Dear Students,
While I am out today, please complete the following tasks:
1. COMMENT BELOW
At the bottom of this post, respond to today's FREE WRITE prompt:
Okonkwo, in his own way, embodies both the weakest and strongest elements of his own culture. Explain how with an example from the story. In other words, look for ways Okonkwo demonstrates complexity and shows two sides of himself that are at war with one another. Answer in 5-10 complete, thoughtful sentences that includes at least one quoted piece of text evidence and commentary with your interpretation.
2. THINGS FALL APART BACKGROUND INFORMATION
After you have left a comment below with your answer to the prompt, go to THIS SITE and explore information about Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, and the Igbo culture. Be aware that some info on the site might contain spoilers regarding the end of the novel. If you choose to watch the video, make sure you don't go too far!
3. ACTIVELY LEARN
When you have finished exploring the above site, spend the rest of the period reading Things Fall Apart and answering questions on Actively Learn.
I will see you all tomorrow!
Mr. Barker
P.S. Your quiz grades for Chapters 4-8 should have been sent to your school gmail. Check!
Okonkwo shows two different sides of him through his relationship with Ikemefuna. The decision to kill him showed the weaker side of him in the story, but he had to put on a mask of strength, and do the deed himself. He struggled the days after the death of Ikemefuna, which showed the his feelings took over his strength. The battle between the ruptuation Okonkwo has earned versus how Okonkwo feels in certain moments shows the conflict in his mind.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo shows his torn identity through his relationship with Ikemefuna. He shows weakness on the inside when he is with Ikemefuna and how he is starting to love him like a his own son. But on the outside, Okonkwo needed to stay strong and have a hard exterior, in order to keep his reputation intact. When they were "bringing Ikemefuna to his hometown", Okonkwo did not want Ikemefuna to be killed and when he finally did kill him, it was because he did not want people to think of him as weak.
ReplyDeleteDue to his desire to conform to his culture's standards of greatness, Okonkwo's emotional side conflicts with his anger and strength. In Igbo culture, two important factors that contribute to social status is blood family relations and whether one is male or female. Okonkwo's craven father was a detriment to Okonkwo's status as he was infamous for his debts and laziness. However, Okonkwo used his anger towards his father as a way to fuel his determination to be different from his father. Eventually, he becomes weathly and well-respcted in his community by being a prolific farmer, fighting mercilessly, and marrying three women. However, apart from the image he present for his community, OKonkwo harbors emotions that he does not show. He favors one of his daughters over his eldest son, despite the fact that society tells him that he should deidicate himself completely to making his heir a great successor. Additionally, Ikemefuna, a boy given to Okonkwo's village as payment for the murder of a prominent man's daughter, becomes a part of Okonkwo's family and is favored by Okonkwo until he is forced to kill the boy. OKonkwo struggles with his emotions towards his children and not being allowed to let those feelings manifest themselves. To cope with his emotions, Okonkwo often turns to violence and anger to reaffirm his strength and power to those around him.
ReplyDelete1. When the Oracle said that Ikemefuna had to be killed, Okonkwo agreed and went with the men to kill him. Although Ikemefuna was like a son to Okonkwo, Okonkwo didn't want to look weak so he let him get killed. Days after Ikemefuna died Okonkwo felt depressed and sad but didn't want to aknowledge it. He drank wine and didn't sleep. In his conversation with his best friend Obierka in chapter nine he first referred to Okonkwo as "that boy" but later on he says "But if the Oracle said that my son should be killed I would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it". He saw Okonkwo as his son and although he thinks men should be strong and tough, he still loves Okonkwo and this shows his two sides.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo is afraid of failure because his father's failure was a great burden for him during his childhood, so he made himself "hate everything his father Unoka had loved" because he feared becoming someone he hated. This made him follow whatever rules or customs necessary to climb the ladder of his society. In that way, he is only able to appear *strong* to his peers by being *weak* before "the establishment". This hidden self of his is shown many times throughout the novel and example of which can be seen here: "Okonkwo never showed any emotions openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength."
