He has put a

knife
on the
things
thatus
held
together
and we
have fallen
apart
Kelly Smith
Period 1
English (H) II
Mrs. Elrod
December 6, 2012

QUOTE

COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS

As the elders said, if a child washed

his hands he could eat with kings.
Page 6

This relates to Okonkwo because

Okonkwo completely changed his
life around by becoming a successful
farmer and wrestler, instead of
following in the path of his
unsuccessful father. By doing this he
has essentially washed his hands
as in starting over and becoming
respected and successful, like
people kings would dine with.
But his whole life was dominated by This is a description of Okonkwos
fear, the fear of failure and of
thought process and how everything
weakness. It was deeper and more
he does is influenced by these fears.
intimate than the fear of evil and
This is a very interesting excerpt
capricious gods and of magic, the
because these are things that the
fear of the forest, and of the forces
Ibo people fear the most, yet
of nature, malevolent, red in tooth
Okonkwo was far more fearful of
and claw. Page 9-10
becoming his father than of the
wrath of the gods and the
supernatural elements of the Ibo
religion.
He had sown four hundred seeds
This quote displays how hard
when the rains dried up and the
Okonkwo works to earn respect even
heat returned. He watched the sky
in a dreadful harvest season. He did
all day for signs of rain clouds and
this to show how hard he would
lay awake all night. Page 19
work in order to be recognized as a
successful and diligent farmer.
Without looking at the man Okonkwo
had said: "This meeting is for men."
The man who had contradicted him
had no titles. That was why he had
called him a woman. Okonkwo knew
how to kill a man's spirit. Page 20

Okonkwo is constantly criticizing

others of not being as successful as
him and this is somewhat of a
retribution for what others did to
him when he was a child, mentioned
on Page 11 Even as a little boy he
had resented his father's failure and
weakness, and even now he still
remembered how he had suffered
when a playmate had told him that
his father was agbala.. He vowed to
make a name for himself and tends
to belittle others who arent as
successful as he is.

He pressed the trigger and there

was a loud report accompanied by
the wail of his wives and children.
He threw down the gun and jumped
into the barn and there lay the
woman, very much shaken and
frightened but quite unhurt. Page
31

This is a fairly ironic situation, as

Okonkwo shot at her because she
ridiculed his shooting skills, only to
have Okonkwo miss a shot at
shooting her. This also comes up
later, when Okonkwos gun explodes
which accidently kills someone
during a funeral ritual.

Three men beat them with sticks,

working feverishly from one drum to
another. They were possessed by
the spirit of the drums. Page 37

This metaphor describes how

passionate the Ibo people felt about
music, and also how they had gods
for nearly everything practiced by
Ibo people. The gods were very
important to the Ibo people and felt
that they would possess them when
they were performing with strong
devotion.
The arrival of the locusts represents
the foreshadowing of what comes
later in the book, which are the
white men. The white men act very
similar, by coming in small groups at
a time, like the locusts and also
represent that something new will
take place and change the village.

"Locusts are descending," was

joyfully chanted everywhere, and
men, women and children left their
work or their play and ran into the
open to see the unfamiliar sight. The
locusts had not come for many,
many years, and only the old people
had seen them before. Page 44
"When did you become a shivering
old woman," Okonkwo asked
himself, "you, who are known in all
the nine villages for 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." Page 51

Of his three wives Ekwefi was the

only one who would have the
audacity to bang on his door.
"Ezinma is dying," came her voice,
and all the tragedy and sorrow of
her life were packed in those words.
Okonkwo sprang from his bed,

This represents Okonkwos constant

struggle to appear as strong and
reserved. When he talks to himself
about being a woman, this is
bewildering to some because
Okonkwo thought of Ikemefuma as a
son and it is accepted to be upset
over a sons death, but Okonkwo
convinces himself that he is acting
like a woman when he should be
acting like a strong and unchanged
man.
Although Okonkwo is constantly
appearing to be indifferent about
most things and sometimes comes
off as relentless, when Ezinma was
ill with malaria, he literally ran from
his bed to see her. He later buys and
collects many supplies in order to

pushed back the bolt on his door

and ran into Ekwefi's hut.
Page 60-61
The wave struck the women and
children and there was a backward
stampede. But it was momentary.
They were already far enough where
they stood and there was room for
running away if any of them should
go towards them. Page 71
At the mention of Ezinma's name
Ekwefi jerked her head sharply like
an animal that had sniffed death in
the air. Her heart jumped painfully
within her. Page 82

"Life to all of us," he said as he

broke it. "And let there be friendship
between your family and ours." Page
96

They each made nine or ten trips

carrying Okonkwo's yams to store in
Obierika's barn. Page 101

"You think you are the greatest

cure her and brews her a cure.

