Okonkwo Exile
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel about the life of the Ibo tribe in Nigeria during the 19th century. In the passage, the protagonist, Okonkwo, is afraid to be seen as weak and attends the funeral of Ezeudu, an aged man who achieved three titles. Unfortunately, Okonkwo is exiled from the city of Umuofia for inadvertently shooting Ezeudu’s son at the funeral. Achebe uses the banishment of Okonkwo to show the Ibo tribe’s compliance to the Earth goddess and Obierika’s perspective of Earth goddess to carefully reveal Ibo tribes are conforming to their unjust Earth goddess because they believe she will give calamity to the entire Ibo tribes when one denies her will.
Okonkwo being exiled represents the Ibo tribe’s compliance to the Earth …show more content…
After Ezeudu’s quarter burned Okonkwo’s obi, Obierika questions himself, “Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently?” Obierika questions why his friend is banished for his inadvertent killing shows the illogicalness of the Earth goddess to the Ibo tribe. Since, Ani inflicts pain upon Okonkwo solely through the killing Ezeudu’s son and being inconsiderate of the progress that it was an inadvertent act. However, Obierika can not come with a solution about how to manage Okonkwo’s accidental killing and concludes, “and if the clan did not exact punishment for an offense against the great goddess, her wrath was loosed on all the land and not just on the offender. As the elders said, if one finger brought oil it soiled the others.” Obierika’s belief about the Earth goddess punishing “all the land and not just on the offender” shows that if one of the Ibo tribes objects Ani’s order, the whole village of Ibo will be punished because “all the land” indicates the entirety Ibo villages. Furthermore, oil has a stain, negative image because of the pollution it creates. Then, the term oil explains the consequence when one of Ibo tribesman denies the Earth goddess’ authority because as oil pollutes the environment, one of the Ibo tribe who disobeys the Ani will negatively
Okonkwo being exiled represents the Ibo tribe’s compliance to the Earth …show more content…
After Ezeudu’s quarter burned Okonkwo’s obi, Obierika questions himself, “Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently?” Obierika questions why his friend is banished for his inadvertent killing shows the illogicalness of the Earth goddess to the Ibo tribe. Since, Ani inflicts pain upon Okonkwo solely through the killing Ezeudu’s son and being inconsiderate of the progress that it was an inadvertent act. However, Obierika can not come with a solution about how to manage Okonkwo’s accidental killing and concludes, “and if the clan did not exact punishment for an offense against the great goddess, her wrath was loosed on all the land and not just on the offender. As the elders said, if one finger brought oil it soiled the others.” Obierika’s belief about the Earth goddess punishing “all the land and not just on the offender” shows that if one of the Ibo tribes objects Ani’s order, the whole village of Ibo will be punished because “all the land” indicates the entirety Ibo villages. Furthermore, oil has a stain, negative image because of the pollution it creates. Then, the term oil explains the consequence when one of Ibo tribesman denies the Earth goddess’ authority because as oil pollutes the environment, one of the Ibo tribe who disobeys the Ani will negatively