Achebe chose these two completely different missionaries because it shows two completely different sides of the African perspective. Mr. Brown is caring and uses diffusion instead of destruction, where Mr. Smith is rude and uses destruction. They serve to show how rude some whites were but also some were nice. Mr. Smith is more of the stereotypical colonist (rude, takes things away, hates blacks). Mr. Brown is nicer and is not portrayed as a colonist (nice, caring, giving).

              Okonkwo is blaming the Ibo for the invasion of the white man. He is doing so because they didn't fight back. He thinks that instead of the Ibo killing one man they should have defended themselves and killed them all. Okonkwo also thinks the Ibo was nonchalant. The Ibo were blind and didn't see what was happening. He also thinks that they were extremely weak and that the Ibo just gave up their culture, religion, land, and mind. I somewhat agree with Okonkwo but also i don't. They should have attempted to kill all the white men because then they would have brought more men over and started a giant war. I do agree because now the Ibo is enslaved and is left defenseless.



-Ignorance
-Carelessness
-Nonchalant
-Blindness
-Assumption
-Participation
-Temptation
-Giving
-Foolishness
-Shocked
-Curiosity
-Weakness
-Encouragement

              The infomercial would be incredibly challenging  for an individual because you may not feel that you are eligible to switch religion. Also you many think that your friends and family would hate you just like Okonkwo and Nwoye. You might be called an abomination or traitor. An individual would have to completely change their beliefs and learn new things. It's also very dangerous for an individual. This would be challenging for a larger community because the community would disagree and fracture. The community will also loose power leaving it defenseless to enemies.

              The consequences to the village as a result to giving the missionaries land in the evil forest is that the missionaries did not die like they were predicted too. Many people left the Ibo because once the missionaries didn't die, they found out that the Evil Forest wasn't evil. After they left they joined the Christian religion. The Ibo's planned backfired, because they thought that by giving the missionaries the Evil Forest they would die. The cultural gains to the Christians are that they now have a church with many new recruits. Also the Christians were portrayed as more powerful and more excepting to women. The Christians also welcomed all the outcasts. The loss to the Ibo is that many people have left, making the Ibo weaker especially getting close to a war.

Tragic Hero

Tragic Hero

           Okonkwo is a tragic hero because he is a character of immense importance to the tragedy. He is a character with noble or high stature. He is crucial to the success of the book. He can work as an antagonist or protagonist and is doomed to fail in search of his tragic dream. He is like Darth Vader for Star Wars because he is portrayed as a bad guy but deep down he has a soft side also like Shrek; both characters are tragic heroes. He also has hubris and is unlucky which all tragic heroes have. Also a tragic hero has a fatal flaw which Okonkwo had when he killed the sixteen year old boy. They're also the main character which Okonkwo is. There is usually a foreshadowed tragedy which is throughout Okonkwo's life.

Sorry

          I do feel sorry for Okonkwo. He started off in life with a terrible start. He didn't inherit anything, no barn, no title, no wives. He completely turned his life around by gaining a title (great wrestler), three wives, and a big barn. He is not the best with empathy and has anger management issues, but deep down, he's not a bad person. His punishment was to harsh for a accident. The punishment was like being in jail for 7 years, because he was away from his home for a long period of time. Also it's unfair because it effected his whole family even though he was the only one who did anything. His wives didn't do anything so it's unfair to them that they have to move too. It was also childish that the village burned his house down. I do not think that Okonkwo takes appropriate responsibility for his choices. After he almost shot his wife, he took no responsibility, same thing for shooting Ikemefuna. The positives of this are that Okonkwo can now start over in a new village and try to improve his empathy.

Tortoise Story

        The story about a greedy tortoise is meant to tell why the tortoise's shell is not smooth. The story is about a hungry tortoise who hasn't eaten for a long time. He hears about an upcoming feast  and asks the birds to give him wings. The birds deny him at first until he then lies about his personality. He manipulates the birds by changing his name to "all of you". Knowing that the birds will say "this food is for all of you". The birds then take away his feathers. He tells his wife to put all the soft things on the roof so that he can jump and land on cushion. The birds trick him and put all the hard things on the roof, that's why the turtles have a cracked shell.
         The purpose of the folktale is to foreshadow Okonkwo's actions. It's inserted in this part of the story because now that Ezinma is dying, it's not all about Okonkwo. This is bringing out Okonkwo's "soft side".

           It might make sense to the tribe because they do not know any better to think that when a baby is born with a birth mark that is in the shape of a line, they think that those are the marks from the doctors knife. These people needed an explanation that makes cultural sense to them. The thing that was most challenging about chapter 9 was that it was hard to understand and very tough to relate to because today we don't slice and cut the baby after it is dead. We also have technology and medicine that could save the baby. The most interesting thing was the fact that they thought that a dead baby was an evil spirit so they threw it in the Evil Forest. It was interesting because I've never seen or heard of a baby being an evil spirit so that we need to slice the baby.

       In my opinion Okonkwo was not justified or had no reason to kill Ikemefuna. He took Ikemefuna into his household, treated him like a son, then killed him for no reason. He was "afraid of being thought weak" which is no reason to kill someone he loved. Even though he couldn't change the clans idea, he didn't need to be the one that killed Ikemefuna.

         The women in the Ibo society are treated lesser than the men. The women get beat, worked hard, and get yelled at for minor mess ups. Achebe's viewpoint is patriarchy. This could be limited by lack of information or a single story. For example, if Achebe was only involved in one incident, he would write exactly what he heard or saw in that incident.

          Mine and Okonkwo's family are similar because Okonkwo has a wife, like my dad and he he has children just like my parents do. His family is friends with some of their neighbors like my family. They also celebrate holidays. The most different thing is that Okonkwo has multiple wives and that he beats them. He has very little empathy for his wives which is also very different.