Journal 11

Achebe once famously said, "If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all."
1. How do you think this quote connects to Achebe's decision to present these two drastically different missionaries?

2. What purpose do they serve in the story? 

3. What purpose do the two perspectives serve in the broader historical context of the colonialism?

I think this quote connects to Achebe's decision because it shows how to white men did not understand the Africans or their stories. I think that the purpose they serve in the story is because there are two different stories from two different people and there is not a single story and Achebe wanted to share that.

-one person may have a huge impact

-one story is not all the same when two different people say it

-shows two sides of the church

-Brown vs. Smith

Journal 10

Why, according to Okonkwo, do the Ibo hold responsibility for the white man invading their land? Do you agree with his perspective? Why/Why Not?

The Ibo hold responsibility, according to Okonkwo, for the white man invading their land because the white man came sneaky in all quietly and didn't seem harmful to them so they let him stay. Since they let him stay, he took people over and the Ibo lost many people from the clan which is tearing their culture apart. He says that their culture is falling apart and that is what the title of the book is, "Things Fall Apart."

According to Okonkwo
-invited them
-they should have known from what they did to the other village
-Okonkwo even said that there were warning signs
-they could have done something to stop them
-failed to participate (bystanders)
-assumed that they would be stronger
-innocence
-spent time playing and not trying to do anything

I do agree with his perspective because it kind of was their fault for just letting a random white man that they don't even know stay. If they had known who he was and what he was trying to do they would not have let him stay and ruin everything.

Journal 9

Reflect on the creation of you "Infomercial" yesterday and analyze and discuss:
Why would this decision be incredibly challenging for an individual? Why would this decision be incredibly challenging for the larger community?

Yesterday the "infomercial" that my group and I made was talking about how we believe that you should convert to Christianity from the Ibo. This decision on whether or not you should convert can be very difficult for an individual because if you convert, the decision that you make in that moment can change the whole rest of your life. It was be a hard decision for a larger group because it might start a war between the colonists and the Mbanta because one person converting may result in many others converting and ruining the religion.

Challenging for An Individual:
-change long held beliefs
-it can divide up your family
-social status
-case by case (depending who you are)
-potential for destruction

Challenging for A Community:
-social pressure
-many people are going to see this as a betrayal
-change long held beliefs
-impacting community strength
-reputation costs
-conflict

Journal 8

What were the consequences to the church and to the village, when they decided to give the missionaries land in the evil forest?

One of the consequences was how Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, become a missionary.

Missionaries
-"evil"
-clear sign of not being wanted there
-lack of Belief
-Mockery
-"fake" relationship

Ibo
-accidentally gave the Christians power
-given them land
-losing tribes people

What are the cultural gains and losses to both the Ibo, and the colonial power because of the decision to locate the church in the forest?

Cultural gains for the Ibo is that they no longer had an evil forest since they gave it away to the missionaries, so instead they have a church where the evil forest used to be. The loss for the Ibo culture about them giving away their evil forest is that the missionaries don't care that they have the evil forest because it doesn't affect them in anyway, which shows that they have great high power.

Losses for Ibo
-religion/faith
-lose social structure
-power

Missionaries Gaining
-many people from the Ibo are joining their religion
-power
-numbers

Journal 7

Based on what your group came up with yesterday, respond to the following question: Is Okonkwo a tragic hero? Why/Why not? Make sure you can explain your answer!

I believe that Okonkwo is a tragic hero to be a tragic hero, you need to have power, which he had with all the titles, have flaws, which he also had because he didn't always do everything completely correctly, destined for "fall", which what happened because he killed someone and got kicked out of the clan, and more. Okonkwo's downfall was when he killed the 16 year old boy and everything in his life that he was going for was gone with his life choices and shooting the gun and accidentally kill a person.
Characteristics
-Well-known
-Cause or result of tragedy
-High stakes
-Power/Nobility
-Post fall awareness
-Main character

And Okonkwo had all of those characteristics.

Examples of a tragic hero:
-Houston Astros
-Hugh Jackman
-Miley Cyrus
-Gatsby
-Cleveland Browns
-Batman
-Matt Kemp

Journal 6

In Okonkwo's eyes, his life had been ruined. Do you feel sorry for him? Why or why not? Was excommunication from the clan an appropriate punishment? Why or why not? Do you think Okonkwo takes appropriate responsibility for his choices? Why or why not? 