ReplyDeleteOh, and I guess that relates to his culture because his culture had strict customs for social conducts yet they loved fun and festivity.
DeleteOkonkwo is a sort of personification of the Igbo values of strength and honor. Okonkwo is everything an Igbo man would want to be, a great wrestler and warrior, in possession of many titles and wives, and wealth (yams). Okonkwo also shows the lack of emotions and bravery, which are attributes in very high regard to Igbo men. Yet at the same time he shows little regard, or even levels of disrespect to the spiritual aspect of Igbo culture, particularly towards his ancestors. Igbo really doesn't care for the religious rituals if it doesn't benefit him, as seen when he breaks the Week of Peace to harm his wife over trivial matters. And the Igbo value of self worth is completely disregarded as he blames his father for many of his problems. And more on his father, he completely disrespects him which is really odd for Igbos to do to their deceased, even if they were not exemplary. To this degree he shows two opposites when it comes to Igbo culture.
ReplyDeleteAn example of when Okonkwo shoes two different sides of himself is when he has to accept that Ikemefuna has to be killed. Before Okonkwo is informed that Ikemefuna has to be killed, Okonkwo tells his sons a story of how one has to be strong, kill, and be part of wars to be seen as manly. When the time comes to finally kill Ikemefuna, Okonkwo shows his weak side because he starts thinking how he loves Ikemefuna and how he dose not deserve to be killed. Despite loving Ikemefuna, Okonkwo decides to take part in the killing of Ikemefuna because he wants to prove to everyone that he is a man who is not afraid of anything or has feelings. Okonkwos different sides clash when after he killed his son, he starts to regret it and as a result, gets depressed. Onkonkwo is struggling to please both of sides. He wants to be a loving father but he remembers that if he is too loving, he will lose respect from the villagers and will be seen as weak.
ReplyDeleteOkonwo embodies both the weakest and strongest parts of his culture as is shown by when he beats his wife during the week of peace. This shows his strong side because he is being a firm husband, and strict within his family by keeping a strong family heirarchy. This also shows his weak side, according to his culture because he broke the laws of the sacred week, and also it is shown by the trial of one of the Igbo members that beating their wives was seen as weak and cowardly. Although Okonkwo understood that it was wrong to beat his wife during the week, he had to preserve his pride so he followed through with the beating. Also, Okonkwo understands the values that men must hold in Igbo culture, but he takes it to a whole new level by making sure to capture his ideals of pride and courage even before he conforms to the ideas of Agbala and his tribe.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo's first priority is to make sure that others perceive him as a strong and violent man that cannot be challenged. He makes sure his goal of looking powerful is achieved by taking extreme measures in fear that he would suffer his father's fate. He shows no outward affection to others, even those he loves, in fear of being mistaken as weak. When Okonkwo becomes successful and recognized in Igbo society, he abuses his power. He becomes more violent as he is afraid to lose his respect and fall back into the same route his father went down. But, he is unable to sustain his violent acts when Ikemefuma dies. His love for the boy ultimately makes him weaker, as he is unable to continue on with normal life after he kills him. He feels that he is not able to continue putting on a front to make himself look powerful when in fact, he feels weak. Okonkwo inner emotions come to light for the first time, as he is unable to eat and feels sick.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo's true beliefs were tested when he was given the choice to spare or kill his "adopted" son Ikemefuma. Due to his conviction to fix his father's mistakes, he embodies all of his tribe's qualities associated with strength and manliness. However, he realized he took it too far when even his best friend disagreed with his actions: "But if the Oracle said that my son should be killed I would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it". Also, he is weak in that he ignores his emotions, and ignores the "womanly" side of their tribe, which deals with all the concepts in their tribe that aren't war. He stuffs all his emotions inside of himself and tries to ignore him, but they only make him weaker and held down by the emotions he harbors inside of himself.
