The Ibo and the British

At first, most of the Ibo people believed that it might be a sign of danger, but they thought their brothers in Abame were foolish to kill a man that didn't speak, and fairly soon they forgot about it. Then the white man made it to Umuofia, but he was peaceful and nice, not like how they heard of him in the story of Abame. The white man asked for a plot of land to make his church on, and he was given one in the Evil Forrest because the elders of the tribe thought they would perish there in the first few months. All of this was done under Mr. Brown, he was a nice man who wanted to try to learn about the Ibo culture, but his main purpose was to teach them that Christianity was the true religion and that all should worship it. However, Mr. Brown got sick and went back to Europe and a not-so-nice guy named Mr. Smith replaced him. He was nothing like Mr. Brown. He thought that you either worship Christianity or you have no right to live. He made the Ibo people see that the white man is not as nice as Mr. Brown made them out to be, but this vision came too late. The British believed that the Ibo people were savages worshipping savage gods. They viewed the Ibo people as less than them and could care less if they died or were converted, even though some, like Mr. Brown, wanted to convert and learn not kill. Those are the way the Ibo people responded to the arrival of the white man and how the British treated the Ibo people.

Okonkwo and "Female Virtues"

Okonkwo  believes that showing female virtues is a sign of weakness. So he chooses to ignore and refuse them to show that he is a "manly man." This causes a lot of problems for him because of the way other people see him after he refuses to show some of these female virtues. One example is after he beat his wife during the week of peace. Inside he felt repentant for insulting the goddess of earth during her week, however he didn't show it on the outside and almost the entire village thought that he was very disrespectful to the gods and that his good fortune had gone to his head. Also, when he was banished to his mother land he refused to do anything for a while especially share his emotions with his family. So, even though they helped him, it wasn't because they liked him, but because he was family. Then, his uncle tries to tell explain to him about all of this, that it is alright to show some female virtues occasionally because it shows others that you are human, however Okonkwo just ignores these words of advice and lives his life as if he never heard them. Those are a few of the many problems that Okonkwo's refusal and his choice to ignore female virtues causes for him.

Opinion of Okonkwo

After reading the first four chapters I think I have a fairly solid opinion of Okonkwo. He is a very strict man who is afraid of laziness and affection because that is what his father was like and he disliked his father. He is a man who will not take any way but his own and beats his wives and children when he thinks they did something wrong. Since that is his culture I can agree with this on that level, however I don't think it is right to beat your wife or children. Okonkwo also has a short temper and will go off to beat his wives and children regularly. An example of this was during the Week of Peace, the week where there were to be no fighting or beating of one's family to honor the goddesses of earth. His third wife had gone to a friends house to get her hair done and didn't get back in time for the evening meal. So Okonkwo was waiting for his wife to bring him his third meal and when she didn't went to her hut to find her missing. When she got back he didn't wait for an excuse from her and starting beating her, for which he got punished for doing during the week of peace. Also, Okonkwo is a fierce warrior that has brought home 5 human heads, quite a lot for someone of his age, from war. Those are my opinions of Okonkwo after reading the first four chapters.