Honestly, I do sort of feel sorry for Okonkwo because yes, he did choose to fire the gun, but he did not intentionally mean to kill or even hurt anybody. I do not think that Okonkwo should have been kicked or shunned from the clan because he didn't mean to kill the dead mans 16 year old son so if he did it on purpose maybe he should have been excommunication from the clan but since it wasn't his fault that someone died he should not have been because he was just having fun firing the gun but it wasn't suppose to fire at a human. I think that he does take appropriate responsibility for his choices because he was told to get out of the clan and he did so without complaining or anything, he just took his stuff and left.

Journal 5

What is your opinion of the marriage ceremony you read about in Chapter 12?
What was similar to weddings you know?

My opinion on the marriage of Obierika's daughters that it was very nice and fancy and seemed like a lot of fun, but it seemed kind of strange because the whole town went and the mom had to cook food for everyone. It seemed like weddings that I know and went to because everyone was so dressed up and everyone was dancing just like weddings happen nowadays.
OPINIONS
-weird
-informal
-rushed
-different
-foreign
SAME
-relatives
-music
-bride and groom
-dancing
-food
DIFFERENCES
-bride price
-animals
-timing (waited for sun to go down)
-no vows
-many wives

What struck you as foreign? What are the benefits to a ceremony like this?

Journal 4

Briefly summarize the story of the tortoise. What is the purpose of this folktale about the Tortoise. why do you think it was inserted at this specific point.

It was about a tortoise who tricked birds into giving him wings to fly and when he arrived at the feast, the King said that the food was for "All of you," so the tortoise changed his name to be "All of you" so he could eat all of the food. The tortoise ate all the food and all the birds got very mad and took the tortoise wings and left the feast. Then he sent a message home telling his wife to put all the soft things in the house, so when he lands he can have a safe fall and not break his shell, but the bird told his wife to put out all the hard things in the house, so the tortoise ended up falling on the hard things and breaking his shell when he fell from the sky.

The purpose of this story was to show that if you do something bad, like the tortoise did with eating all the food, then bad things will happen to you, or karma, which happened when the tortoise fell from the sky and broke his shell.

I think that this folktale was inserted in that chapter because the story was told right about Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna, so maybe karma might come back and get Okonkwo like karma got the tortoise.
-It happened as a foreshadowing moment for Okonkwo.

Journal 3

Why might this theory, that children who do not survive are actually evil spirits, make sense to the tribe?

This theory that children who do not survive are actually even spirits made sense to the tribe because since the tribe is very spiritual, they might think that the children who do not survive are a curse or evil spirit.

No access to fact - makes meaning
Reduces stress
Spirituality
Tradition

What did you find most challenging about chapter 9? Why? What did you find most interesting? Why?

What I found most challenging was having to read about all of Ekwefi's hard sufferings in her life with all her 9 babies dying and only 1 surviving, and then with the one baby surviving, hearing Okwonko say "If you bring us all this way for nothing I shall beat sense into you." I thought that this was challenging because hearing all the children dying made me feel uncomfortable about how sad it is and then with Ekwefi's only alive child, Okwonko was threatening to beat her.

Challenging:
Dead baby stone
Going back and forth from the future to past

Journal 2

I do not believe that Okonkwo was justified in killing Ikemefuna because Ikemefuna was technically Okonkwo's son and even though the Oracle said that Ikemefuna had to die, I still believe that he should not have killed someone who was that important to him. He only killed Ikemefuna so he wasn't known as "weak" and someone had to kill him because that is what the Oracle said but I do not think that he should have been the one to kill someone who is pretty much his son.

Journal 1

What similarities do you see between Okonkwo's family structure/relationships and your own family? What specific example is the most different?

Some similarities that Okonkwo's family and my family share are we both don't like our neighbors, we celebrate holidays, my dad is a hard worker, very supportive, cared about others, and drink wine.

Differences that Okonkwo's family and my family is my dad does not have 3 wives, he doesn't beat and try to kill his wife.