was killed by another tribe. Also, being a woman is given bad connotations; men without titles are called "agbala" (13) -or another name for women. So women are basically thought of as weaklings so far as even their name is used as an insult. Since the Umuofia tribe is revered for their skill at war, then men must be prized more for their ability to fight. Okonkwo even mentions that yams, the main food crop of the Umuofia, is a man's crop and women plant easier, petty things like cassava.
"As soon as he found one he would sing with his whole being, welcoming it back from its long, long journey , and asking it if it had brought home any lengths of cloth. That was yeares ago, when he was young. Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure." (5) Even though Unoka is described as an idle man, he is very amiable to me. From his calm, little talk with Okoye to reflection on his childhood, Unoka seemed like a full of passion for life. But instead, the grown up Unoka turns out to be an alcoholic, incapable coward. Through Okonkwo's displease toward his father, the author emphasizes on how display of emotions and idleness (doing anything that does not involve hard-core yam planting, and going to war with neighbor tribes) are weaknesses of men. I disagree with the author that there are only two kinds of people in this world: "good farmers who begin to sow with the first rains", and "lazy, easy going ones who always put off clearing their farms as long as they could".(23)
"Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children." (13)
It bothered me how casually Achebe mentioned Okonkwo's treatment of women and of his sons. It made it hard to relate to the values of Okonkow's society and pushed me away from the book. Unoka was viewed as an example of a poor father and Okonkwo as an example of a good one- but as Cora mentioned, an idle father is better than an abusive one. Polygamy was also accepted within the village, as was the idea that women were inferior to men.
Achebe pulls me into the story at the end of the first chapter, when he talks about how lucky Okonkwo is that his father's reputation didn't affect his.
"Fortunately, among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father." (page 8)
I connected to this part of the text because I've grown up in a society, where one is treated based on who they are, not who their ancestors were. It would be different if one of my parents were well known, but since they're not, my actions are what decides my future, which I believe to be a good thing.
A quotation that I could also connect to is right after the part of the text, just discussed. It is when Achebe tells about how successful Okonkwo was. "And so although Okonkwo was still young, he was already one of the greatest men of his time. Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered." (page 8)
This relates back to the earlier quotation because it enforces the fact that one's individual hard work is what brings success, instead of your parents or old age.
sorry this is late...my internet server was down yesterday and i wasn't able to come to class today.
"'Sine I survived that year,' he always said, 'I shall survive anything.' He put it down to his inflexible will." (24)
I feel that I can connect with this one particular quote since I know how it feels to want to give up, when life completely sucks. But honestly, if you think I got through this, then I can get through anything, then life will be a lot more successful. As cheesy as all this sounds, personally because I can connect with this quote. The last part of the quote also shows how stubborn Okonkwo is and how unwilling he is to change his morals.
"[Anasi]walked up to her husband and acepted the horn from him. She then went down on one knee, drank a little and anded back the horn. She rose, called him by his name and went back to her hut. The other wives drank in the same way in their proper order, and went away" (20).
At the same time as intriguing me, Achebe also pushes me away with this passage. It is not the norm in our culture to have multiple wives, and they are not seen as objects, but in most situations as partners. Because of this vast difference in lifestyle I am drawn in and tempted to learn more about the way this village differs from mine. However, it repels my interest at the same time because I don't like the way the wives are only called upon to respect their husband and call him by name and sent to leave. I read this with an ominous sense of what is to come of the treatment of wives in this book and the society about which it is written.
"As for the boy himself, he was terribly afraid...All he knew was that a few men had arrived at their house,...and at the end he had been taken out and handed over to a stranger. His mother had wept bitterly, but he had been too surprised to weep. And so the stranger had brought him, and a girl, a long, long way from home, through lonely forest paths. He did not know who the girl was, and he never saw her again" (15).
This passage pulled me away, since it focuses on the effects that Umuofia's "normal course of action" (11) results in when they take a "young man and a virgin as compensation" for a crime. It was sad how Ikemefuna and his original family seemed to be punished for a crime that they had no part of. However, this is based entirely on my predisposition, because in our society crimes focus on individual punishment; whereas Achebe's society seems to place the village above the individual in terms of crimes. That is, if one person, or a small group, commits a crime such as "murder[ing] a daughter of Umuofia," then the whole village is deemed responsible and all members of the village are subject to punishment (11). That could be why this seemingly innocent boy and his mother are separated.
"Unoka, for that was his father's name, had died ten years ago. In his ay he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow. If any money came his way, and it seldom did, he immideatly bought gourds of palm-wine, called round his neighbors and made merry (pg. 4)."
This passage pulled me in because of the shock factor it radiated. It was interesting how Okonkwo talked so poorly of his father. His deep hatred for his father made me want to read on.
"Unoka, for that was his father's name, had died ten years ago. In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite imcapable of thinking about tomorrow. If any money came his way, and it seldom did, he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine, called round his neighbors and made merry." (p4)
Unoka doesn't sound like a great father figure and I can relate to him is someways, but not in others. Sometimes, I can get really lazy and procratinate about upcoming events. However, at the end of the day, I always worry about what the next day will bring. I know that each day will bring now obstacles and I have to be ready. This is only because our present day society formed me to be like that. With each day, there is homework, tests, projects, quizes, pop quizes and so much more that a kid at my age has very little time to do much else, if they truly desired to do well in school. Therefore I don't get how Unoka can just not care about what will happen to him and live in the present so firmly.
"The night was very quiet. It was always quiet except on moonlight nights. Darkness held a vague terror for these people, even the bravest among them. Children were warned not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits" (9). This passage pulled me in because the reader knew that something big and important was about to occur. I also like how Achebe connected quiet and dark and then how they led to terror and fear. Thsi creates a cool image in my head. Although in most other parts of the book I am pushed away, for exampe when he beats his wives and also that he has multiole wives.
“It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate told him that his father was agbala. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken no title. And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion - to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.”
Although I find this passage interesting, what it means about Okonkwo, the main character, pushes me away. Throughout reading, Unoka is portrayed as a failure and embarrassment to his community because he has no titles and is constantly in debt. However, it also depicts his loving and caring characteristics, traits that you would expect children to admire and aspire to. However, the fact that Okonkwo looks beyond the fact that Unoka is an internally good person and can only see him for the material things that he lacks and vows not to be like him gives me a bad impression of Okonkwo. This passage pushes me away because it is difficult to enthusiastically begin a book when you already disagree with the main character’s actions.
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