THINGS FALL APART PART II

PART II

As we know, Okonwo has been exiled from Umuofia and cannot return in seven years. He and his family went to Mbanta, where they were all well received by his mother´s kinsmen. Uchendu is the oldest man in the kinsmen and he is a very wise man, someone who had lived long and had experience in almost everything. Each of the sons of Uchendu gave Okonkwo 300 seed-yams, so he can start working; it was as successful as when he was in Umoufia. Amikwu, one son of Uchendu, is got married and the ceremony of confession was shown. Uchedu gave a speech to all his young children, but especially to Okonkwo. He talked about Nneka that means Mother is Supreme, and why the mother is important in a clan. The mother of anybody will always care for her child and is always well received with her. For the second year of Okonkwo´s exile, Obierika visited him and gave him money from Okonkwo´s work in Umuofia. He stayed with them to talk and meet Uchendu. Abame, a clan, has just disappeared. One white man came into their clan; the Oracle said that the white men will bring destruction among them, so Abame people decided to kill him, and so they did. Then, 3 other white men came and went back with more white men to kill all Abame people. Uchedu told a story to put clear his idea: “Never kill a man who says nothing”.

Another 2 years later Obierika returned with more money for Okonkwo, in their talk they mentioned Nwoye. The missionaries have arrived to Umuofia and now to Mbanta. In Mbanta, at the beginning, almost nobody cared what the white man and the translator said, just a few, and among them was Nwoye. One day, Okonkwo realized that Nwoye is interested in this new religion that talks about a new god. Okonkwo started to beating him up when his uncle ordered him to stop, Nwoye was so angry that he decided to talk with Mr. Kiaga, the translator, which sent him to Umuofia. They were no longer considered by each other as family. The converts were growing and growing. The missionaries asked to the elders for some land so they can build their church. Mbanta people were intelligent and gave them a part of the Evil Forest; they thought they were going to die by the fourth day. Mr Kiaga started living in there and build a church, the days passed and he was still alive, that made Mbanta people to think that he was powerful and his new religion was true.

A lot of people in Mbanta were becoming Christian and now they believed in Jesu Cristi. The situation was worrying, but the elders decided to take it easy. Even the outcasts were accepted by the church and by the Ibo society too. One day, an outcast killed the sacred python that was the most revered animal in the clan. The punishment for killing the animal accidentally was to make sacrifices and to perform a ceremony; there was no punishment for someone who made it on purpose because nobody will, except now. Okonkwo and other men in the tribe talked about this, and as Okonkwo was a man of war he wanted them to punish hardly this man, but this clan was an easy going, so they decided to make something else, to ostracize all men and women that were now Christians. Now, no one of them could enjoy the privileges they had in the clan. It was the last year of Okonkwo since his exile began. He just needed to do one harvesting more and to make the last work. To demonstrate that he felt comfortable around his mother´s kinsmen and that they treated him good, he decided to make a big feast with all his family from the part of his mother. Everybody was invited and they all ate well and enjoy the feast. One brother of Uchendu ended this part with a speech; he said that now the time was difficult, he and his brothers had no problem because they were old and about to get to an end. But that for the generations below it would be difficult and they have to get ready.

I invite you to think about what he was referring and what would happen next in Part 3.

Achebe, C. (1959), Things fall apart, Anchor Books, New York.

SHAMIR TROCONIS