BROADCASTS.com

b'

Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe - Episode 3 - Religion, Gender Issues, The Importance Of Balance And Chapter 13 - The Heart Of The Book!

\\xa0

I\\u2019m Christy Shriver and we\\u2019re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.\\xa0

\\xa0

I\\u2019m Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.\\xa0 This is our third episode in our\\xa0four part\\xa0series on Chinua Achebe\\u2019s stunningly complex little novel,\\xa0Things Fall Apart.\\xa0 In episode one, we looked at Nigeria the country itself, the historical context of the book, Achebe\\u2019s life, and also the poem Achebe used\\xa0for\\xa0the title of his book.\\xa0 In episode two, we got into a couple of the cultural features Achebe highlights in part one of the book\\xa0as well as begin discussing chapters 1-7.\\xa0 We are quick to notice that although, this is a story about a man, a very relatable\\xa0man, that could be from anywhere and struggles with issues that plague us all, Achebe situates him in a cultural context that is uniquely Igbo.\\xa0 So, who are the\\xa0Igbo?\\xa0 What do they\\xa0value?\\xa0 These are things we learn organically as we read the story.\\xa0 But this week, as we look at getting through the rest of part one as well as\\xa0most of\\xa0part two of the novel, the word I want to highlight is the word complex because like every other great piece of art, when you first engage this\\xa0book\\xa0you don\\u2019t understand the art of it.\\xa0\\xa0This story\\xa0feels natural, almost simple- the artist in Achebe makes the story feel easy and natural; what we don\\u2019t realize is how intentional and complicated all that is to do.\\xa0 It kind of reminds me of Swedish Rock.\\xa0

\\xa0

Are you really going to compare Achebe to Swedish\\xa0Rock.\\xa0

\\xa0

I am, so disclosure- Christy and I watched this Netflix series called This is Pop.\\xa0 I\\u2019m a musician, although not a famous one, but I love learning the stories of great music.\\xa0 Anyway, what the host Jay\\xa0McCarrol\\xa0talks\\xa0about, in this particular episode,\\xa0one of your favorite bands-\\xa0Christy-Abba.\\xa0 And it\\u2019s a phenomenon-= how does this little band from a little country change the musical landscape for millions around the\\xa0entire\\xa0globe..and\\xa0actually it\\u2019s more than just Abba.\\xa0Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and *NSYNC would\\xa0all be\\xa0obsolete without the work of Swedes Denniz Pop and Max Martin.\\xa0 But here\\u2019s the connection, when you listen to a song like\\xa0\\u201cWaterloo\\u201d- it feels simple\\xa0and easy.\\xa0\\xa0The listener just thinks,\\xa0ohh\\xa0I really like that.\\xa0It stands out-\\xa0why, out of thousands of songs- do some stand out?\\xa0 And how do the same writers do that over and over again?\\xa0 How do\\xa0they do it?\\xa0 What does Max Martin know that the rest of us\\xa0don\\u2019t.\\xa0 He\\u2019s got some trick up his sleeve.\\xa0\\xa0So\\xa0does Achebe?\\xa0 How does his book stand out?\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0Ha! Fair enough, of course, you had me at Abba, and today what we are going to talk\\xa0about, among other things,\\xa0some of the fascinating tricks, if you want to call them\\xa0that\\xa0or techniques, Achebe uses to make that human connection with all of us.\\xa0\\xa0And I think structure is a great place to start\\xa0because it\\u2019s something that often flies under the radar- but the structure of this novel is very deliberate.\\xa0 Last episode we\\xa0ended\\xa0by\\xa0reading the end of\\xa0chapter 7 of the novel,\\xa0one of the most important chapters of the book.\\xa0 It\\u2019s emotional; it\\u2019s important in terms of plot development.\\xa0 It\\u2019s important in terms of character development, but let\\u2019s notice where it\\u2019s placed.\\xa0 There are\\xa013 chapters in part one- and chapter 7 is at the\\xa0slap dab middle\\xa0six\\xa0chapters before- six chapters after.\\xa0 It\\u2019s at the heart of the first section.\\xa0 When we get to\\xa0chapter\\xa013\\xa0we see another big plot point.\\xa0 It\\u2019s the end of the first section, but it\\u2019s also the very middle point of the book-\\xa0the book has 25 chapters- there are twelve before chapter 13 and 12 after it.\\xa0\\xa0It\\u2019s the heart of the entire book, and it is where we see\\xa0Okonkwo commit a feminine crime, an accidental murder and is forced to flee.\\xa0\\xa0Why is an accidental murder at the heart of the book?\\xa0 What about this event takes us to one of the most important themes of this entire book?\\xa0 Why is so much attention drawn to the fact that this is a feminine crime?\\xa0What does crime even have gender?\\xa0Why is there such a thing as a masculine and\\xa0femine\\xa0crime?\\xa0 Achebe, of course,\\xa0when asked a similar question answered using an Igbo parable- \\u201cWherever Something stands. Something Else will stand beside it.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0The idea that life is not one thing- life is duality.\\xa0This duality applies to\\xa0everything\\xa0not just issues of gender-\\xa0but gender issues may help us understand dualities-\\xa0but it\\u2019s application as it pertains to issues of gender is of central importance\\xa0and\\xa0a focus in this book.\\xa0 Achebe draws particular attention to\\xa0man\\u2019s need for balance\\xa0between the male and female principles.\\xa0 He highlights through Okonkwo\\u2019s extremism\\xa0the difficulty\\xa0all of us have- in one way or another-in\\xa0finding\\xa0this\\xa0balance-\\xa0being okay with who we are-\\xa0and to support this theme-\\xa0Achebe has\\xa0created\\xa0balance\\xa0in the very physical aspect of the how the book is laid out.\\xa0 Just one of those cool things- structure supporting meaning.\\xa0

