British vs. Ibo People

            There is much conflict between the British and the Africans. First, the white British missionary arrived and the Oracle told the Ibo people to kill him. The Oracle said that more would be coming soon. After the murder of the white man, many white missionaries came as the Oracle said and killed many people in Abame. This caused to Africans to dislike the missionaries and could not change their prospective of them at the time because they did not speak the same language.

            During Okonkwo’s exile, the missionaries built a church, which caused many Ibo people to convert to Christianity. One of these people was Nowye.  This caused much controversy, and the Ibo people thought that there would be no people left to worship them after they died. They thought their own religion would die out.

            Upon the arrival of Okonkwo to his old village, the Christians are making a school. Mr. Brown and Akunna get into an argument over their gods. Mr. Brown is trying to say that if you carve a piece of wood it is not a god. Akunna rebuttals that they do not worship the wooden idol, but that God made the trees that the wood was taken from. Akunna continues to say that the Christian god is not in Heaven, but in England.

            After Mr. Brown falls ill, the new reverend, Mr. Smith, comes in and takes over. Mr. Smith is not like Mr. Brown. Unlike Mr. Brown that didn’t care if someone came to the church, but was still confused, Mr. Smith said that you had to be sure of what you thought. All Mr. Smith wants to do is take down the Ibo culture and convert everyone to the Christian faith.

"Female" Virtues Ignored

            In Mbanta, Okonkwo is scolded for not understanding the Ibo proverb that “Mother is Supreme”. Okonkwo ignores “female” virtues in himself and others like affection and the quality of listening. This creates any problems in his life because of his one-sidedness.

            Okonkwo ignores the “female” virtue of affection by not showing love for his family. I believe he is like this because his own father was lazy and could not care for his family, so Okonkwo believes that he should show that he is strong and tough. He thinks that he should not show any vulnerability.

            Okonkwo also does not show affection towards his son, Nwoye. Okonkwo thinks his son is not a man because Nwoye is sensitive and actually has an emotional side. Okonkwo wishes that Nwoye was more like his daughter, Ezinma, whom is strong and tough, like Okonkwo.

            Okonkwo’s one-sidedness creates problems in his life like selfishness. When he is exiled, Okonkwo begins to feel sorry for himself, in which he should not. Uchendu tells Okonkwo that “Mother is Supreme” and that other people are in a much worse situation than Okonkwo himself. Although Uchendu tells Okonkwo about many stories in which people’s lives are much worse than his own, Okonkwo continues to feel sorry for himself which will cause many more problems in the future.

Opinions of Okonkwo

My opinion of Okonkwo is that he is somewhat selfish and has a bad temper. I think this because he has beaten his own family in the past out of his anger and selfishness. Although, I can see his hardworking self come through.
Okonkwo has beaten his third wife out of anger. He did this because she had gone out on a personal errand when she should have been making his dinner. Although this was somewhat selfish of her, Okonkwo had two other wives to feed and take are of him. Not only did she just beat his wife, he beat her during the Week of Peace. By doing this, he I believe that he might have learned his lesson because he then had to sacrifice items that were important to himself and his wealth.
Although I see Okonkwo has selfish and violent, he is also a hard worker. I believe this because Okonkwo took time to schedule a meeting with Nwakibie, the richest man in the village. Okonkwo asked Nwakibie to please spare him some yam seeds, which he ended up getting double for what he asked for. Okonkwo planted the seeds, but the weather failed him, and he lost all of this crops. When this was happening, Okonkwo tried everything to keep his crops from dying. This shows that he is hardworking.