Okonkwo is working really hard on his new farm that
was built with the help of his uncle called Uchendu. Okonkwo has been feeling
disappointed because he has worked all his life just because he wants to
become one of the lords of the clan, but now he knows
and accepts that this possibility is gone.
The next day Uchendu gathered all Okonkwo´s family
including him. Uchendu says to Okonkwo that one of the most common names they
give in the tribe of Mbanta is Nneka, that its meaning is “Mother is
Supreme”, this means that a man belongs to his fatherland and stays there when
life is good, but he seeks refuge in his motherland when life is bitter and
harsh, Uchendu also advises Okonkwo to receive the comfort of the motherland
gratefully. He reminds Okonkwo that many have been worse than him.
Uchendu life is worst thanOkoknkwo´s life because
he has lost all but one of his six wives and buried twenty-two children
and even though in his life had appeared bad obstacles his attitude is
positive, because life goes on and we have to go with it, so Uchendu
tells Okonkwo a really motivate phrase that surprised Okonkwo this one is: “I
did not hang myself, and I am still alive.”
His friends Obierika visited Okonkwo the second day oh
his exile, he arrived with two men beside him carrying heavy bags in their
head. Okonkwo presented Obierika to Uchendu and his family as his best friend.
Obierika arrived to Mbanta to tell Okonkwo that when
Abame was on the market three white men (powerful people whom create poerful
guns, strong drinks and take slaves away across the sea)sorrounded him and
killed him. Uchendu heard all the story of how Abame was killed and for that
motive Uchendu told that: "Never kill a man who says nothing" so he
started to talk about the story of mother kite ans his son the young kite.
Okonkwo remembered that all the time he lived in Umofia the peple have paid for
Abame foolishness.
Obierika gaves Okonkwo the heavy bags and this ones
were all the money of the yams of Okonwo, that Obierika selled when Okonkwo
left the tribe.
The missionaries have arrived to Umofia, they had
built a christian church there, won a handful of converts and were already
sending evangelists to the sorroundin town and villages.
When Obierika arrived to Umofia he found out that
Nwoye was part of the new faith called "Christianity".
The missionaries have also caused a considerable stir
in the village of Mbanta. There were 6 men and one of them was a white man,
this white man spoke to the village as an interpreter, but the problems was
that Mbanta people started to laugh at him because he had a different dialect,
this missionaries started to talk about the new religion called
"Christianity" and of their Gods. At one moment and interpreter told
the white man: "All gods that you have named are not gods at all, they are
gods od deceit who tell you to kill you fellows and destroy children there is
only one god that has all". The white man replied, "Your god are not
alive and cannot do any harm".
There was a young lad who have been captivated by the
new faith this boy is called Nwoye, that is the first son of Okonwko. Nwoye
decided to enter to Christianity religion because he felt a relief on the hymn
that poured into his parched soul. The words of the hymn were like the drops of
frozen rain, melting on the dry palate of the panting earth.
The villagers pointed out that sometimes their
ancestral spirits will allow an offending man a grace period of twenty-eight
days before they punish his sins, but they are completely astounded when
nothing happened after twenty-eight days. The church thus wins more converted,
including a pregnant woman, Nneka, a women that with four previous
pregnancies produced twins, and her husband and his family are not sorry to see
her go.
When Nwoye returned to Umofia, Okonkwo as a worried
father choked him by the neck, demanding to know where he has been. Uchendu
orders him to let go of the boy. Nwoye leaves his father’s compound and travels
to a school in Umuofia to learn reading and writing. Okonkwo wonders how he
could ever have fathered such an effeminate, weak son.
One day, several osu, or outcasts, went to
the Christianity church. Many of the converts moved away from them, though they
don´t leaved the service. Afterward, there is an uproar, but Mr. Kiaga firmly
refused to deny the outcasts membership to the church. He argues that they will
not die if they cut their hair or break any of the other taboos that have been
imposed upon them. Mr. Kiaga’s steadfast conviction persuaded most of the other
converts not to rejected their new faith simply because the outcasts have
joined them. The osu soon become the most zealous members of the church.
To the clan’s disbelief, one boasts that he killed the sacred royal python.
Okonkwo urges Mbanta to drive the Christians out with violence, but the rulers
and elders decide to ostracize them instead. Okonkwo bitterly remarks that this
is a “womanly”clan. After announcing the new policy of ostracism, the elders
learn that the man who boasted of killing the snake has died of an illness. The
villagers’ trust in their gods is thereby reaffirmed, and they cease to
ostracize the converts.
It was going to be Okonkwo´s largest harvest in
Mbanta. Aulthou he has propered in his motherland he knew that he would have
prospered more in Umofia, because is a land where man were bold and warlike.
As soon as Okonkwo entered to his last year of exile,
he sented money to Obierika to built him 2 hut in his old compound where he and
his family will live.
Okonkwo has prepared his entire thing to return to
Umofia, but before this happens he wanted to prepare a beautiful feast with the
help of his 3 wives for his mother that received him in Mbanta with so much
love and support. All the tribe was invited to the feat, because they all
helped Okonkwo and his famility to improve their life and Uchendu prayed for
Okonkwo and his family.
Things Fall Apart
Achebe, C. (1958) Things Fall Apart. New York: Reed
Consumer Books.
