Will the Ibo traditions last?

Things Fall Apart contains several sayings that represent the strong religion, morals, and culture of the villages during this time period. An example is seen early on in the novel when the author, Achebe, writes, “If a child washed his hands he could eat with kings,” talking about Okonkwo, who washed his hands of his fathers bad reputation. These few words show that those in Umuofia had a great sense of pride. When Achebe writes about Okonkwo and his father, he says, “even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala.” I was not sure what the word agbala meant first hand, but then Achebe went on to say that agbala is a word for “a man who had taken no title.” This implementation of African language in a novel written in English forces us to look outside of our comfort zone and identify more with these people and their African culture.

When Christianity overpowered the Ibo traditions that had been held by these people for many generations, much of the tribes younger generation converted to the Christian faith- without much question- because they were in awe of their power, and finally found acceptance and a place of belonging. Blinded by the new, glorious power and promise of a ‘better’ community to join, these Ibo villagers left their families, their history, and their culture. They did this regardless of the conflict and pain cause among their families and within the villages. The Christians began to dominate the Ibo culture, shattering their entire way of life. My question is why are the people of Umuofia so quick to leave their ancient traditions for something so unheard of? I understand that most of those who converted were seen as weak and unwanted, but having these traditions instilled into your life does not seem like something that is easy to just walk away from. - Elisabeth Magana

Is Okonkwo's flame eternal?

How does fire symbolize Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart?  Okonkwo is mainly associated with fire and flames throughout the novel, hinting to his intense and dangerous anger- one of the small amount of emotions he displays to us readers. His biggest character flaw is this uncontrollable rage, which is just as deadly as uncontrollable flames. Fire symbolizes Okonkwos driving force: his refusal to be weak like his father. For Okonkwo, fire is a symbol of life and masculinity. Fire ultimately destroys everything in its path, as Okonkwo does with his anger.

This need for power and strength is not something we've never heard of, which is why I can understand his constant battle with himself. I've also been wondering, does Okonkwo ever come to realization with who he is? In chapter 17, Okonkwo has sort of a revelation. He gazes into the fire, or into himself we could say, and says "Living fire begets cold, impotent ash." He sees that his aggression could have caused this femininity in Nwoye. I see this as Okonkwo finally realizing that his biggest accomplishments -power and intense masculinity- are actually his downfall.
-Elisabeth Magana

Yams is a symbol for?

Achebe has built the village of Umuofia to be all about Yams. After multiple class discussions, it has been inferred that Yams is a symbol of masculinity and currency.

When Okonkwo talks about his father, he mentions that his father never really took an interest in farming. Which in the end resulted in him being poor and not being able to provide for his family, therefore creating debt for himself. I think this supports the idea that yams symbolize masculinity because Unoka, according to Okonkwo was a failure, and the main cause of his failure is not growing yams. Now Oknokwo on the other hand, dedicates his life to being this macho type of man. The complete opposite of his father and the way that he does it, is by farming and getting his sons involved in it as well. “Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing seed-yams. But he thought that one could not begin too early. Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed.”

I also see the way yam symbolizes currency in Umuofia because the Ibo are isolated people that provide for themselves by producing everything they need to survive. Yams is the main item in this story because it not only helps them survive but it helps the village as a whole survive. The more yams a man harvests, the more he is worth basically. The manlier he is. But the more a village harvests all together shows how strong the village is, because with yams comes hard working men and with them come warriors. That’s why in the beginning of the novel, we are told that Okonkwo’s “fame rested on solid personal achievements.” 

-Destiny Quinones

Would Ezinma still be Okonkwo's favorite if she was his 'son' instead?

In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo and Ekwefi have a child together, Ezinma, and Achebe has Okonkwo make her his favorite. I feel like the reason Okonkwo views Ezinma as his favorite is because she plays a part in boosting his ego and also appeals to him in ways that no one else does. I say that she may be his ego booster because in the story, Achebe explains to us how Okonkwo won over Ezinma's mother, Ekwefi. She was described as being the "village beauty" and Okonkwo being able to make her leave her husband for him already shows that he is obviously something special and superior but having a child with her, upgrades him even further. Not only did he get the girl but he created a family with her so people look up to him even more than they did before.

Ezinma is described as being “as beautiful as her mother” which shows she automatically catches her father’s eyes and heart. But to take it further, she appeals to Okonkwo is ways none of his other children do. When he is around Ezinma, he becomes this emotional, sensitive, loving, tender man yet when he is around his sons, he is the complete opposite. For example he beats his sons, but he would never hurt Ezinma. I think Ezinma’s purpose in this story is to show that even after all the things that Okonkwo has done, such as fighting in war, bringing back heads, beating his kids, he still has a heart and is capable of loving and caring for someone.

