Ikemefuna started out in life as a promising boy that had a deep passion for his family. Then his village killed a member from a neighboring village. His village then had to offer up a sacrifice to the village to keep the peace. This sacrifice was that Ikemefuna and another girl that Ikemefuna did not know had to leave their village and live with the other village. Ikemefuna was not only a loving son and a brother but he was always thinking of others, he was never focused on just himself. Although he was very compassionate he was amazingly brave and loving toward his mom and his sister and even at death he was thinking of them. After he recovered from a sickness and became more accustomed to his home he really showed how smart he was …show more content…
In addition to this as the sacrifice included Ikemefuna and a little girl as they walked to the village of Umuofia Ikemefuna was trying to calm her down because she had been crying about never seeing her family again even though Ikemefuna would never see his family ever again because he was put in to a new tribe. Before Ikemefuna left his home he was a great kid rarely thought of himself and always put himself after everyone else. He also found a great lust for knowledge. What I took from this book the most was that Ikemefuna is very thoughtful and could never hurt a fly even when he was taken away from his only family and told to care and love a new one that had a Completely different outlook on life one kind and loving and the other hostile and loud. Next Ikemefuna was very smart and able to learn by what would seem like trial and error. He knows how to make bows and arrows and knew what trees will make the best bows and arrows. He knows how to make fire with minimal tools. Finally he can make animal traps or snares for rabbits and deer. Once Ikemefuna became known in the village at the school he had caught a few rabbits. After he had proven himself with the traps and other talents his schoolmates began to like
‘’Nothing pleased Nwoye now more than to be sent for by his mother or another of his father's wives to do one of those difficult and masculine tasks in the home, like splitting wood, or pounding food. On receiving such a message through a younger brother or sister, Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles. Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development, and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna.’’(38) Nwoye wasn’t like the other ibo boys. He didn’t like to do manly things. He was more interested in how things work, the logic behind everything. Okonkwo didn’t like that. He wanted a son that could eventually take on his lead and provide for his family. That is why he liked Ikemefuna better because he showed all the characteristics he wanted in a
The Ung family had many risk taking sacrifices and tried their best to survive. All members made their own sacrifice for one another. They wanted to survive and do anything they could no matter what the consequences were. Stealing food so they did not starve, keeping secrets so they did not get killed, and separating so the whole family does not get killed. They simply wanted to just live. The sacrifices made were necessary and needed to survive. No one was selfish or put themselves before someone. They put themselves in dangerous situations. If they had not made any risks they would have died from starvation earlier. They were in an awful state. The conditions were horrible that they had to do anything to keep themselves alive. Every sacrifice meant everything and they were what kept them alive for as long as they could.
1. In the culture of Okwonko's village of Umuofia, greatness is defined by various aspects of courage, endurance, and strength, which Okwonko strives to achieve throughout the novel. He plants yams, that are apparently only for men to plant, and is also a great warrior among the people, two very valued characteristics. Many aspects of this manhood that he strives to attain is evident through his efforts of the shaping of his children to become warriors, especially his sons. "Okwonko ruled his house with a heavy hand. . . Perhaps down in his heart Okwonko was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness" (13). When raising Ikemefuna and Nwoye, it is clear that Okwonko wishes that they become warriors like the Umuofia are. Through discipline, he teaches his children about the what being a person of Umuofia should be like. Okwonko's strengths include his desire of greatness, his motivation to work, and his deeply rooted religious beliefs. "During the planting
Okonkwo is supposed to be comforting to his children, but instead he hurts them. “Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears, whereupon his father beat him heavily. As for Ikemefuna, he was at a loss. His own home had gradually become very faint and
What is it about sacrificing for a family member that makes the relationship between them stronger? When you sacrifice something for someone, it essentially means that one is giving up something to protect someone else. In Edwidge Danticat’s, Krik? Krak!, this act of sacrificing is a common act, because there is so much less for Haitians to hold on to, that family is one of those things that are they hold dear. The strengthening of the bonds between parents and their children due to their sacrifices for each other are featured favorably in the following chapters: “Children of the Sea”, “Nineteen Thirty-Seven”, and “Night Women”.