ReplyDeleteAn example of his personal mind is when Okonkwo starts to have a strong bond with Ikemefuna. He may not show it in his emotions but he feels this way since his other son is more lazy. "To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength"(Chap 4). Nwoye will eventually start to be inspired by Ikemefuna and open up more to his father which makes Ikemefuna have an even stronger bond with him. Later in Okonkwo's other mind when he has just connected with Ikemefuna, he finds out that the clan has to kill Ikemefuna for a sacrifice. Okonkwo tricks Ikemefuna by telling him that he is going back home. When the stop a man with a machete stabs him in the back and asks for Okonkwo's help, but to show his strength he has to kill him. Later, Okonkwo doesn't sleep very well for a couple of days after Ikemefuna's death. His sense of emotion hits him when he becomes weak and very sick. Okonkwo has lost something very important to him.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo demonstrates complexity and shows two sides of himself that are at war with one another after Ikemefuna's death. When Okonkwo come back home, he didn't feel like himself, he hasn't eaten for two days, he only drank wine, he was depressed, he hated the feeling that he was experiencing from the death of Ikemefuna, and he was shaming himself for feeling grief. Slowly, he was hating himself. From this, Okonkwo's emotions were challenging his manly-hood culture and Okonkwo does not know how to express his pain, his grief-except from acknowledging them as a 'women's emotion', all he wills to say is 'a son' because Ikemefuna is still living inside his head.
ReplyDelete"Okonkwo asked himself, "you, who are known in all the nine villagesfor your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed""(chapter eight).
Okonkwo is a very prideful and strong warrior but he has many flaws. Since his dad was dishonorable and had no titles, Okonkwo set out to be better in all aspects than his father. He tries to be what all men in the Igbo culture tries to be, a strong man who everyone respects. While he might have achieved this by starting from scratch and building a big family, he has flaws. His pride sometimes gets in his way and makes him break rules. He did't want to seem weak so he beat his wife even though it was peace week. Also, he was asked not to kill Ikemefuna because he was too close to being kin but again he didn't want to seem weak so he killed him.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo embodies both the weakest and strongest elements of his own culture after he had to spectate his loved one sacrificed by oracle's decree. In the novel it shows that, "Okonkwo never showed any emotions openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength." After Ikemefuna got killed by his village people beacuse of the oracle's decree, Okonkwo disappointed at himself that he was too weak and had no power to protect one he loved as a family. What Okonkwo showed in this moment is that, in the village, he describes as a great warrior but at this point he demonstrates weakest element by not doing any action about protecting his family. I guess the oracle's decree is a ultimate rule for him because the oracle is a place of god in his village so he couldn't deny his or her decree.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo is the perfect image of an Igbo man on the strength side. He is wealthy, has many titles, and he is a great warrior. However when it comes to the respect of ancestors and the spiritual side of Igbo culture, he is very lacing. Okonkwo chooses to blatantly disrespect the Gods. It is almost as if Okonkwo does not care about the religious side of his culture. I think he is triggered from his upbringing and his past. He feels as though since his father was such a weak man he needs to make up for that by being a strong man. I think he feels like the Gods have never done anything for him so why give them respect.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo is able to present both sides of himself; strong and powerful, but also insecure about failure. He is able to feel mighty when he is fighting and doing great things. He represents an ideal Igbo man, and is respected by all. On the other hand, he has major weakness at different times, such as when Ikemefuna dies. Since he shared a bond with him, he feels a great loss. He is unable to continue on normally, and feels depressed and vulnerable.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo shows how he is the strongest by never showing compromising emotions. He always shows he is the strongest by his actions and not through baseless claims. But this causes him to always be angry and never shows that he cares for his children. He wand the best for them but does not show it. He shot at his wife but felt bad about t right after.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo shows both "weakness" and "strength" in how he deals with the death of Ikemefuma. He is unable to sleep and doesn't really know what to do with the grief and guilt that hang over him. Eventually though, he does get over Ikemefuma's death, it is shown that he has gotten over the death of the boy that called him father when Okonwko slept "for the first time in three days". His ability to get over grief with little outward emotion is proof that, at least in his village's way of thinking, he is strong. The fact that he was so disturbed by what he did shows that he has emotions though, which means he is also "weak".