What I don’t understand is why he wishes for Ezinma to be a boy. If she appeals to him in all these positive ways, why would he want her to be something else? I feel that if Achebe did make her out to be his son instead of his daughter, Okonkwo wouldn’t feel the same way towards her. 

-Destiny Quinones

Equality, please?

As we see in the Igbo society there is the extremely noticeable social issue of gender roles. An issue most men and women of the 21st century are trying to throw out as we today are trying to break these barriers of, everyone has a certain job and a certain way to live their life brought onto us by a society who did not see the equals in men and women but the differences and inferiority and superiority between both genders.

In this book we see many times where gender is used to describe a lot of materialistic things, such as the listing of the female crops in the story “coco-yams, beans and cassava” these were called the “women’s crops” and the famous  “Yam, the king of crops, was a man's crop”. The Igbo people showed extreme divisions within the genders, why can’t a woman plant a king crop and why can’t a man plant a simple cassava? Little things such as these are so much bigger than they look, it is ideologies such as these that brought us to the degrading and lessening of women in a society. Much like today’s society though we are progressing in this issue, the Igbo women are seen to be just the submissive wives and child bearers to their her husbands.

Equality of genders has been such a big issue for as long as hundreds of years, but in today’s society we are changing that. Women today are doing things they couldn’t do before such as work at certain places or even work at all because of society's’ old norms. This is a tremendous achievement and progression because now women can follow their dreams and be who they want in a society that didn’t want them to do anything or have a voice even inside of their homes. - Rakasha McIntosh

A dollar still worth a dollar with two different sides?

"All their customs are upside-down. They do not decide bride-price as we do, with sticks. They haggle and bargain as if they were buying a goat or a cow in the market." "That is very bad," said Obierika's eldest brother.”

As I read those few lines in Things Fall Apart, it reminded me tremendously of our society today, where judgment is easily placed on things we are not used to, if we see someone doing things that society is not okay with or believes is right, we tend to look at those people as crazy, ignorant, uncivilized. But it is the mindset of today’s people that everyone has to be exactly like his neighbor because uniformity is brilliant and different is preposterous.

Obeirika settles the marrying off of his daughter by the counting of sticks, but another father settles his daughter’s marrying off by bargaining.  One is seen as civilized and the other as uncivilized. If both these men were to be placed in a room together, they both would most likely have a solid explanation for the method he finds fit to his liking to marry his daughter off. So which man would be right? Only one can be right seen as they both are different, correct?

Wrong, just because these methods are different does not mean that one is brilliant and one is preposterous, it means there are two ways to get the end result. With options different than normal, can come change, which is uncomfortable and why it is hard for us humans to accept. This has been the mindset of humans for quite some time, because we can be so closed minded to different beliefs, cultures etc., we forget that a dollar has two different sides but is still worth the same amount. - Rakasha McIntosh

Why did Marlow lie to Kurtz's intended about his final words?

The question that many of us wonder about, how come Marlow didn’t just come clean and tell Kurtz’s intended that his last words were in fact, “the horror! the horror!” and did not have anything to do with her. Why? Why wouldn’t Marlow just be honest, we ask, without realizing that women of that time were treated with more of a delicacy. Gender roles and chivalry played an enormous role and had great impact on the way in which women were supposed to be treated by men. There was sort of a code that men abided by that prohibited them from speaking of things and using words or phrases that seemed disrespectful or offensive to mention in the presence of a lady. Also, Marlow could have  possibly seen a sense of innocence in the woman that he did not want tarnish by exposing the true feelings that Kurtz expressed through his last words.

Along with not wanting Kurtz’s intended to feel saddened by the fact that her fiancee’s last words were not something sweet and thoughtful about her, but Marlow also chose to tell this lie to protect not only Kurtz but the ulterior motives of The Company. Maybe Marlow knew that by telling her what Kurtz really said, would be considered releasing the darkness into the world, exposing the actions of violence that they committed while in the Congo.

Another possible reason Marlow could have withheld the truth from Kurtz’s intended is because the story of Kurtz’s malicious actions were too complex to explain to her. If you think about it, Marlow had to travel all the way up the Congo to get information and insight on what it is Kurtz actually did there, the intended did not indulge in the trip with Marlow, she had not found out what Marlow had and she had not seen what he had seen, so she wouldn’t be able to efficiently comprehend what those words exactly were a symbol of.

-T'Nia Tention