Sunlight poured through the trees. The trees sparkle as well as the people the family encounter. Even the Misfit (leader of killers) shows an almost imperceptible spark of goodness right at the end of the story, and this comparison with "mean" trees that sparkle illustrates the sacred view of life. "
Then they burned down their houses. After this, one of the main missionaries kills himself. In the end, there is a huge war between
While Okonkwo was speaking with Obierika about the missionaries, Obierika announced,” We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay” ( Achebe 176). They, the people of Umuofia, only assumed that the missionaries were foolish with their new religion they were trying to convert them to. The Umuofians were close-minded and only thought their religion was the right religion. Long after Okonkwo returned to Umuofia after his exile, Mr. Brown was explaining their religion to Okonkwo, Mr. Brown explained, “ There are no gods… Chukwu is the only God and all others are false.
The forest gods, while wise, are cold and resentful. The human world, on the other hand, contains livelihood, love, and compassion. Even though humans are at war with nature, when the audience sees the inside of the industrial ironworks factory, they’re not working out of a militant desire or spite for the natural world, instead they are doing it to improve their town and create a better life for themselves. The factory workers laugh, play, and genuinely believe that their work will better mankind, ignorant to the fact that the forest around them is dying.
This was a fateful act because it could urge Umuofia to attack the missionaries, but Umuofia decided to not go to war. Okonkwo explains how the white missionaries have come in and converted all the Igbo people into their religion until their own tribes become too weak to fight back against them. The white missionaries described by Okonkwo, “brought a lunatic religion, but he had also built a trading store
The story creates a sense of unease from the beginning, building suspense and foreshadowing the dark ritual to come. The story’s themes are universal and relevant, as they speak to the dangers of groupthink, conformity, and blindly following
Once again, Nwoye found peace away from his father when the Christian missionaries came to Mbanta, the motherland where Okonkwo and his family were exiled to. Nwoye converted to Christianity and escaped the force of his father in their household. Okonkwo, of course, didn’t support his son’s decision and was completely against Nwoye leaving behind the tradition the Okonkwo followed so deeply. A paragraph in chapter seventeen reflects on Okonkwo’s thoughts. “To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about
Okonkwo and his clan go through a reversal when the missionaries come and take over their
The next point in which Nwoye seeks for a new him in his christianity life where Okonkwo almost loses it with him. But because of Okonkwo’s authority it’s extremely hard for him to direct his own son in the right direction away from the disgraceful religion. At first when the missionaries migrate to Mbanta Nwoye almost has to join this new religion because his faith has been weeknd. Long after Ikemefuna 's death as Nwoye tries to cope about his death. But he realizes Okonkwo his dad betrayed him by killing his adopted brother.
Because the missionaries do not respect the Igbo religion, tension in villagers like Okonkwo increases. Once the white missionaries arrive in the village of Igbo they immediately start criticizing the natives religion. One missionary even told the people that “they worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone.” completely
When Nwoye decides to leave his family to pursue his faith, Okonkwo realizes “But he left hold of Nwoye, who walked away and never returned.” Leaving his family and clans, Nwoye is confronting a huge change in his life. This change may be pretty hard to make because he has to discover a new world himself. Recalling at the very beginning, it is impossible for Nwoye to leave because he is not masculine enough to take his own adventure. However, now, he is no longer a boy relied on his family; rather, he becomes a mature man to decide his future path himself and accept his coming of age.
The jungle consumes the mind, body, and the soul of the invaders and causes more damage than bullets do. As time passes and the time the foreigners spend in the jungle, the jungle seems to become apart of them; almost as if they disappear. “They shared the weight of memory. They took up what others could no longer
This springs a collision between Okonkwo and Nwoye. Nwoye wants to become Christian and Okonkwo does not approve of what the white men introduced to the Ibo culture. There were other people in the clan like Okonkwo that went against their faith and claimed that everything the Christians believe in was false. Nwoye knows his father has a bad temper and so when Okonkwo found out that he wanted to convert, Nwoye knew that it would cause conflict, and Okonkwo would want to kill him. " Answer me," roared Okonkwo, "before I kill you!"
Similarly, Nwoye also resists the reputation of his own father by rejecting this masculine regime of Okonkwo and Igbo culture, showing feminine virtues instead. His intention to carry his beliefs on to his children is established when Okonkwo thinks to himself after he learns of Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity. Nwoye made the decision to leave Umofia after the realization that his views do not coincide with those of his society any longer due to the life time of exposure to the toxicity of Okonkwo’s masculine behavior. It is because he refuses to conform that Nwoye wishes to alter the reputation of himself and his family by joining a culture that he finds to reflect the values that he believes in, instead of those he was dejectedly forced into following by his
Therefore, Okonkwo asks Nwoye to quit listening to his mother's womanly stories and hear the tales of war. It is only when Ikemefuna arrives that Nwoye begins to behave masculine. After much training, Okonkwo is pleased with Nwoye’s changed behaviour and for this, he credits Ikemefuna. Okonkwo’s good friend, Obierika is a contradicting character – with a title equivalent to Okonkwo’s – with a completely different belief system. Obierika does not shy away from his feminine characteristics, just like Unoka, he is compassionate and gentle.