\\xa0

It\\u2019s one of those subtle\\xa0things\\xa0artists do that we don\\u2019t notice.\\xa0 Another subtle thing that Achebe has done in this book that fascinates me is how he has blended African\\xa0oral traditions into\\xa0the\\xa0genre of a\\xa0novel which is something of a\\xa0Western writing style.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0I should add, by way of being totally honest that it is a\\xa0misconception\\xa0\\xa0about\\xa0Africa\\xa0to think\\xa0that African literature is entirely oral.\\xa0 The truth is\\xa0Arabic writing of Northern Africa is over 5000 years old- some of the oldest writing on the planet.\\xa0 However, oral literature does have an important role in Africa\\xa0and in\\xa0Things Fall Apart, we understand why\\xa0this matters and how oral traditions\\xa0enrich\\xa0and stabilize\\xa0a society.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

I\\u2019m glad you mentioned\\xa0other African traditions, because that reminds me, I don\\u2019t want to give the impression that Achebe was the first\\xa0modern\\xa0African novelist\\xa0ever,\\xa0and there didn\\u2019t exist other African novels before his because that is not true at all.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0There are\\xa0other writers\\xa0before Achebe that\\xa0had written African novels-\\xa0a\\xa0famous\\xa0one\\xa0among them\\xa0is\\xa0Amos Tutuola\\u2019s book\\xa0The Palm Wine Drunkard-\\xa0But Achebe\\u2019s\\xa0book\\xa0\\xa0stood\\xa0out\\xa0at the time and has stood the test of time because of its popularity and impact on how the world sees Africa.\\xa0 It\\xa0focuses\\xa0on the colonial issues, the native cultures as well as the\\xa0unifying idea of our\\xa0human simultaneously- and people really just identified with it.\\xa0\\xa0It had a very large commercial impact, but also a larger cultural imprint than any of the previous books.\\xa0\\xa0And I wanted to clear that up if I\\u2019d given a wrong impression.\\xa0 Okay, let\\u2019s get into some culture, religion and gender issues.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Oh my- way to stay away from anything controversial there-\\xa0well,\\xa0before we get into\\xa0that, I wanted to make one more comment about structure and how it relates to colonialism that to me is really genius.\\xa0\\xa0As you pointed out, one way Achebe blends African oral traditions with Western traditions is by\\xa0intertwining myths and proverbs\\xa0organically\\xa0into the text throughout\\xa0the story.\\xa0 There are\\xa027 proverbs.\\xa0 However,\\xa0what\\u2019s interesting is that\\xa0they are not dispersed equally.\\xa0\\xa0Most of these are from the first part of the story and the last chapter has no proverbs at all.\\xa0\\xa0The role of myths and proverbs steadily decreases over the course of the story-\\xa0what an amazing\\xa0design element.\\xa0 Just as the Igbo get slowly colonized almost without\\xa0noticing,\\xa0\\xa0the\\xa0book itself gets colonized- the reader is getting colonized.\\xa0 The\\xa0latter\\xa0parts of the book heavily quote\\xa0from\\xa0the Bible\\xa0and the myths\\xa0slowly slip away- just an interesting observation of technique.\\xa0