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo is a has a complex personality. He shows strength and power, but in a instant he can change by showing fear. One example of this is when he talks about his father and how he was a failure. He shows strength and courage because he does not what to end up like his father. Speaking about his father Okonkwo also feels fear that he might end up like his father.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo shows his mixed identity when he was with Ikemfuna. Even though he was not his son, Ikemfuna personality was very appreciated and liked by Okonkwo. He liked how Ikemfuna was very smart except that Okonwko could never show his love for Ikemfuna because he tough those emotions were weak. His internal conflict was shown when, " He did not sleep at nigh. He tried not to think about Ikemfuna, ut the more he tried the more he though of him Okonkwo is shown here how that he has pity or emotions towards his loved ones.He has always been shown as a man and a leader of his society but now he feels depressed and unable to show his pride.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo, in his own way, embodies both the weakest and strongest elements of his own culture. Explain how with an example from the story. In other words, look for ways Okonkwo demonstrates complexity and shows two sides of himself that are at war with one another. Answer in 5-10 complete, thoughtful sentences that includes at least one quoted piece of text evidence and commentary with your interpretation.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo is able to represent both the weakest and strongest points of his culture by upholding power and strength, but also showing emotion and doing harm. In one way Okonkwo embraces his culture by becoming strong and wealthy, he is able to have a flourishing yam farm and multiple wives. The Igbo culture holds power and wealth highly and Okonkwo was even revered for his strength in wrestling. One way that Okonwko does not follow the culture is that he will often not care as much for religious practice or let his anger get the better of him. When he beat his wife during the week of peace he broke the sacred practice and people condemned him. Another example of his feelings getting the better of him was when he did not sleep for three days and got drunk after Ikemefuna dies. He is showing emotion and that he cares for a boy that he was only supposed to take in, not care about. Okonkwo shows us the Igbo culture and what it upholds by being upheld for strength, but also being cast down by himself and others for breaking practices and showing emotion.
Two sides of himself that go to war are his weak and strong side. Okonkwo loves Ikemefuna as his own, which was why it was hard for him when he found out they had to kill him. Okonkow, to be seen as strong and not weak he killed Ikemefuna as he ran to him for protection. "He was afraid of being thought weak" the only reason Okonkow did this was being be didn't want to be seen as weak, not that he didn't love Ikemefuna. This really end up affecting him because the days after that he couldn't sleep or eat. He was trying to be strong but at the end resulted of him showing himself weakness.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo never wanted to show that he was weak. His after shared his emotions with people so they knew all of his weakness, while Okonkwo doesn't revel things about himself. Okonkwo is what people would call the "igbo man" everyone likes him. Sure he did things that he didn't want to but at the same time he didn't let people down. He followed through with all of this actions.
ReplyDeleteThe strong element of Okonkwo is all the titles that he has gathered over the years. He is the perfect strong man that every boy is told to be like when they're older. However Okonkwo's weakness lies withen his mind. Okonkwo suppresses all of his "Feminine" emotions so that he doesn't show any weakness this is brought up in the book when the Achebe wrote, "Okonkwo never showed any emotions openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength". This is against Igbo culture because Okonkwo only shows anger to not be like Unoka. In Igbo culture you are supposed to respect your elders but Okonkwo does everything he can to forget about Unoka. Okonkwo also disrepects the Igbo traditions by trying to kill his wife during the week of peace.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo respects his culture by fulfilling the Oracle's request when killing Ikemefuma. This represents the strong side of the Ibo culture because he does not let family or friendly acquaintances get in the way of completing the task. While on the other hand, because of this type of tunnel vision, Okonkwo can prove weak. When he beats his wife during the week of peace, it shows that he doesn't fall into line with the other people of the tribe following the rules. Okonwko is weak in this sense because he cannot go without punishing his wife.