The men that come to Umuofia destroy the cultural balance of faith and religion that encompasses the native people in Africa. People in Umuofia depend strongly on the ancestors and gods in their culture. It is their tradition and their beginning, from which they govern their lives. Even the priestess that serves the god Agbala, "...was full of the power of her god, and she was greatly feared" (16). Without the stronghold of customs and traditions, only chaos exists. Peace, trust, and knowledge are thrown off when the new religion of Christianity is introduced. When the missionary explains that:
“I’m proud of you,” said my uncle with his gleaming smile and warm eyes. These were the last words Katalina Kowalski heard from the man who influenced her life the most. Katalina remembers looking at him; he seemed distraught, pale, and distressed. She convinced herself that he was just ill.
The story revolves around the two children, boys, who were interested, more than the childhood and into the adult world. This is illuminated by the spying of homes when their uncle reaches home from the work and particular focuses on the Mangan’s sister while she was dressing up and when she moves from here and there swinging the soft hair rope from each side of the body.
The protagonist, Okonkwo demonstrates his sympathetic character solely to himself, personally, and infrequently not in the eyes of others. During the plotting of Ilemefuna’s death, Okonkwo was hesitant to make the boy aware of his fate and also hesitant to take part in his death. “‘I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy,’ he asked Obierika” Okonkwo was aware that the adopted boy from an opposing tribe thought of Okonkwo, not only as an authority figure and high-ranking tribal member/warrior, but also as a father—his father. Until the death of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo continued to show Ikemefuna kindness due to feeling that “his son’s development was due to Ikemefuna.” (Achebe 3...
They decide to take him on a walk and kill him there. As Achebe describes it, “He heard Ikemefuna cry, ‘My father, they have killed m...
Oukonunaka gathered his father's and his own bow and arrow. He felt the smooth wood between his fingers. His father's bow was carved from a sacred tree. It had carvings of Kanati, “The Lucky Hunter”. It was specially made by the village craftsman. Oukonunaka made his own bow using some
From his dreams he is able to go to a place where he is happy and can leave the outside world where he sees as sad.21 The reason that the boy thinks about her all the time is due to him not having anything else in his life to make him happy. However, because it is the only thing that makes him happy he does it so much that over time that it morphs who she really is. In the end the girl is so far from who she really is that she can be seen as more fiction than fact.22 When the boy finally realizes what he had done at the bazaar he is hit with cold hard reality and is angered that he did this to
Perspective is used in Things Fall Apart to give high contrast to issues within the community, which brings out its inner complexity. When differences of opinion are highlighted, these differences show that internal pressure are causing the tribe to break down from within. Ikemefuna’s death is a point of stark disagreement among the Umuofians. Ezeudu tells Okonkwo, “I want you to have nothing to do with [Ikemefuna’s death]. He calls you his father” (57). Although Ezeudu warns Okonkwo about participating in the death of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo decides to kill Ikemefuna himself. Ezeudu’s oppinion that Okonkwo should not be involved with the boy’s death shows the reader a shade of the community that would not have been seen without highligh...
The character of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was driven by fear, a fear of change and losing his self-worth. He needed the village of Umuofia, his home, to remain untouched by time and progress because its system and structure were the measures by which he assigned worth and meaning in his own life. Okonkwo required this external order because of his childhood and a strained relationship with his father, which was also the root of his fears and subsequent drive for success. When the structure of Umuofia changed, as happens in society, Okonkwo was unable to adapt his methods of self-evaluation and ways of functioning in the world; the life he was determined to live could not survive a new environment and collapsed around him.
This sacrifice made by Baba Ayub provides perfect insight at the sacrifices made by characters in the rest of the novel. It showed what motives other characters in the novel may have for making certain sacrifices without having to give the reasons directly. For example, Saboor’s choice to sacrifice his ability to see his daughter and all all ties with her for money to save his other children from freezing and starving during the winter, while in turn saving her from the constant hardship of poor life and giving her lavish rich life where she will live comfortably.