\\xa0

For sure- super-interesting and something to notice as we read through.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

When we left off,\\xa0Okonkwo had just killed Ikemefuna.\\xa0 In chapter 8, he\\u2019s drinking\\xa0booze\\xa0from dawn to dusk and not eating food.\\xa0\\xa0He can\\u2019t sleep and doesn\\u2019t\\xa0eat until Ezinma, his daughter\\xa0who\\xa0he\\xa0is constantly lamenting isn\\u2019t a boy,\\xa0sits there and makes him\\xa0eat.\\xa0\\xa0Okonkwo\\xa0actually chides himself saying, \\u201cWhen did you become a shivering old woman, you who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war?\\xa0 How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number?\\xa0 Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.\\u201d\\xa0

\\xa0

To which I would add, you most certainly have not-\\xa0I would say most\\xa0women wouldn\\u2019t have killed Ikemefuna-\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0Well, there\\u2019s a comment- I would argue\\xa0most men wouldn\\u2019t either.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0You\\u2019re probably right- I feel\\xa0my personal biases\\xa0creeping in\\xa0there- but I draw attention to these comments because\\xa0all of this gender talk\\xa0really\\xa0has\\xa0upset a lot of women over the years and has gotten Achebe called a chauvinist on more than occasion by more than one feminist critic.\\xa0\\xa0But, and I know this is going to sound surprising coming from me who has raged at more than one male artist for chauvinism over the years, but\\xa0I don\\u2019t see this text that way at all.\\xa0 It\\u2019s clear that Okonkwo\\xa0is obsessed with gender and is a chauvinist- and of course, there is chauvinism inherent in Igbo culture as well as all\\xa0other cultures that I know anything about- but Achebe, the artist, is not endorsing this.\\xa0 He\\u2019s\\xa0exposing the weakness\\xa0inherent with\\xa0obsession with gender.\\xa0 And I might add, obsessing with gender is NOT just a problem in Igbo culture, I would argue that the world has never been more obsessed with gender than\\xa0the Western world\\xa0is at this current moment.\\xa0 Which for me,\\xa0\\xa0makes Achebe\\u2019s ideas extremely interesting for us\\xa0to consider\\xa0today.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0Yes- it\\u2019s something that literature always does, it\\xa0allows us to consider sensitive topics\\xa0that many of can\\u2019t talk\\xa0without getting too emotional but somehow in the context of the past\\xa0it\\xa0a feels safe\\xa0and non-threatening.\\xa0 We can consider more than our own insecure point of view.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Well, let\\u2019s see if that works as we\\xa0talk about\\xa0gender in the context of the\\xa0the Igbo worldview\\xa0as well as issues of\\xa0\\xa0faith\\xa0and religion because\\xa0in\\xa0many cases\\xa0those two issues overlap\\xa0for all of us.\\xa0 Garry, how\\xa0is\\xa0pantheon\\xa0of\\xa0the Igbo\\xa0gods\\xa0organized and how\\xa0do\\xa0gender roles tie into that?\\xa0

