1.)Okonkwo, the main character, is a hardworking man ,who is
brave and strong emotionally and physically. Okonkwo has three wives and
children. Okonkwo is very well known by his neighbors and holds power over
them. Not only that but he is also wealthy and courageous. He is the leader of
his village. Okonkwo is respected and is selected by the elders to be the
guardian of Ikemefuna, a boy who was taken as a prisoner by Okonkwo’s village
as a peace settlement between two villages after Ikemefuna's father killed an
Umuofian woman. The boy lives with Okonkwo's family and Okonkwo grows fond of
him although he lacks emotion toward him physically. The boy sees Okonkwo as a
father figure and looks up to him. The Oracle of Umuofia later on pronounces
that the boy must be killed to the order of his father’s actions. Ezeudu, the
oldest man in the village, advises Okonkwo to not have anything to do with the
murder of Ikemefuna because it would be
too painful for Okonkwo to bear. Okonkwo participates in the murder of the boy
despite the warning from the old man so he doesn’t seem weak to the public.
Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna despite his begging toward Okonkwo to protect him.
After Ikemefuna's death, things begin to go downhill for Okonkwo. During a gun
salute at Ezeudu's funeral, Okonkwo's gun explodes and kills Ezeudu's son. He
and his family are sent into exile for seven years to appease the gods which he
has offended. While Okonkwo is away, white men begin to arrive in Umuofia with
the intent of introducing a new religion. As the number of convert’s increases,
the foothold of the white people grows and a new government is introduced. The
village is forced to respond to the imposition of the white people's nascent.
When Okonkwo returns from exile, Okonkwo finds his village a very different
place because of the presence of the white men. He and other tribal leaders try
to reclaim their hold on their native land by destroying a local Christian
church set by the white men. In return, the leader of the white government
takes them as prisoners and holds them for ransom for a short while, further
humiliating and insulting the native leaders. As a result, the people of
Umuofia finally gather for what could be a great uprising. Okonkwo, a warrior
by nature and adamant about following Umuofian custom and tradition, despises
any form of cowardice and advocates for war against the white men. When
messengers of the white government try to stop the meeting, Okonkwo kills one
of them. He realizes with despair that the people of Umuofia are not going to
fight to protect themselves his society's response to such a conflict. When the
local leader of the white government comes to take Okonkwo to court, he finds
that Okonkwo had hung himself, because he didn’t want any change to be occurring.
2.) The theme of which was most relevant to me was pride and
how it affects a person’s life. A great leader and role model had a lot of
pride and didn’t show any obvious sign of weakness in public or around family. He
was born a warrior and believed himself to be strong. His pride led him too far
when he became emotionally involved with Ikemefuna. After this he had many problems. After getting
exile and coming back to his community he had to understand that most of the
things changed, but he didn’t listen. He wanted things his way and nothing
else. For him pride came before the fall, and this brought him to his destiny,
his death.
3.The tone of the book is ironic and tragic and told in a
very clear and direct way as if it were a story being passed on from one to
another. An example would be when Okonkwo’s disillusioned ideas of regaining
his position of greatness upon return from his exile create a tone of
pathos. The fable like tone still
remains, but the parables start to become integrated with stories of tragedy
and the white man, as opposed to all relating stories about family or village
values. Another example of tragic was when Okonkwo helped killed Ikemefuna.
This was very tragic in the eyes of the readers because he had raised the boy
like his son. An example of irony is
seeing throughout the book because men are allowed to have more than one wife
as long as they are able to raise them. Now a days, men can’t even handle one.
4.)The setting in Nigeria is extremely important; it allows
Okonkwo’s life to straddle. We the reader has a window into the dramatic
changes that occurred in Igbo culture and society as a result of imperialism.
For example, we see two different manners in which crimes of murdering a
clansman are treated Okonkwo is exiled for seven years under Igbo laws while
another man Aneto is hanged by the white court for a similar crime. (pt. 2.
pg.130)Imagery is something that is seeing clearly throughout the whole novel. Some
examples yams and Egwugwu. Growing yams is labor intensive, and the size of a
man’s fields and harvest say much about his work ethic. Yams are grown to gain
wealth and also to feed one’s family. Egwugwu are a symbol of the culture and
independence of the Umuofia. They are seen as ancestral gods, though in
actuality they are masked Umuofia elders. (pg.36)Symbolism: Okonkwo is compared
to the fire a lot of times throughout the story. This shows his passion to do
things his way. He's nickname was Roaring flame. (pg. 111)Allegory: Mothers and
daughters in the novel have a tendency to share folktales, but they are also
one of Okonkwo’s son Nwoye’s favorite forms of entertainment. Because Nwoye
prefers folktales over bloody war stories, Okonkwo fears that his son is too
effeminate. (pg.145) Foreshadow: This technique is a lot throughout the novel.
For example when Okonkwo helped killed his son we knew something bad was going
to happened because he was prohibit to help.(pg. 167) Syntax: The syntax that
the author uses is very simple to understand. For example "leave her to
me", the medicine man told Okonkwo in a cool, confidence voice. (pg. 103) Personification:
the author uses some personifications in this novel for example he talks about
yams etc. (pg. 156)
CHARACTERIZATION
1.)Two examples of direct characterization are Okonkwo and
Unoka. Son and father are very important to this novel because the author say
certain things about them, in straight forward words. Two characters that had indirect
characterization were Obierika and Ikemefuna. These two characters were somewhat
important to the plot, but not really. We had to make our own conclusions to
figure out their qualities.
2.) The author's
syntax or diction doesn’t change throughout the whole novel. His descriptions
about the characters are very simple and straight forward. He says this is how
this character is and this is why, period.
3.)The protagonist is a static character. Okonkwo had a lot
of pride and because of that he couldn’t see what the real world was about. He
wanted things his way and that brought his death.
4.) I myself would like to meet this character because it
reminds me of myself. I also have pride, but I know how and when to reason when
I have to. I think me and Okonkwo would have been good friends because we think
alike and also differences.