ReplyDeleteHow Okonkwo embodies both the weakest and strongest elements of his own culture can be shown in his relationship with Ikemefuna. One side of him is "weak", which he skillfully hides without showing anyone. This weakness can is emphasized by feeling loss by the death of Ikemefuna. He could not sleep or eat, feeling great regret and sorrow for his own son. His other side, which he shows to everyone else, is strong and proud. This is a a facade which he put up to gain fame and power in all of the villages. He shows this side even when he is about to cry, but doesn't want to look weak in front of the other people. The narrator explains by saying "Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak." This shows that even though he has his soft and weak side that doesn't want to kill his own son, his more dominant and strong side takes over because he does not want to show that weakness in front of other people.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo's actions represent two extremes of his culture, one where he shows no mercy, and the other where he is fearful. These two contradictory traits are exemplified when Okonkwo goes with his tribe into the forest to kill Ikemefuna. When Ikemefuna runs up to Okonkwo, Okonkwo goes through a large range of emotion. He feels pity and is sorry that he has to kill a boy he considers to be his son and wants to show mercy, but at the same time he has to maintain his image as a strong warrior who shows no compassion. These two emotions create an internal struggle in Okonkwo and stay with him for the days after he kills Ikemefuna, making him lethaegic and unproductive. This also causes another internal struggle within Okonkwo who is afraid of turning into his washed-out father.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo is conflicted because he is a loving good man but he is so scared of being like his father, he often does violent things to display his strength and assert his powerful status. His kind side is seen when he treats Ikemefuna like a son. Even after he kills him he is tremendously sad because he loved the boy dearly as shown by the quote "Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna". It is also possible he did this because he felt guilty. When Ikemefuna's death sentence was told to him, he was also told to stay at home and not go. However, scared that he would look like someone who is afraid of killing and blood and possibly embarrassed to have loved Ikemefuna, he goes anyway. This shows how his fear of looking weak, a common weakness of his culture, interferes with his kindness towards others, a positive trait of his culture.
ReplyDeleteOne sine of weakness he shows is when he feels bad about killing his son. He was sad and depressed when that happened because he wasn't thinking about what he was doing and well that had a consonances. Another thing he has is strength and that kinda shows when he fights people. He sometimes beasts his wife but i am not sure if that is straight or weak.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo has two sides to him, a weaker side and a stronger side. We usually see the stronger side of him which he tries to show the most. The weaker side of him hadn't been shown in the story before the death of Ikemefuna. When he killed Ikemefuna, he thought that killing him would make him strong in the eyes of the other men. Instead killing Ikemefuna tore him down and made him show his weak side. When he comes home after the incident we see how much killing Ikemefuna affected him because he starts to drink all day and he doesn't eat for days. He tries to cope with his death by drinking and he tries not to show emotion. He tries to cope with his loss, but he can't do it by showing emotions because the his definition of a man doesn't allow him to.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo shows he is the strongest by always coming out with win in all type of aspects. But at the same time he is like his father and is caring, When the teenager from the other tribe was accepted Okonkwo was the one to bring him into his home and family. But when he is angry he is never worried if someone gets hurts. He loses control.