\\xa0

Great starting point,\\xa0so let\\u2019s revisit this idea of balance.\\xa0 Now, I know we\\u2019re going to credit the Igbo worldview for this idea, but I want to, and this is something that came up with Tolkien and Christianity,\\xa0we don\\u2019t want to say that the Ibgo people are the only people that believe in balance,\\xa0or that the Igbo\\xa0faith tradition is the only faith tradition\\xa0where this value is central because that\\u2019s not true.\\xa0 But it is where Achebe gets\\xa0his\\xa0values so as we reference the context of balance, we are going to reference it as an expression of Igbo religious thought.\\xa0 The Igbo caution against excesses in all aspects\\xa0and promote balance in equilibrium in all things-\\xa0like the proverb you just quoted- \\u201cWherever Something stands. Something Else will stand beside it.\\u201d\\xa0This proverb comes up a lot when you read things about the Igbo.\\xa0\\xa0Every person, every community, if they are to function without chaos,\\xa0must have an\\xa0equilibrium\\xa0between\\xa0male and female qualities.\\xa0\\xa0Now, I know we could go down a rabbit trail on what constitutes male and female qualities\\xa0and which ones are better than the other ones-\\xa0\\xa0but\\xa0that really is irrelevant to what we want to do-\\xa0so setting that aside- we will accept what are the male and what are the female qualities as they are accepted for the Igbo-\\xa0So for the Igbo-\\xa0the idea of\\xa0war\\xa0must be set precisely next to the idea of peace- with equal value.\\xa0The idea of\\xa0force\\xa0must be entirely balanced with the idea of\\xa0grace, so forth and so on.\\xa0 What we must\\xa0understand that in the Igbo societies, even in pre-colonial days, women had self-expression and power- it was just not exactly the same as the male version of these two things.\\xa0 I know we don\\u2019t have time to talk about it here, but historically, in 1929, there was even a Women\\u2019s War where women all over the country cooperated politically.\\xa0 One thing to see as we move through the story, although women had limited rights in their husband\\u2019s homeland, they never lost power in their own homeland- that\\u2019s important.\\xa0Women\\xa0always maintained a voice in their natal lands and could come and go as they wished- let me point out that women have not always had this power in many other more \\u201cprogressive\\u201d cultures- so the social institutions themselves\\xa0have an inherent\\xa0balance of power between male and female- just like the proverb-\\xa0Wherever Something stands. Something Else will stand beside it.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

When we understand this concept- it\\u2019s easy to see that Obierika, not Okonkwo\\xa0is a better example of a\\xa0balanced man,\\xa0and therefore a strong and better\\xa0man.\\xa0\\xa0Okonkwo clearly\\xa0cannot be the\\xa0representative of an ideal Igbo man in large part because\\xa0he is absolutely unable to reach any kind\\xa0balance between the male and female principles in his own life.\\xa0 He\\u2019s angry at himself that he feels love for Ikemefuna- he sees it as weakness and not strength.\\xa0\\xa0His misunderstanding of strength causes internal anxiety\\xa0and fear.\\xa0\\xa0This\\xa0seems obvious to an outside observer, but honestly,\\xa0lots of us, if we are honest,\\xa0struggle with issues of identity as it pertains to male and female principles.\\xa0\\xa0We have trouble defining who we are as humans because of this very imbalance illustrated vividly from within\\xa0the Igbo culture-\\xa0Achebe makes\\xa0the case that if we do not\\xa0have a balance between the male and female principles in our lives, the result is\\xa0internal chaos.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0In TFA the female goddess, Ani, who is the most central diety in the book\\xa0is assisted by a male human helper, Ezeani.\\xa0 The male oracle Agbala has\\xa0female priestesses- Chika and Chielo.\\xa0\\xa0In the Igbo religious tradition, even the\\xa0gods themselves are made to have balance.\\xa0

\\xa0

Yes- and when we compare the attitudes of Okonkwo to Obierika throughout the book- the contrast between these two men only grows over time.\\xa0 Let\\u2019s read the passage out of chapter 8 when after killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo goes to Obierika to ask why he didn\\u2019t participate in the killing.\\xa0 Obierika gives us the proper mindset of a balanced Igbo warrior.\\xa0

