6/30/08

entry 11

6/30/08
entry 11
page of reflection:76-77

Ezinma only daughter of Ekwefi was ten and dying she was dying of

fever. Ekwefi was Okonkwo's second wife when she was recently married to

Okonkwo she had children but at birth most of them died or months afterwards

of birth. This caused Ekwefia to become a bitter woman because all of Okonkwo's

other wives were having children and they were healthy. She fell into a depression

you could say, because after she would have child she would give it a name such

as ''Death may it please himself,'' refering the death that will occur to her child

which did. She had ten children and nine died. Finally, when Ezinma was born

she lived up to six years and then ten years and her mother was full of

happiness again. Except now Ezinma was dying of fever so she told Okonkwo

to help her to her bring the fever down. Okonkwo went outside to go get an

herb that was used to get rid of the fever. They finally got rid of the fever, but

mean while Ekwefi must have felt great anxiety because there was a great

risk her only daughter could have died. Especially, when it had happen to her

many times before with her other children. After the fever had subsided Ekwefi

felt relief because her daughter was going to be okay.

6/25/08

entry 10

6/25/08
entry 10
page of reflection:71

Ikemefuna's death was recent so for Okonkwo to get it off his mind

the death of Ikemefuna, he went to go see one of his friends Obierika. One of

his daughters was to be married her name Akueke she was sixteen, she was

to be married to Ibe who was about twenty-five. However this age difference may

not be a big deal to this culture or seen as strange, but my opinion is that it would

be strange to be married to someone that is more than five years older than me.

Not only that but that you are being sold for a price to some stranger that you really

don't know just have seen a few times. After you are bought and taken away to live

with your husband you know belong to him. Except to the people in this culture

it is seen as perfectly normal to be sold for a certain bag of cowries and palm

wine. What I found interesting is how the brides to be get to dress up for a certain

time before their official marriage with there coiffure, patterns painted on the

body,and of all sorts jewelry. We can see how different cultures have different

customs on many things one being marriage, which is fascinating to learn

about.

6/24/08

entry 9

6/24/08
entry 9
Page of reflection: 63-65

Three years had already passed and as we know Ikemefuna had became

part of the family. The reason being because Ikemefuna was being compensated

for his home village killing a women. When the boy was taken to the village of

Umuofia the village elders didn't know what to do with him so they decided

that Okonkwo was to take care of him. Well know that three years had gone

by like a mentioned earlier one of the village elders told him that the goddess

of the oricals wanted the boy to be killed because the women was killed.

How could Okonkwo let this happen to what he inside considered his own

son, heartbreaking that is how he took it. When he found out that the village

elders took him outside the village of Umuofia. For the past days Okonkwo

couldn't eat or sleep and the he felt like a drunk giant from drinking palm

wine. All the work that needed to be done around the compound was already

done, for that reason Okonkwo couldn't get his mind off of thinking about

Ikemefuna. Okonkwo even asked himself why does it bother him that the boy

was killed if he had already killed five men himself in battle, what was one more

to add to his list. The truth was that Okonkwo really loved Ikemefuna because

he was like a son to him whether he admitted it or not.

6/23/08

entry 8

6/23/08
entry 8
page of reflection:29

It was during the week of peace and Okonkwo had broken that peace.

As a consequence the priest of the earth goddess, Ezeani, punished Okonkwo

for beating his wife. Even the Okonkwo had good reason to beat his youngest

wife. She hadn't brought him his afternoon meal and he got tired of waiting so

he went into her hut. Except she wasn't there and on top of that she hadn't fed

her children yet which made him more furious. Turns out Ojiugo, the youngest

wife, went to go get her hair braided. Even though she did act irresponsible that

shouldn't be a good reason to beat your wife, actually there is no good reason to

beat your wife that is just wrong. It doesn't matter the reason for what your

wife did there is no right in hitting or beating her.

6/18/08

entry 7

6/18/08
entry 7
page of reflection:28

Ikemefuna was to be taken care of by Okonkwo, and after a while

of living in the household he became very popular among the children. Especially

Okonkwo's oldest son Nwoye. To Nwoye Ikemefuna was like his older brother, he

learned many things from Ikemefuna, and they became inseparable. Even Okonkwo

became fond of Ikemefuna. Except, he never showed this proudness he had of

Ikemefuna the only emotion he showed was anger. In Okonkwo's head to show

affection was a sign of weakness. In his mind the only thing that was to be

demonstrated was strength. What is interesting is Ikemefuna became close

to Okonkwo to the point where he called him father. Which of course Okonkwo

was proud of.

6/17/08

entry 6

6/17/08
entry 6
page of reflection: 24

It was many years ago during the time of the raining season. Okonkwo's father

had already past away and Okonkwo had to take care of his mother and sister.

