After the
seven years that Okonkwo waited, he returned to Umuofia with excitement and
with all his family. Her daughters didn’t get married because Okonkwo wanted
them to marry with a man from Umuofia; they were already a beauty and several men
have asked their hand. In their return, they could notice that Umuofia had
change a lot; the missionaries were already there and changed a lot of things.
They have built some churches in the village´s land; the number of converts was
a very high one; and the system had change a little, they implied a new
religion and a new government. Obierika and Okonkwo spent talking about what
happened when they come and how does they have grown. Okonkwo was disappointed
of his clan because they did nothing to rescue what it was theirs.
Mr. Brown,
who was the first white missionary man, who also took the control of the new
religion, was a soft man. He wanted the well for everybody and to remain in
peace, but of course, he wanted all Umuofia to believe in this new religion.
Akunna, who was a very intelligent man, a lot of times talked to Mr. Brown
about both religions, the one they had and the Christian. They wanted to
convince each other of their own religion, but what they always did, was to
have respect for each religion and for each other. Chukwu was the god of the
gods, he created the world and the others gods as messengers; what Mr. Brown
replied was that they also have a He but there is only one god, no more; and
what Akunna putted in response was that the white men have been sent to
communicate this new religion, just as Chukwu did in his religion with the
other gods. Mr. Brown couldn´t stay forever in Umuofia, he got sick and went
back home, Reverend James Smith took his place. He was way too different from
Mr. Brown; he was mean and wanted everything to be his way, all as he wished.
Nobody in the clan wanted him and had a hate for him. They decided to call the
spirits and give him a scare.
Enoch, an
important man in the Umuofia village, was one of those who can have access to
the spirits wearing a mask. But one of the biggest crimes someone could commit
was to take off the mask when the spirits were having contact with them. Enoch
did such a thing and was punished, but he wanted to prove that it didn’t really
matter, that the spirits were not even real. He was already defending the new
religion. Things in Umuofia were getting hard for everybody. People who still
believed in their own religion wanted to rebel against the white men. The first
thing they did was to burn one of the churches the white men built. Of course,
the white men were too angry that they captured the culprits and lock them
down; Okonkwo was one of them. They were treated badly and didn’t have any privileges;
they had to pee and poop where they were standing and sleeping as well, they didn’t
have food or even water and they were beaten. Then the white men said that with
200 cowries, they will be free, so the white men sent their best speaker to the
town to announce that if they wanted their people free they have to pay 200
cowries. But instead of telling that, he told them that they needed 250 cowries;
there we can see that from that time they were already corrupt. The people paid
and Okonkwo and his group were free. They decided to make a big rebellion and
start a war; and so they started to pull things together. One night, they were
planning their attack and Okonkwo noticed that a white man was spying on them. He
grabbed his machete and killed the white man. His men were impressed of what he
did and couldn’t believe it; Okonkwo couldn’t understand why they were
impressed of that. He couldn’t handle the situation any more, it was too much
for him, everything had change and nothing was the same as before; he had to
commit suicide. Now, the white men have control over everything and the
Reverend felt superior to them, thinking as he was the god of his own religion
he introduced.
These
situations are really difficult. So I leave you with 2 questions, reflex on
them: Why does Okonkwo commit suicide? And why do the white men, especially the
Reverend, felt they are superior to all “the primitive culture”?
Achebe,
C. (1959), Things fall apart, Anchor
Books, New York.
SHAMIR
TROCONIS
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