\\xa0

Page\\xa066-67\\xa0

\\xa0

Did you catch the cultural detail of the kola nut?\\xa0

\\xa0

Well of course- it\\u2019s funny that after something like that is drawn to your attention, you notice it everywhere.\\xa0 Another thing that is difficult for those who are monotheists to understand is the complexity of polytheistic traditions- where the will of one god, in this case Agbala, leads straight into conflict or a clash with another, Ani, and only a wise human like Obierika knows how to find that narrow path of balance.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

What Okonkwo doesn\\u2019t understand is having a female characteristic doesn\\u2019t make you a woman- everyone is supposed to have both male and female characteristics and if they don\\u2019t come to terms with that they have chaos.\\xa0\\xa0 It\\u2019s kind of a controversial statement to make, even now.\\xa0 So\\xa0many\\xa0people\\xa0feel and express a struggle in finding\\xa0balance\\xa0with\\xa0these principles in their own lives.\\xa0 So much of the culture wars\\xa0that get so aggressive,\\xa0cruel\\xa0and chaotic\\xa0might benefit from some of the\\xa0Igbo wisdom embedded in their\\xa0very ancient\\xa0cultural legacy.\\xa0

\\xa0

There is NO doubt about that.\\xa0\\xa0When we use the term the \\u201cfemale principle\\u201d what we mean is all\\xa0aspects of female involvement in society- that includes the physical and visible realm but also\\xa0the spiritual or invisible realm- and in all animistic cultures, not just Igbo culture, there is a lot of crossover between these two worlds.\\xa0\\xa0Remember, most people on planet earth are animists to one degree or another.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Explain to us what an animist is?\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0An animist is a person that believes there is a spirit world that engages the physical world.\\xa0\\xa0Most people embrace this\\xa0to some degree.\\xa0Even in the most secular societies\\xa0on earth\\xa0we see elements of animism-\\xa0the evil eye is a good example,\\xa0but there are other more secularized expressions of this-\\xa0participating in seances\\xa0or\\xa0reading\\xa0\\xa0horoscopes.\\xa0\\xa0Anything that reaches out to spirits in any way falls into the category of what we call\\xa0Animism.\\xa0\\xa0Achebe illustrates\\xa0in his book what that looks like\\xa0specifically\\xa0in the Igbo culture.\\xa0\\xa0Animism isn\\u2019t a certain set of beliefs.\\xa0 It looks different in every religion or culture.\\xa0 It just means you believe in the spirit world\\xa0at some level.\\xa0 So, in the Igbo tradition, the physical world must balance itself out between the\\xa0male and female principles, but also the spiritual world must as well. We see it in the kola nuts.\\xa0 Just like the two halves of the kola nut are still one kola nut- both halves of the female and male principles connect to create\\xa0completion.\\xa0\\xa0When you upset the moral code designed by the gods and goddesses all of society\\xa0is put at risk.\\xa0\\xa0 The creator god, as we see at the end of the book is\\xa0Chukwu, but Chukwu is neither male\\xa0nor female.\\xa0 It\\u2019s the lesser gods who are gendered and are under him/her.\\xa0 Under these gods are the ancestors\\xa0who have died- these ancestors are close at hand,\\xa0and we see in this section of the book that they are called on from time to time to weigh in on\\xa0community life.\\xa0 The priests and priestesses are the ones who can go back and forth between these two worlds.\\xa0\\xa0We have also seen, and this may be a good place to point this out that in Igbo religion, each individual has their own god\\xa0or spark of divinity\\xa0which is called a chi.\\xa0\\xa0There is dialogue between the spirit world and the physical world at every level all the way down to the chi.\\xa0

