Imperialistic Times

With the way the story first started out, I thought it would be a story of tribes fighting amongst each other, and one mans struggle to stand out in his tribe. Although the setting of the story is much different then today, I felt that I was able to relate to Okonkwo's struggles, both with his father and his struggle in the tribe. Every man has a strong desire to stand out in his community, including myself, and also a strong desire to be different from his father, and in Okonkwo's case it was not to be lazy like his father. If he achieved this he would be happy with himself and with his standing in the Igbo (Ibo) tribe.

At the beginning of the story, I often found myself thinking of how easy it would be to live in such a place at that time. But as the author made me more aware there is definitely a greater struggle to survive. While working the land may seem to many people as something primitive and easy it is not because of who you provide for. I enjoyed the way the people had certain rituals and rites that they followed closely like the planting of the yams at certain time s of year and the festivals they held.

Anyways, after reading the book I came to the conclusion that a better title for the tragedy would have been "All For Nothing." While Okonkwo lived his life the best he could, he lived it worrying about what other people in his community would think of him. In a way i felt very bad for Okonkwo because he held his community and tradition in such high regard and in the end right when he thought things were going to start to go his way it hit rock bottom. His tribe had changed and there was nothing he could do to bring it back to the way things used to be, the way he wanted it. He reminded me of many people today who spend their life working for something and not focusing on the present and enjoying themselves. He was in a constant struggle with himself and this anger was taken out on those around him.

The character that I was supposed to follow was Okonkwo's father, Unoka. And while many people regarded his father worthless, he was a happy man and enjoyed himself. He didn't spend his whole life trying to achieve something he knew he may never get which is exactly what happened in Okonkwo's case. His main fascination was for music of which he enjoyed playing his flute also called an opi, as well as other instruments such as the udu, which was a jug looking musical instrument.

As for the imperialistic white man and his religion, well maybe not the religion, because I don't think that this was REALLY an honest endeavor on their part. At this point in time the white man was really just power hungry and wanted to spread their culture, and I believe they used religion as a motive to go into other countries. Regardless I don't feel that they should be allowed to go into other countries and change their cultures around because even today I don't feel any culture is better than any other, we all have our problems and we can address them on our own.