Things Fall Apart II

ashley8 said...
I completely agree with Angel and Marrisa in the sense that the second part of Things Fall Apart, Achebe presents the readers with various ironic situations. For instance, after Okonkwo accidentally kills Ezeudu’s sixteen year old son, he was forced to immediately evacuate his hut and take himself and his family to live in his motherland for seven years. I feel that irony plays a role in this situation in more than one way and the first instance occurs when the readers discover that clan leaders refer to Okonkwo’s crime as “… the female, because it had been inadvertent.” (124) Considering the fact that Okonkwo has been portrayed as an angry, powerful, and dominate man, one who is willing to call other men females because of their unwillingness to engage in many of the activities that he has, it is ironic that he has now committed a females’ crime and is banned from the tribe that practically worships him. Another way in which Okonkwo’s situation is ironic comes about when his uncle, Uchendu, informs him that while he lives in exile on his motherland, his “duty is to comfort [his] wives and children and take them back to [his] fatherland after seven years”(134). In addition, if he allows “sorrow to weigh [him] down and kill [him], they will all die in exile” (134). Seeing as how in Umuofia, Okonkwo openly mentally and physically abused his wives and children on several different occasions, it seems nearly impossible for him to be able to uphold his duties of comforting and caring for his family. At the same time, Achebe previously stated that Okonkwo only shows the emotion of anger so maybe he will not allow his sorrows to distract him from his main goal, although soon after arriving in his motherland, he was already showing a lack of endurance since “work no longer had for him the pleasure it used to have, and when there was no work to do he sat in a silent half-sleep” (131). All of these elements make it very interesting to see if and/or how Okonkwo is able to prevail in this situation.

Also, in response to Marrisa’s question about Okonkwo and Obierika’s conversation on how Okonkwo can thank Obierika, when Obierika says he can either “kill one of [his] sons …” (142) or kill himself, I too was wondering if Obierika was serious or not. However, I feel that Obierika’s comment was said in more of a joking tone than a serious tone because Obierika and Okonkwo are very close friends, especially since Obierika took it upon himself to help Okonkwo out by selling all of Okonkwo’s yams without being asked to do so. But at the same time, I also feel that in a small way, Obierika truly meant what he said because on page 125, Achebe says “Obierika was a man who thought about things. When the will of the goddess had been done, he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend’s calamity.” I think that when Obierika made his statement, a bit of jealousy may have overtook his judgment because Obierika is seen as just a friend of a well-known and feared man. Unlike Okonkwo, Obierika doesn’t have many titles and other items that signify him as a wealthy and strong man in his clan, like Okonkwo does. After Obierika began to really think about committing inadvertent crimes, he thought about “his wife’s twin children”, (125) and how he was forced to throw them away. Obierika probably thought about all of the crimes of mistreat Okonkwo has committed towards his family and all of the while; Okonkwo was able to get way with them because he was a clan leader. I feel that Obierika could have begun to feel resentment towards Okonkwo and he was realizing that Okonkwo was finally receiving the punishment that he deserved after so many years.

July 11, 2008 1:28 PM