\\xa0

Yeah- I\\u2019m glad you brought of Chi- that word is a constant in the book, and something that doesn\\u2019t really have a cultural equivalent for many of us.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Yes- and\\xa0even anthropologists have a hard time agreeing\\xa0on a definition while\\xa0discussing it. One reason it\\u2019s hard for us to understand is that it too is discussed in Igbo culture as being a part of a duality- Achebe simplifies it for us as well as anyone, honestly.\\xa0 It\\u2019s one of those things you have to accept and not try to totally dissect- if I were going to suggest a remote Christian equivalent, I would say maybe the Holy Spirit and the Trinity- something that is difficult to wrap a concrete definition around, but you must accept to ascribe the Christian worldview.\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0

Okay- leaving the spirit world for a minute, let\\u2019s go back to physical representations of gender in\\xa0Igbo culture.\\xa0 That is something where the\\xa0roles\\xa0are\\xa0obvious and\\xa0visible.\\xa0 Let\\u2019s look at the construction of\\xa0Igbo compound, for example Okonkwo\\u2019s compound.\\xa0 Instead of a house, like we have in Memphis, Okonkwo has\\xa0a hut that he build in the middle and that is where he lives- his Obi.\\xa0\\xa0He clearly is\\xa0represented as in\\xa0charge.\\xa0\\xa0Each of his wives, though,\\xa0has\\xa0their own home, in essence.\\xa0 In their home they run things as they wish.\\xa0 They\\xa0cultivate crops, raise their children, do\\xa0whatever they wanted to do.\\xa0 Every night they bring\\xa0dinner to Okonkwo- but basically the administration of their world\\xa0is on their terms.\\xa0 They even covered for each other, as we saw\\xa0Okonkwo\\u2019s first wife doing at one point.\\xa0\\xa0We can see that they are intricately involved in business matters.\\xa0 They go to the market\\xa0and\\xa0negotiate trades.\\xa0 We can also see they are the\\xa0are the ones who instill values in the next generation- they\\xa0transmit history- they are nurturers, but they also hold the power of the purse interestingly enough.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0Two things you pointed out- women are highly organized in this community and have economic freedom.\\xa0 That is not just in Okonkwo\\u2019s case.\\xa0\\xa0Women in\\xa0Igbo society\\xa0are\\xa0overwhelmly organized in this way- even to this day, but especially during the polygamy days.\\xa0\\xa0We\\xa0cannot underestimate the power in this.\\xa0\\xa0I know it feels like men are in charge because Okonkwo is sitting in the middle of that hut,\\xa0the nine justices are all male and seem to be running the show,\\xa0but\\xa0what Okonkwo finds out when he goes back to his mother\\u2019s homeland is that\\xa0that is a misguided perspective and one that is\\xa0partly responsible for his own demise.\\xa0 Okonkwo doesn\\u2019t understand the balance of male and female roles in the community.\\xa0 He understands one to be superior to the other in terms of his community and\\xa0in his own life as well.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

So much of this middle section of the book deals with addressing these issues of gender principles and how connected and intertwined they are.\\xa0 Event after event centers around gender.\\xa0We are going to see the\\xa0marriage\\xa0negotiations.\\xa0 In chapter 9 we see the events surrounding the birth of Ezinma, and in chapter 10 we see the\\xa0entire community coming together to address the issue of a man beating his wife.\\xa0\\xa0All of these are specifically discussed as issues of gender.\\xa0

\\xa0

That court ceremony scene in particular\\xa0is something that culturally, if you just read it\\xa0from a Western standpoint\\xa0may seem strange-\\xa0almost otherworldly.\\xa0 It seems these masked individuals\\xa0are arbitrarily\\xa0creating justice from spirits;\\xa0but in all actuality, if we look at what is actually happening in the passage, there is a lot that is very similar to Western justice and really\\xa0a universally accepted\\xa0way to think of justice, if you are looking for a system that\\xa0can be accepted as\\xa0fair and balanced.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

What do you mean by that?\\xa0

\\xa0

So, in this court scene, if we want to call it that, the entire village is called together to give a public airing of the dispute- and this airing of the dispute will be judged by a group of people that are called \\u201cegwugwu\\u201d but\\xa0what are the egwugwu?\\xa0

\\xa0

Nine justices- one from each tribe- presumably elders who are communing with ancestors.\\xa0

