Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Chapter 2
In Chapter 2 of Things Fall Apart it is starting up the story line of the book. We start to get to know Okonkwo and the city of Umumofia. The wife of Ogbuefi was killed by the people of Mbaino and the Umumofia want revenge. There choice is either go to war or they offer a young man and a virgin as compensation. I thought this was a very unique kinda of trading and wonder what good these two people will really do for the Umumofias. That is the path they decided to follow so a young man and girl now joined the tribe. The girl went and lived with the man that lost his wife and the boy went with Okonkwo. I am a little confused on why Okonkwo had to take him in, but I guess it is all part of the story. I felt really bad for the boy and girl because they didn't do anything wrong so why should they suffer. They had no idea what was going on and they had to leave their families at such a young age. That would be very depressing to be either one of them. We also got to know what Okonkwo was like personally he seems like a jerk, but he has good intentions for the most part. He really wants to not be like his father so he tries so hard to work as much as he can. He does not really see that he is working his 8 children and 3 wives to death. He really in a way is no different than his father. I think it is going to end up bring him down in the end even though he feels he is succeeding now. The poor boy has to suffer through all of Okonkwo's hard work. He has no idea what is going on. I wonder if we will here of the girl again even though he never sees her again...
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4 comments:
Yeah, imagine if you got picked as one of those hostages to have to go to another nation and join their tribe!! How unfair. Yet they seem to make the best of it.
The boy is a neat character, and you will come to know him better in the coming chapters. I'm not sure exactly why the two of them were chosen, but their chief probably had some say in this selection.
Okonkwo is really mean. He beats his wives, but is such a bully. You are right about the father-complex he has going there.
And you wonder how messed up his kids are going to grow up to be!
I really like the line you wrote: "He really in a way is no different than his father. I think it is going to end up bring him down in the end even though he feels he is succeeding now." That is a very profound observation and I think you are very observant. This book is a tragedy as I think I told the class. You know his demise isn't going to be pretty.
Keep up the insightful comments, nice work.
Mr.Farrell
I agree about the whole situation with the young boy and girl. It is completely unfair for them, however I found this method of resolving the issue of murder between the two tribes very interesting. I found your point about Okonkwo to be pretty interesting as well. Maybe he is trying to hard to be better than his father, and maybe he will just end up at being just as bad only on the other end of the spectrum. Perhaps instead of being lazy, he'll be a work-o-holic and drive everyone away and end up by himself. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
I was thinking about why they would trade the people. I thought that maybe they were trying to get more than they lost. That is so cold-hearted and mean, but the way some of these characters act, I wouldn't put it past them.
I am glad you said that about him and his father being similar. I agree because they both hurt their families, but just in completely different ways.
I think it said that the boy was chosen because his father took part in the killing of Ogbuefi's wife, I'm not positive though. I also felt bad for the boy and girl, but I think I would have made the same decision had I been faced with the same dilemma. I agree that Okonkwo is a jerk, and I hadn't really thought about it before, but he is turning out to be just like his father.
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