As we know, Okonkwo is looked upon as a strong and brave man
by all of the Ibo people. He fights and collects heads to prove his worth and
bravery, which the townspeople look up to and see as courageous. Even though
Okonkwo has a positive reputation among the Ibo town, he engages in very
unethical acts. First, he killed his own son, and lied to his God while doing
so. He said he would not kill Ikemefuna himself, but went ahead and did it
anyway, lying about it afterwards. After killing a young man who referred to
him as “father”, he witnessed two twin babies getting murdered in the woods,
and agreed it was okay since his God said it was a tradition and it must
happen. Of course, the townspeople of Ibo did not see this as unethical or
wrong, unless they have just lost all their conviction toward society, as they
are unable to stand up to the courageous Okonkwo. The townspeople have lost
their conviction as they are unable to stand up for what they believe in
because they are afraid of embarrassment and disapproval. Okonkwo holds such a
high place in the Ibo tradition that no one would ever question anything he
did, because they would be frowned upon and seen as weak and cowardly. In
reality, the fact that they lost conviction toward their town and do not stand
up to unethical crimes makes them the culprit and just as bad as the ones who
are killing infant twins and their own family. The townspeople of Ibo have lost
conviction and agree with societies crimes because they are too afraid of
getting reprimanded and looked down upon by everyone, but especially the “great
leader” Okonkwo.
That is actually a really good point. I never thought about it in the sense that they may be doing all this just to comply with the village elder. But does that really make sense? Everyone just seems so into their religion and what they believe it's kind of hard to imagine it's just a game they play to please their elder. They seem to enjoy what they're doing and show no fear until the white men come. I'm not entirely convinced that the people are just playing along to their elders wishes. They seem to be doing this by their own will and having fun with it as well.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point. I see the Ibo people more as individuals than as the elders puppets.
ReplyDeleteYou do? What makes you say that they are individuals?
ReplyDeleteI think in this society, the major thing is if one person has hooped onto the religion train, then everyone will go to the new religion. The Ibo people have never have had another religion come across them besides their own, so it's just natural for these tribes people to all shift to a new religion, since no one esle in this village has any other points or views of life.
ReplyDelete