\\xa0

Think of our courts-\\xa0in the United States\\xa0at our highest court-\\xa0we also have 9 supreme court justices.\\xa0\\xa0Going before this group or any other court is public and\\xa0full of\\xa0ceremony. These men embody the wisdom of the\\xa0American\\xa0ancestors\\xa0as codified by the constitution but not just the constitution \\u2013 judicial review as it has been upheld since the beginning of our court system-\\xa0the public is to watch to see that the judgements made are according to the\\xa0agreed upon social norms that transcend any one person, any one group of people,\\xa0or even\\xa0any one generation- they are to give a collective understanding that is bigger than one political, cultural or social moment.\\xa0 They are dressed in a way that clearly indicates that.\\xa0 Our justices also wear distinctive clothes.\\xa0 In Britain the costumes are even more pronounced.\\xa0\\xa0In our courts the justices are not speaking for themselves, at least they are not supposed to.\\xa0 They are not be activists using their own opinions and personal moral codes to chose things as they see fit.\\xa0 They swear to\\xa0make their judgements based on principles that predate them and are larger than they are.\\xa0\\xa0It\\u2019s actually an extremely high pressured job because as we see on tv pretty much every day, people want what they want and they do not want to be held accountable to a tradition that is older than they are or\\xa0interested in more than just what they as individuals want or think best at that little moment in time.\\xa0\\xa0That is exactly what we see here.\\xa0\\xa0This court\\xa0is doing the exact same thing that we see\\xa0in other traditions.\\xa0 In the American tradition, if the trial is important enough it\\xa0sometimes is\\xa0put on tv, like in the famous case of OJ Simpson.\\xa0\\xa0But here- what is happening is that\\xa0each\\xa0party\\xa0gives its testimony\\xa0and then the agreed upon values determine the outcome.\\xa0\\xa0Achebe is reminding us of the blindness and ignorance of people who can\\u2019t see beyond their own culture or their own moment\\xa0in time.\\xa0\\xa0Once again, Conrad\\u2019s characters, had then been watching would have been thrown off by the drums and ceremony and completely missed\\xa0the cultural equivalency.\\xa0 Igbo justice is cross-generational- it looks to the ancestors for wisdom and moral instruction.\\xa0 The stability of their community survives because the system instills trust, members agree to comply and submit to what is perceived as fair.\\xa0\\xa0It survives because it includes the past into the discussion.\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0Interestingly again, something that is also a problem in modern life where culture devalues the past by using\\xa0 negatively connotated words like \\u201cout-dated\\u201d, or \\u201cold-fashioned\\u201d.\\xa0

\\xa0

In this case, it\\u2019s interesting that Achebe chooses\\xa0to highlight a case where a man had beaten his wife.\\xa0\\xa0I was a little disappointed that they made the woman return to the mean man, but I will say, being threatened to having his genitals cut off may make him think twice before\\xa0hitting her again.\\xa0\\xa0And it isn\\u2019t clear to me if she HAS to go back or she is being given an opportunity to\\xa0reconcile which\\xa0is seen to\\xa0be to her advantage\\xa0if he does indeed\\xa0make\\xa0the changes he\\u2019s charged to make.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

I also want to point out an interesting detail now that we\\u2019re talking gender politics of power\\xa0and religion.\\xa0\\xa0In the very next chapter,\\xa0Chielo\\xa0shows up possessed by the spirit of Agbala and takes away Ezinma,\\xa0Ekwefi, Okonkwo\\u2019s second wife\\u2019s only daughter.\\xa0\\xa0In a feat of super-strength, she carries the girl away.\\xa0 This is the only moment in the entire book where we see Okonkwo embrace what the Igbo would consider the feminine principle\\xa0and show a caretaking emotion of nurture.\\xa0 He stays out all night and watches over his\\xa0daughter,\\xa0he also\\xa0shows compassion\\xa0and affection\\xa0towards his second wife.\\xa0 He follows her lead.\\xa0 She is the strong one in the incident, not he, and he readily acknowledges his support of her.\\xa0 Ironically also here he\\xa0is closer to the gods then he will ever be at any point in the story.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

