Ch 23-25 Things Fall Apart.

After the spirits burned the church down, the white men were very mad. They decided to speak with the leaders of the village, Okonkwo being one of them, and arrested them. However, these white men were abusing their powers because they went as far as to shave the heads of the leaders. This part of the story really made me mad because there was no reason for them to do this. The villagers were not going to convert into their customs and have them lead their tribe, and the white did not like this at all. They wanted to have power, own their land, and convert each and every one of the men. For me, this was the point where they crossed the line of respect. Okonkwo wanted revenge. He wanted their man to fight like they did before the missionaries invaded their land. He wanted the warriors that had once fought for their people. The villagers decided to meet like they always did, but this time they were talking about killing the white men. However, some of the white men heard what they were saying because they showed up to the meeting--no one knew they were there. This is when Okwonkwo killed one of the men. " In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwo's machete descended twice and the man's head lay beside his uniformed body" (204). Okonkwo knew that this did not mean war because the villagers let the other messenger leave. They had "broken in tumult instead of action" (205). The white men came looking for Okonkwo and Obierika, his friend, took them to where he was. He had killed himself. I was not expecting this whatsoever. I was surprised because I always thought that he was going to do something else--not killed himself. This was sad because everything Okonkwo ever wanted was to have his village back. He wanted to be like they were before: strong, united, and warriors. The invasion of the missionaries separated their village. He killed himself because he felt like there was nothing else to do in the village. The missionaries were in charge and it would never be the same--he was never going to be the leader he wanted to be. =( ..I must say that it was a really good book with a twist in the end because, like i said, I never expected that ending. Things fell apart in the life of Okonkwo and also in the Umuofia. =(

Ch. 19-22 Downfall

It was time for Okonkwo to return to his village. Seven years had gone by already, but he was sad because he knew that " he had lost his chance to lead his warlike clan" (171). He was afraid of what he might find in his village, but he was confident in his daughters' beauty. If he wasn't going to be a rule, at least his daughters could marry one of them. Ezinma had grown to be a beautiful woman, and the called her "Crystal of Beauty." He always regretted that she was a female because he would of much rather her being a man because she understood everything. When he finally got to Umuofia, it was a new village, he coulg barely recognize it. Mr. Brown had built stores, selling palm-oil and kernel, and he also had a school. He encouraged the villagers to bring their children to his school so that the future leaders could have an education. He also build new churches and more schools; however, he had to leave the village because his health was weak. This meant that a new leader would come. Mr. Smith was his successor, but he was no Mr. Brown. He was more serious and mean. He didn't respect their customs, which bothered me a lot. He was the kind of men who thought of himself as The most powerful man. Everyone had to abide by his rule or he would simply get rid of them. A villager named Enoch decided to unmasked the spirits on the annual day of worship. Enoch had converted in to Christianity, and this infuriated the spirits even more. Now they wanted Mr. Smith, and all of his men, out of their land. The spirits started making dreadful sounds. "It seemed as if the very soul of the tribe wept for a great evil that was coming--its own death. This sentence says it all. Everything that the missionaries were doing were affecting the tribe greatly and, like the title of the book, things were going to fall apart.

Ch. 16-18 Missionaries

Missionaries had come to the village of Okonkwo's motherland and built their church. They wanted to change everyone's views on religion, and wanted to convert all to Christianity. However, it was very hard at first to do so because they have been worshiping their "gods" for years. Mr. Brown was more calm, he wasn't forcing anyone to do anything, but he was nonetheless preaching the word of God. Consequently, Okonkwo's son Nwoye converted into Christianity, which was disappointing to Okonkwo. He thought that his son betrayed his ancestors and their gods and so he stopped calling him son. Okonkwo believed that his chi, his god, clearly wanted him to be miserable because nothing good was happening the way he wanted it. Okonkwo wanted to become the greatest leader back in his village, but since he had to flee, he couldn't and would never become one. The missionaries came to invade their village and their religion, and most of the villagers were already giving in to this new religion. Okonkwo couldn't understand how men would become like women--soft and easy to convince. The "white men had not only brought a religion but also a government" (155) The white men clearly wanted to be the rulers of these villages and so they built a government so that they could have more power over the villagers. With Mr. Brown being the head of the church, more and more people were starting to convert and even the ones that were once the "outcast" decided to come in as well. However, those of the villagers who were true to their gods and customs, decided to outlawed the Christians. I kind of understand why they would do such thing. These missionaries came all of a sudden to their land and wanted their customs changed overnight. It is not possible for that to happened because most of these villagers are old and they were going to be true to their ancestors, gods, and customs no matter what.

Ch. 13-15 Foreshadow

Okonkwo had a really hard time when he had to leave his clan to go to another village. The village woke up with the sound that a man was dead. This was important to all of them and so they had to gathered in order to give proper ritual to the death. Unfortunately, someone else died at the same time--the dead man's son. Okonkwo's gun exploded and it pierced the boy's heart. When someone from the village killed someone else, they were said to have seven years of bad luck if they stayed in the village, so whoever was responsible had to flee to another village. This is exactly what happened to Okonkwo. "The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land... Okonkwo had committed the female, because it had been inadvertent. He coul return to the clan after seven years" (124). Is no surprise that this could happened to him because killing someone is a crime.

Okonkwo went to find shelter in his motherland, where he and his family were welcomed by his old uncle named Uchendu. The next paragraph talks about how the rain finally came, "It was sudden and tremendous...And then came the clap of thunder. It was an angry, metallic and thirsty clap, unlike the deep and liquid rumbling of the rainy season "(130). I instantly took this as foreshadowing a bad event that would soon happen. This is because of the way the rain was described as "sudden and tremendous," which could mean that no one was waiting for it to be that bad. Also, the word "unlike" is very important because it could mean that whatever was going to happened, has never been seen before or experienced by any of the villagers. We then get the story of the albino that came to the villages and was killed. This story is extremely important because it is telling the readers what will happen. "They were locust...he was sent to explore the terrain" (139). People were coming to invade their village.