ReplyDeletethe way that okonowo is representing himself shows that he wants to represent.No matter if it's the high or low points of his culture and what he believes in. He wants everyone to see what it is and how good and some obstacles that people need to go through.In my eyes okonowo is proud of his culture but he does believe that there is something wrong with them. Between the two emotions that okonowo has to carry its a lot for him to maintain.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo is conflicted when he kills his "son" because he doesn't want to kill him. Ikemefuna is his favorite son and he is the most proud of him. Okonkwo ends up killing Ikemefuna because he doesn't want to appear weak in the eyes of his fellow tribe members. His fear of being weak comes from his father who not a real man, according to Okonkwo, and he doesn't want to be anything like his father. This idea of having others think of him as weak doesn't allow him to do actions that seem nice.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo has two obvious traits and that is respected and strong. One hidden trait is that he is very vulnerable. When his adopted son Ikemefuma is killed, Okonkwo tries to hide his pain when really it is hurting his deeply. To make up for his lack of happiness and strength, he results to violent and destructive acts. He does this to make others respect him more. Okonkwo always strives to be the ideal Igbo leader, but his constant reminder of how he needs to live up to his father disables him from doing that.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo embodies weakest and strongest with his fear of failure. He is at his strongest when he fears fear because then he will stray away from failure and tries to succeed and that got him far. For example, he is successful, has a farm, and 3 wives. Okonkwo weakest is when he reacts with anger or negativity towards conflicts. He views his son Ikemefuna are negative on how he thinks he’s lazy. Also when the decision on killing him also shows weakness for no sacrifices.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo really does try hard to display his following of the custom of manliness. He does whatever he believes a man would do in any given situation, even if he doesn't really want to do it. Okonkwo kills his own son/kidnapped son/slave despite liking him a lot because it would be petty to back down. Doing things to gain the attention and admiration of others for his manliness hurts him, and overall causes him a lot of stress. It is good that he is striving for power and authority, but in doing that he hurts the people around him that he likes.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo's internal conflicts come to light through his relationship with Ikemefuna. Although he clearly treats the boy as he would his own children, he still chose to kill him. Igbo culture would have us believe that Okonkwo is weak for loving Ikemefuna as a son and strong for killing him, but the reality is much more complicated. Okonkwo has a side that is manly and violent and practical, but he is also a caring and considerate man. This leads to quite a lot of internal conflict, because Okonkwo often finds himself caught between these two sides of his personality.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo demonstrates his two personalities with the relationship with Ikemefuna. Okonkwo takes in Ikemefuma and becomes attached to him as if he was his own son, but never shows that card of liking him because Okonkwo has an act of being feared and being a tough guy. His descion of taking Ikemefunas life showed the weaker side of him. He only cares about how he is as a person towards others, which was the reason behind Okonkwo killing Ikemefuna.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo is scared being like his father, but likes being respected and show power no matter what it takes.Okonkwo shows two sides of him when he has complications with Ikemefuna which are power and respect . One of his sides is that he has aggressive behavior towards the people he cares about so they'll know he's powerful. His other is side is showing manly hood so he would be respected among the people in his village. Instead being happy and have love he goes on the more disruptive behavior
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo embodies weakness on the fact that he does not want to be a failure,he gets angry when people say he is weak. Okonkwo does not want to end up like his father. It was so hard for him when he was told that they had to kill ikemefuna he did not want to do it, be he had too if he did not want to seem weak anymore.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo shows complexity through two sides of his personality, with one side being the stronger side. He demonstrates strength both physically and mentally. Through his notable wrestling, and him showing enough courage and strength to kill Ikemefuna, he shows that although he does care about his culture and pride through wrestling, times come when he has to be brave and branch out of him comfort zone. His comfort zone shows through after the death of Ikemefuma, when he is deeply distraught and realizes how much love he had for his "son". He is left feeling depressed after what had happened, displaying a sign of weakness.
ReplyDeleteOkonkwo has struggled his whole life to be the complete opposite of his father who was considered a failure and weak. Okonkwo built himself to be a strong warrior gaining the admiration of the entire tribe. This strong warrior shell Okonkwo built around himself is just one layer of who he is as a person.When Okonkwo is asked to kill Ikemefuna who was like a son to him he's defiant as first. Oknonkwo's love for his son conflicts with the perception of him being a strong warrior with no emotional attachments so he kills Ikemefuna not just to protect his reputation but out of fear of becoming like his father.
ReplyDelete