Ibo's responses to white men

The Ibo people’s responses to the white men at first were that they didn’t like them. Most of the villagers didn’t agree with the customs of Christianity. There were a few that followed the white men but most of them didn’t. The Christians were stunned by the way the Ibo people acted. They thought that killing twins was wrong and they thought that the Ibo people were heathens. They also didn’t understand why they thought there was more than one god. Then the Christians converted some of the Ibo people to Christianity. The converts left the village. Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, converted and Okonkwo didn’t consider him his son anymore. Once the Christians got to know the Ibo people better, they stated being nicer to them. They built schools, churches and a hospital. Mr. Brown was one of the reverends and he was very nice. He tried to understand the Ibo culture. Mr. Smith was Mr. Brown’s replacement when he got sick and left, and he was the exact opposite of Mr. Brown. He was mean and sent a lot of people to jail. He doesn’t want anyone in his religion who isn’t 100% devoted to Christianity. For the most part, the British don’t really agree with how the Africans live their life. They think their religion is weird so they try to convert them to Christianity. Most of the Ibo people don’t like the British very much either.

"Mother is Supreme"

Okonkwo thinks that his life is awful because he got exiled to his mother's homeland. Uchendu gives a speech to him about how Okonkwo's life isn't bad at all. Uchendu tells him about how he lost all of his wives and most of his children, and how Okonkwo still has all of his wives and children and everything. Okonkwo is disrespecting his mother and her homeland because he doesn't want to be there. Uchendu says that his mother was there to help Okonkwo and to not displease the dead by denying help. Uchendu tries to make Okonkwo have more respect for his mother and her homeland, because usually a family revolves around the father and the women in the family are his servants. Uchendu tells about how the children belong to the father, not the mother, and how the father belongs to his fatherland and not his motherland. He asks Okonkwo why he thinks this is true and Okonkwo says he does not know why. Uchendu then tells Okonkwo that he isn't as smart as he thinks he is, that he is still a child. Uchendu wants Okonkwo to appreciate his life and he tries to get Okonkwo to appreciate his mother.

Opinion of Okonkwo

I think that Okonkwo is a good person, even though I don't like the fact that he beats his wives and children. I know that it's acceptable in their town, but I don't agree with women and children being treated like property instead of human beings. Okonkwo seems to know what he wants in life though. He wants to be a successful farmer and have a big family. He does anything to not become like his father, Unoka, because he was lazy, poor, and a failure. Okonkwo does not have any tolerance for people like Unoka. He beats his sons if they show any signs of laziness. As for the farming, Okonkwo produced many crops of yams. Okonkwo is also admirable for a lot of other things. When he was only 18, he became known as one of the best wrestlers in Umuofia. Okonkwo was also looked up to because he had the strength and bravery to fight in wars, unlike his father. Another thing that makes Okonkwo admirable is that he got all of his success by himself. He didn’t inherit a barn from Unoka. There wasn’t even a barn to inherit. He worked hard in his youth to gain all of his success and to become a hero in his town. Overall, Okonkwo is a very honorable character because of all his achievements.