Ezinma is often referred to as
Okonkwos favorite child and is
Ekwefis only living child, and she is
extremely special to her.
This shows how fearful the women
are of the egwugwu because they
feel that it is instinctive to fear
them. Fear plays a very large role in
Ibo religion, which also leads to the
conflict with the Christians towards
the end of the book.
This shows how protecting Ekwefi is
of Ezinma, due to the fact that
Ezinma is her only surviving child.
She has a very close bond with
Ezinma, as if they were best friends.
After this excerpt, Ekwefi proceeds
to defy Chielos orders by following
her and Ezinma to make sure she is
safe and remains unharmed.
Okonkwo also later joins Ekwefi to
ensure that they both are safe,
which displays how much Okonkwo
cares for Ezinma.
I feel that this quote describes how
marriage between Ibo people is
more like an agreement between
families to support each other and
be friendly than getting married for
love. This and the bride prices that
are paid to the brides parents also
describe how it is more of an
agreement.
When Obierika does this for
Okonkwo after it is prohibited to do
so, it shows how good of friends
Okonkwo and Obierika have been to
each other and that Okonkwo is a
valued friend by Obierika. Obierika
later brings the earnings from the
yams to Okonkwo, which is very
generous of him to make the journey
to Mbanta.
When Uchendu is giving this pep-

sufferer in the world? Do you know

that men are sometimes banished
for life? Do you know that men
sometimes lose all their yams and
even their children? Page 107

"And he was riding an iron horse.

The first people who saw him ran
away, but he stood beckoning to
them. In the end the fearless ones
went near and even touched him.
The elders consulted their Oracle
and it told them that the strange
man would break their clan and
spread destruction among them."
Page 110
"We have been sent by this great
God to ask you to leave your wicked
ways and false gods and turn to Him
so that you may be saved when you
die." Page 115

But Nwoye resembled his

grandfather, Unoka, who was
Okonkwo's father. He pushed the
thought out of his mind. He,
Okonkwo, was called a flaming fire.
How could he have begotten a
woman for a son? Page 122

This was a womanly clan, he

thought. Such a thing could never
happen in his fatherland, Umuofia.

talk to Okonkwo, he is trying to

explain how Okonkwo needs to
cheer up and to stop beating himself
up about his banishment. He
explains how Okonkwo is not the
only one who has ever had a hard
time and how he needs to accept his
sentence and to make the best out
of a bad situation.
This explains how the Ibo people
were truly afraid of this strange man
and his iron horse. They were so
afraid that they consulted the oracle
who told them to kill the white man.
After they killed him out of fear, the
entire village of Abame was wiped
out and the white men who wiped
out the village are referred to as
locusts because they are very
unexpected and unknown by the Ibo
people.
When the Ibo people hear the
missionaries saying this, they laugh
and do not take them seriously. They
even mock their poor translation of
the language and their
interpretation of the Ibo religion.
This represents how much the Ibo
people underestimated the
missionaries power and what they
were capable of.
The thoughts going through
Okonkwos head of how Nwoye had
betrayed him made him question
whether or not he was actually his
son. He then proceeds to compare
how Nwoye resembles Unoka, after
Okonkwo had always feared that
Nwoye would end up like him. He
then calls Nwoye a woman, for
refusing to recognize Okonkwo as
his father and because Nwoye
converted to Christianity.
When in Mbanta, Okonkwo dislikes
the decision to simply ignore the
Christians, after Okonkwo suggests

