Different Beliefs of the Ibo people and the White men

When the white men first came, the Ibo people were scared and worried, but not as worried as they should have been. They didn't really know what was going on and what these white people were doing in their area. In Abame, they killed the first white man who came but then they were wiped out when the next group of white men came. They were worried about this white man so they tried to protect themselves but instead, they just hurt themselves. I think because of what happened to this town, many other villages are scared to fight back against the white men because they don't want the same thing to happen to them. The Ibo people didn't know what was going on so they didn't know how to react. When the white men come, they know that they are more powerful than the Ibo people. Because they are the "attackers," if you will, in this situation and the Ibo people are the "defenders," the Ibo people are already at a disadvantage. The white men came to the Ibo people knowing all their intentions, while the Ibo people were blindsided. Even the white men had interpreters, which gave them even more of an advantage. They come to the Ibo people knowing all well that they would win the fight, if it ever came to it. The white men came to the Ibo people like they were little kids in the playground. They knew that these people were less advantaged and advanced, and they used this in their attack. Because they know that they are "better" than the Ibo people, they treat them like they're dogs. In jail, they beat them and treat them very poorly. The British are the main brains in this operation. They are the ones who sent the missionaries. They knew the state of living that the Ibo people possess so they see it as an area where they could prosper. The British are advanced compared to the Ibo and they know this so they use it to their full advantage. The British come to try to fix the Ibo's way of life and make it like their own, which is the best of all.

"Mother is Supreme"

Okonkwo profoundly ignores any "female" virtues he sees in himself. Some of these "female" virtues he could possess are showing feelings, showing compassion, wanting to help others, and being nurturing, just to name a few.Okonkwo never shows feelings because he thinks it is a sign of weakness. Him thinking this shows that he thinks women are weak. Women usually always show their feelings and it is a characteristic often associated with the female sex. Also, Okonkwo is never compassionate to anybody. He doesn't even feel an ounce of pity for his father who was not successful. His family gets his the hardest with this characteristic of Okonkwo. Nwoye has not been able to develop as a man because every thing he does he gets beat by his dad. Okonkwo will not let Nwoye show feelings or compassion because that is a "female" virtue and he thinks it is a sign of weakness. Where does Nwoye turn to when he suffers pain from his father? His mother. Most females show compassion and are nurturing. Children always turn to their mothers when they are hurt or upset. There are only rare occasions when children turn to their fathers for support and help. Okonkwo never thinks of others. He only thinks of himself and making himself stronger or better in the community. He doesn't marry wives because he wants to make their lives better or he actually has feelings for them, but he marries them to make himself look wealthier. He drags people with him on his road to power, trampling whomever he wants or can on the way there.
His personality and the way he ignores any "female" virtues in his life just cause more trouble for him in the end. For example, he beats his wife during Week of Peace because she doesn't have his dinner ready. If he were practicing his "female" virtues, he would have been happy to let her go and have some fun. But instead, he got mad because he lost control of her for one second. She didn't wait to ask him what to do, she just did it and that made Okonkwo feel weak and unimportant. So, power hungry, he beat his wife. Also, because he treated Nwoye so horrible in the past and never really connected with his real personality, Nwoye decides to convert to Christianity. Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna which just led to confusion and hurt in Nwoye. This new faith gave him something he could believe in and something that cleared things up in his mind. When Nwoye converted, Okonkwo stopped talking to him. He didn't want to seem weak by showing a sense of understanding to Nwoye. He didn't want to open up and say, "Son, if it is what makes you happy and you understand it, go for it!" If he did, he would be acting like a woman and showing his feelings.
Okonkwo thinks it is weak for men to show emotion, but in reality, other men look down on men who think women are weak. In Mbanta, the people try to make Okonkwo understand that women are just as important as men, maybe not in the working community, but at home, they share just as much, if not more, importance in the family. He thinks he is being strong when everyone else is weak, but in this community, they're not afraid to let him know that because he is ignoring any "female" virtues he might possess, he is losing some positive characteristics that might make him a better person. Okonkwo chooses to ignore all of these virtues, but I think by the end of the book, he will come to understand the importance of women and wish he shared some of the same characteristics that they have.

First Impressions of Okonkwo.

From what I've read about Okonkwo so far in Things Fall Apart I think that Okonkwo will do whatever he can to run from his past. He despises his father and everything that has to do with him. He has said this many times in the book and has expressed his feelings about his father through his relationship with his other family members. He beats Nwoye when there is even a possibility of laziness showing through in his personality. I think it is wrong that he beats his famiy, but Okonkwo just loves having family to do it to. His father had only one wife and he couldn't even take care of her. While Okonkwo has three wives and many kids, which symbolizes his wealth. I think he likes the power he has and the fact that he is wealthy enough to support three wives. Him beating his wife makes him feel like he is different than his father. Being different from his father is what he strives for in life. I don't think Okonkwo wants to get wealthy because he's money-hungry, but I actually think that his big motiviation for working hard and making a good living is the possibility of his father's characteristics showing up within himself. I think that Okonkwo will do whatever he needs to to break the similarities he might share with his father. I don't think Okonkwo is necessrily a bad human being in the fact that he beats his wife. I think in the moment it is not about what his family member did that was so bad but actually just an opportunity for him to further break the connection he might have wih his father. He wants so desperately to break all ties he might have linking him to his father. It kind of makes me sad that there isn't one thing he found positive about his father's personality. Any of the negative characteristics he saw about his father definitely outshined any positives he might have. Okonkwo was blind to all of his father's positive characteristics and focused only on the negative. If Okonkwo would open his eyes and see the good things about his father, he might find some common characteristics between he and his father that he likes about his own personality. I like Okwonko's character but I think he needs to realize that there are some things in life that you can't run away from, things that will always be with you or in your veins.