Things Fall Apart

I was shocked to find myself drawn away from the main character at first when I read the story. Okonkwo was presented as such a hero that I thought might carry myself with him in his journey and find myself enlighted by him. He was introduced as this great man, but as the story furthered him, I found my subjective inner being saying, "I really don't think so."

I myself have a great temper but I was more appalled at the character's behaviors to choose the actions he did. I'm sure that as my place in society as a woman, my biggest conflict with him was the fact that he beat his wives and his children. And I'm sure it should bother me as well that he had multiple wives but reading this story, I was prepared to understand that this may be related to a different time and not even that, but a different culture. I felt that this was a culture that was not my own and their reasons for setting up their own lives in their various manners would not be as comprehensive to me. Which is probably why the caged feminist inside of me that finds various insults from masculinity in society wasn't so beside herself because I had kept her aware of the differences in our perspectives (that is I, and the characters in the book).

I was very intrigued by the cultural abundance in this piece. There were so many customs unknown to me, and I really enjoyed this insight to this culture. Like the various stories about how things were this way and that, (for Example the mosquito and the ear).... it was very interesting to me how some cultures viewed the world around them with explanations that were not so scientific and yet made as perfect sense.

Another factor in this was that this culture viewed sick children as evil spirits. In our society, if you have a sick child, it is your life's duty to nurse it to health and baby it. But in their society, a sick child could only mean that you have birthed an evil spirit and not a child. I am so glad that I grew up in a house where I was fed chicken noodle soup and given sprite, instead of dragged in to a forest to die for my poor health. This makes me wonder just in fact, how many children were able to keep their lives, as my knowledge stands that children can easily get sick and if you place sick children together, the chances of a healthy one are minimal.

So, I'd have to say overall, this story brought me to a different light with its various themes that rounded about a civilization that my knowledge stands at the bare minimum. I could say my first exploration was a great and enjoyable success!