The Ibo People vs. The White men

Lily Tikijian
September 24, 2008
Literature Period 6
Mrs. Pfanschmidt


Ibo People vs. The White Man

The Ibo people first believe that the white people aren’t so bad at first. They think this because of Reverend Brown. He tries to learn about their religion and there culture by talking to them. He tries to understand them and there belief system. All of the Ibo people respect him and think he is a nice man. Reverend Brown is the only one of the missionaries that tries to learn and respect their cultures and beliefs. Even though he doesn’t agree with them, he still tries to respect them and try to set them straight. He tells them about how there is only one main god and then they explain that they do only have on god but he created many other gods as his messengers. This starts to become clearer to Brown. The rest of the white men just automatically assume that the Ibo people are savages and that the culture is stupid and it doesn’t make any sense. When Reverend Brown falls ill, he must return to England. When he leaves Reverend James Smith takes over. Reverend Smith sees only in black and white, whatever he says goes, and he is very arrogant and selfish. This is really when the culture turns around and things start falling apart. The British think that the Africans way of life and culture is ridiculous and they don’t understand it. They think this because they don’t even try and understand it. They just think that what they belief in is right and everyone else is wrong. The Ibo people are taken advantage of and are the victims by the end of the story. They were once a string culture and now everything they ever knew has just fallen apart.

"Mother is Supreme"

In Mbanta, Okonkwo is scolded for not understanding the Ibo proverb that “mother is supreme.” In this culture the women are known for being more caring and compassionate about everything. They are supposed to cook and look after the children. That is there main part in society. Men are more known for physical and mental strength. They have to be able to hunt and take care of their family. Men don’t really show emotions in this society. If they do they are considered “weak.” Okonkwo ignores and refused to acknowledge the “female” virtues by acting manly. He has emotion but he thinks if he shows them that he is going to be considered weak and womanly. Because of this he is rude, self-absorbed, and mean. He beats his wives and children; he never shows that he cares about them. His one-sidedness creates many problems in his life. His son ends up hating him and refusing to be his son or call him his father. His wives and children are all scared to death of his. He beat his wife on the Week of Peace, so now the earth goddess supposedly will give him a bad year of crops. He just has a lot of problems because he only shows the “manly” side of himself. In a way, I think that makes him womanlier because he is afraid of what people would think. He just needs to show some emotion and maybe his life would make a turn for the better. Instead of getting worse like it has been.

My Opinions of Okonkwo

Lily Tikijian
September 4, 2008
Literature Period 6
Mrs. Pfanschmidt

My Opinions of Okonkwo

Now that I have read the first 7 chapters of the book, I have a lot of opinions of Okonkwo. First of all, I think he is insane. If he was living in this time period, he would be in like in serious intensive care. He has a lot of problems that he needs to get in control of. The thing I don’t understand is that all of his problems revolve around his dead father. He doesn’t want to be known as a failure or to be known as a coward. But, he is turning out to be those things. He beats his wife and children, he murders his “son,” and he doesn’t enjoy anything but working. He does all of these things to prove that he is strong and isn’t afraid of anything and also to prove he is not a failure. But killing your own son, makes you a failure as a father and makes people lose respect for you. In a way all of those things make him a coward. He is a coward because he is afraid of what people think of him. And he does some really stupid things to prove he isn’t. But, since he does those things you know he is. Even though things like beating your wives and children was acceptable back then, he abuses that right. He beats them for simply picking leaves off of a tree. He beats his son for being “lazy” and for crying when he finds out his “brother” is being taken away. He also shoots at his wife but thankfully misses. I just think he is a terrible father, husband, and all together person who needs to go through some serious psychoanalysis.