Page 127

going to war with them. He then

makes an ironic statement, because
he defends Umuofia by saying it
would never happen there, but it
currently was going on there.
But I fear for you young people
When the member of the umunna
because you do not understand how tells this at the feast, he tells how if
strong is the bond of kinship. You do the clan does not stay together and
not know what it is to speak with
unite, then the clan will fall apart.
one voice. And what is the result? An This is foreshadowing because even
abominable religion has settled
after this is addressed, the clan
among you. A man can now leave
continued to fall apart and break
his father and his brothers. He can
away from each other.
curse the gods of his fathers and his
ancestors, like a hunter's dog that
suddenly goes mad and turns on his
master. I fear for you, I fear for the
clan." Page 133
"Perhaps I have been away too
long," Okonkwo said, almost to
himself. "But I cannot understand
these things you tell me. What is it
that has happened to our people?
Why have they lost the power to
fight?" Page 137

Okonkwo had been planning his

return for so long, that he didnt
realize how much of an impact the
Christians would have on Umuofia
and he believed that Umuofia would
never succumb to the Christian
wishes, but they had established
hospitals, schools and a government
there. He wonders what happened
to his people during his exile, and
why they have lost their ability to
defend their culture.
Whenever Mr. Brown went to that
This shows how tolerant Mr. Brown
village he spent long hours with
was of the Ibo religion and tried to
Akunna in his obi talking through an have some sort of Ibo- Christian
interpreter about religion. Neither of religion and tried to have people
them succeeded in converting the
understand it under those
other but they learned more about
circumstances. Mr. Brown was much
their different beliefs. Page 139
more understanding towards the
Ibo, unlike his successor, Mr. Smith.
Enoch fell on him and tore off his
When Enoch kills the spirit, the
mask. The other egwugwu
entire village feels that their religion
immediately surrounded their
has defied them, since they have
desecrated companion, to shield him seemingly been lying to them about
from the profane gaze of women
the spirits all along. When the spirit
and children, and led him away.
was killed, it ensued much confusion
Enoch had killed an ancestral spirit,
about the Ibo religion. When the clan

and Umuofia was thrown into

confusion. Page 145
That must not happen in the
dominion of our queen, the most
powerful ruler in the world. I have
decided that you will pay a fine of
two hundred bags of cowries. You
will be released as soon as you
agree to this and undertake to
collect that fine from your people.
What do you say to that?" The six
men remained sullen and silent and
the Commissioner left them for a
while. He told the court messengers,
when he left the guardroom, to treat
the men with respect because they
were the leaders of Umuofia. They
said, "Yes sir," and saluted. Page 151

burns down the church, a temporary

relief is issued through the Ibo
religion.
This passage represents how the Ibo
people have began to submit to the
white mens wishes. This is
upsetting because people that have
only recently arrived on the land,
which displays just how much power
the white men have over the Ibo
people, are fining the Ibo people.
When they are arrested, they also
threaten to hang all six of them if
the fine is not paid in the given
amount of time. Due to this threat,
the fine was paid quickly.

Okonkwo slept very little that night.

The bitterness in his heart was now
mixed with a kind of childlike
excitement, before he had gone to
bed he had brought down his war
dress, which he had not touched
since his return from exile. Page
155

Okonkwo was truly at a hard time in

his life. He did not know whether to
feel angry or sad, and the clansmen
didnt even know how to respond to
their recent arrest. They remained
quiet and didnt have many words to
describe their emotions.

In a flash Okonkwo drew his

machete. The messenger crouched
to avoid the blow. It was useless.
Okonkwo's machete descended
twice and the man's head lay beside
his uniformed body. Page 160

After the messenger called for the

meeting to end, Okonkwo was
enraged and decapitated the
messenger. He did this because he
knew that Umuofia would never
decide to willingly go to war, and he
knew that this would immediately
cause a major conflict in the town.
Okonkwo had hung himself because
he felt that he had no place in the
clan anymore and also he felt that
he could never match the power of
the white men.

Then they came to the tree from

which Okonkwo's body was
dangling, and they stopped dead.
Page 161
"That man was one of the greatest

Due to Igbos strict rules against

men in Umuofia. You drove him to

kill himself and now he will be buried
like a dog..." He could not say any
more. His voice trembled and
choked his words. Page 162

touching a body that has committed

suicide, the White Men are taking
down the body. Obierika watches
this in horror and is at a loss of
words while they took his body
down. He makes this statement
because of how much of a hero
Okonkwo was only to be recognized
as the man who killed the
messenger, and later hung himself
by the white men.