Okonkwo And The Elders example essay topic

Okonkwo is a well known man in the Umuofia village, famous for defeating great wrestlers nearly twenty years ago. He was a violent angry man who lashes out at nearly everything that he finds the least bit unacceptable. His greatest fear is the possibility of turning out like his father who was a lazy cowardly man who left many great unpaid debts. Late at night, Okonkwo heard the town crier saying that all the men should meet in the market the next morning. A Umuofia woman had been killed in the Mbiano market and the payment for this crime was the exchange of one virgin and one boy from the Mbiano tribe.

The virgin was presented to the husband of the murdered woman, and the boy, named Ikemefuno, lived with Okonkwo until the elders decided what to do with him. Ikemefuno was scared when he first moved to Umuofia, but he soon made it his home. He made a close friend to Okonkwo's oldest son, Nwoye. Okonkwo, although he didn't show it, he was fond of Ikemefuno and was glad he was being a good influence to Nwoye.

Ikemefuno lived with Okonkwo for three years when Okonkwo got a visitor from the elders who warned him not to have a hand in the boy's death because the boy called him father. Okonkwo told Ikemefuno that he was going home, but Ikemefuno knew he wasn't going home. Okonkwo and the elders took the boy on a walk. Okonkwo walked far behind Ikemefuno. When one of the other men struck the boy with his machete, he ran to Okonkwo and cried, "My father, they have killed me!" Okonkwo raised his machete and finished him off because he didn't want to appear weak. Okonkwo wasn't able to sleep for three days.

When he was finally able to sleep, he was awakened by his wife, Ekwefi. She had come to warn him that Ezinma, their daughter was ill. Ekwefi was scared that she would lose Ezinma like she had lost the previous nine children. Okonkwo went to find herbs to treat Ezinma with. She fell asleep on the floor.

One night Ekwefi and her daughter were in their hut and they were telling stories when Chielo, priestess of Agbala, came to get Ezinma because Agbala wanted to see her. Ekwefi followed Chielo out of fear for her child. The next morning, her daughter was returned to her. Okonkwo and his family were sent into exile for seven years.

Okonkwo's kinsman in M banta received them with open arms. After two years of this, word arose of a village getting destroyed by white men, and that more white men were on their way. White men were building churches and evangelizing the surrounding villages. Many of the villagers were believing their teachings and rejecting their former Gods, which only made the elders furious. Okonkwo's eldest son, Nwoye, was one of the new converts, and Okonkwo was extremely ashamed. The missionaries asked for a plot of land to build a church, and the elders provided them with a section of the evil forest, expecting it to kill the church and it's members.

But the members only grew in numbers. The church and the villages coexisted peacefully until some members started telling the village that the old Gods were dead. These members were severely beaten. When Okonkwo's exile had ended, he came back to his home and noticed so much change. Even respected men had been converted. When the chruch's leader had to leave because he was getting old, a replacement came.

He encouraged the members to act out against the tribes. Enoch unmasked a egwugwu in public, which was a great offense. Okonkwo was very displeased and when he and five other men went to speak to the Commissioners, they were held as prisoners. When released, Okonkwo encouraged war at the village meeting.

When a messenger of the Commissioner came to warn everyone to disperse. Without a second thought, Okonkwo used his machete to sever the messenger's head. When the commissioner came to take Okonkwo away, they found that he had hung himself. This was a crime against Earth, and anyone from the village who cut him down shared in the judgment for this sin. The Commissioner ordered that he be cut down, and as he walked away he thought about the beliefs of the natives and how they would fill the pages of the book he was planning to write.