Bonus Blog
Things Fall Apart was confusing at first. In the first chapter, I had a hard time determining who the author is talking about and what the point of talking about that person is. But, I kept reading hoping it would clear up. I am glad to say it did.
One of the most interesting things about Things Fall Apart was Okonkwo’s care of the appearance of his emotions to others. He only showed anger even though the reader is told that he feels other emotions but refuses to show them. I remember at one point he said that anger was strength while affection was weak. He thought anger was the only useful emotion. In my opinion, this viewpoint got Okonkwo in trouble multiple times. I can see why he wishes to hide his emotion, he hated how his father acted and how he showed his emotion. I think this pushed Okonkwo to remove everything remotely similar to his father away.
Another thought I had with Okonkwo’s thought to only show anger was how do his wives care about him. When we read about Ekwefi’s thoughts of Okonkwo, we see that she cares and maybe even loves Okonkwo. Why does she care for him? He is a mean grumpy man. He does take great care of her and her daughter but, I do not understand what drew Ekwefi to Okonkwo. She had to have loved him because she left her husband and joined Okonkwo. The book does not say anything about her leaving her first husband other than that she wanted to be with Okonkwo.
What do you think about Okonkwo’s concealment of emotion and why Ekwefi cares for him?
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