"Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women."
I really like this passage choice man, it really looks into who Okonkwo is as a person by reflecting his belief in the preservation of masculinity. I also find it ironic that he is expressing grief, because he beat Nwoye for grieving over the death of Ikemefuna. It is an ironic passage because the constantly indifferent man is showing grief, yet it also displays the anxiety he feels when he sees others showing emotion, or "becoming soft".
MY PASSAGE: “Does the white man understand our custom about land?” “How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” --Spoken between Obierika and Okonkwo in Chapter 20, page 176.
"Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women."
ReplyDeleteI really like this passage choice man, it really looks into who Okonkwo is as a person by reflecting his belief in the preservation of masculinity. I also find it ironic that he is expressing grief, because he beat Nwoye for grieving over the death of Ikemefuna. It is an ironic passage because the constantly indifferent man is showing grief, yet it also displays the anxiety he feels when he sees others showing emotion, or "becoming soft".
ReplyDeleteMY PASSAGE:
ReplyDelete“Does the white man understand our custom about land?”
“How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”
--Spoken between Obierika and Okonkwo in Chapter 20, page 176.