As I said before the many struggles that Okonkwo had to go through in order

to have a prosperous future. This is one of the many struggles it was

one of the worst planting season for the yams. Okonkwo had borrowed seeds

to plant yams from a man which was considered wealthy in his village.

He borrowed 800 seeds. In the first weeks of the raining season he planted

the first few hundred seeds, everything was going well except that it was

extremely hot and there was no rain. So what ended up happening was that

the yams had grew partically but with lack of rain they ended up dying.

After a few weeks had past Okonkwo decided to plant the other 400 yams

that he promised the man. Only this time there was rain and the yams did

grow the only problem was that it didn't stop raining so what ever little

the yams had grown the rain drowend them. The worst of all was that this

didn't only happen to Okonkwo but to the whole village. It was such a tragic

year that he remembers that a man ended up hanging himself of despair.

Even to this day Okonkwo remembers how he survived that horrible yea,

and every time he thinks of it he gets a cold shiver. He was even surprised

of himself for not sinking under all the despair.

6/16/08

entry 5

6/16/08
entry 5
page of reflection:18

What is admirable about Okonkwo is that even though he had

a rough start in life and didn't have the same oppurtinities as many other young

men in his village. He didn't get to inherit anything not a barn, a wife, or a title.

He had to work hard and with great determination in order to set a foundation

for a better future. The passion that moved him was not ending up like his father's

life and having a shameful death. A death that he had to die outside his home in the

Evil Forest because his stomach had swelled. With this great determination that

Okonkwo had he ended up with three wives, eight children and three barns full of

yams. However, his future didn't stop there he got the title of being the best wrestler

in the nine villages and beyond. This to me is admirable for someone to overcome

these obstacules and start fresh, instead of not trying at all.

6/14/08

entry 4

6/14/08
entry 4
page of reflection: 13

As we already know that Okonkwo has always been dominated with the
fear of resembling his father. He has led his family with a heavy hand by not
tolerating any laziness from any of his children; especially his oldest son
Nwoye. During the planting season is when Okonkwo is a hard worker and
doesn't get tired easily.Well of course he wouldn't he is a large and strong man. Except his wives and children aren't as strong as Okonkwo, but they dare not complain because they live in fear of him. Well, at least they don't complain out loud or to his face. It is said that when he is sleeping profundly that all of them can hear him breathing loudly they are still frightened by him. Like I said earlier when one of his oldest sons Nwoye began to show signs of laziness this is when Okonkwo decided to beat him. Although what appeared to be signs of laziness, to Okonkwo was actually the beginning stages of his sons teenage years. His oldest son was now twelve.

6/13/08

entry 3

6/13/08
entry 3
page of reflection: 15

Yes it is a tragidy that they killed a women in the village of Mbaino.

As a result the village of Umufia decided that it would only be fair if Mbaino

in return brought a virgin women to replace the wife that was killed, and a young

boy to be sacraficed. This young boy is Nwoye age fifteen, he was taken away from

his family. What is even worse was that he had no clue what was going to

happen to him or to his family, especially to his mother and baby sister of

three years old. He was taken away by some men that came in the middle

of the night and took him away from his family. Once he got to the village of

Umofia the village elders told Okonkwo to take care of the boy because they

didn't know what they would do with him yet. This feeling that Ikemefuna

must have felt when his father handed him over to this men that he had no

idea who they where. Not only that but being taken to a place you don't know,

living with a family that is not yours, and having the feeling that you will never

see your family again.

6/12/08

entry 2

6/12/08
entry 2
page of reflection:13




What is interesting about Okonkwo is that he acts to be cruel and very



masculine, for the reason that deep down he is driven by the fear of resembling



his father Unoke. Unoke being know through out the community as basically a



lazy bumb. For this reason Okonkwo rules his household with a heavy hand.



And because of this internal fear Okonwo is driven with a passion to hate



everything his father loved, which is absurd, because one of the things



his father loved is gentleness. Why might Okonkwo be driven with such great



passion, because of an incident that happened to Okonkwo in his childhood.



When he was young a playmate told him that his father was a agbala meaning



a man without a title; which is something shameful in there village of Umofia.



Ever since, that moment Okonkwo made sure he wouldn't end up like his



father Unoke.


Entry 1

6/12/08
Entry 1
pages of reflection:4-5







At the beginning of the book Things Fall Apart, it describes the feelings that one of




the main characters Okonkwo has towards his father Unoke. Except, this feeling that the son has




toward his father aren't usual father son feeling. In this case Okonkwo is not only ashamed of his




father but also has extreme anger toward him. For the reasons that his father is lazy and only




thinks about today and doesn't think about tomorrow. In addition, that he was in debt to many




of the people in his community. The sad part however, is that Okonkwo is still ashamed and




angry towards his father even though he has past away at least ten years ago. Not only this but




okonkwo has these feelings because he is scared of ending up like his father lazy and living his




family in debt.