In the next\\xa0chapter we have the celebration of Obierika\\u2019s daughter\\u2019s engagement- another happy time\\xa0\\u2013 there are cultural points to make, but we\\u2019ll have to skip over them\\xa0for time\\u2019s sake because\\xa0we need to get to the heart of the book-\\xa0chapter 13\\xa0where\\xa0Okonkwo accidentally kills Ezeudu\\u2019s sixteen year old son at his funeral.\\xa0 Okonkwo has now\\xa0offended Ani, the goddess of the earth,\\xa0 for the third time-\\xa0the first time\\xa0was\\xa0when he beats his wife during the week of peace, the second time when he kills Ikemefuna,\\xa0but this time, he murders\\xa0a clansman- and even though it\\xa0is accidental, or a feminine crime, there is\\xa0swift and immediate punishment.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

It\\u2019s pretty immediate,\\xa0his house is burned down\\xa0\\u2013 and I will add that even Obierika participates in this-a sign of\\xa0agreement-\\xa0Okonkwo\\xa0is exiled for seven years to live in his mother\\u2019s homeland.\\xa0\\xa0Uchendu, his mother\\u2019s youngest brother explains the thinking around this\\xa0to us a little later in the story.\\xa0 It\\u2019s an often-quoted passage actually.\\xa0\\xa0He says this:\\xa0\\u201cIt is true that a child belongs to its father.\\xa0 But when a father beats his child it seeks sympathy in its mother\\u2019s hut.\\xa0 A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet.\\xa0 But when there is sorrow and bitterness, he finds refuge in his motherland.\\xa0 And that is why we say that mother is supreme.\\u201d\\xa0

\\xa0

Well, I know we need to move on from issues of gender- but I do want to add one more thing- when we get to the end of the book and Okonkwo commits his last crime- I won\\u2019t spoil that in case you don\\u2019t know what happens- but I will say that his crime will again be a crime against the goddess Ani- the feminine principle at work again.\\xa0 He offends the feminine side of his culture in every possible way from beginning to end-\\xa0the obvious point being that\\xa0it is this\\xa0obsession with gender- this\\xa0lack of balance\\xa0between the gender principles in his own life\\xa0which causes things to fall apart for him on a personal level.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

It\'s certainly an idea worth thinking about.\\xa0\\xa0And if you are reading this book as a class or as a club, a question to talk about- what does this look like in my culture?\\xa0\\xa0Getting back to structure\\xa0again, Achebe divided his book in three clear parts.\\xa0 The first part focuses entirely on Igbo land, Igbo culture, Igbo characters.\\xa0 It is an entirely pre-colonial world.\\xa0\\xa0It\\u2019s not\\xa0the garden of\\xa0Eden, that\\u2019s for sure, but it is self-contained.\\xa0\\xa0And while a lot of this story is absolutely realistic, the idea that there would be a town in the 1890s totally isolated from colonial\\xa0or outside\\xa0influence is obviously not entirely realistic.\\xa0 Part two is really a transitional part of the book-\\xa0in this part the focus is\\xa0adaptation and change.\\xa0 Achebe places Okonkwo in exile from his clan, in Mbanta, the land of his mother,\\xa0and in this section he introduces\\xa0colonizers- the white man, the albinos as they are sometimes called.\\xa0\\xa0Okonkwo\\xa0hears about the advent of the white man\\xa0to Umuofia\\xa0from a second hand source.\\xa0\\xa0We hear about the advent of the colonizers as readers also through the voice of Obierika who visits Okonkwo during his second year of exile.\\xa0\\xa0It is further interesting to see that even as the missionaries are introduced into the Okonkwo\\u2019s motherland, Okonkwo relates to them from a distance.\\xa0 He assumes\\xa0a very stiff posture of defiance and resistance.\\xa0 He\\xa0also\\xa0just assumes Umuofia is still exactly in the state that he left it.\\xa0\\xa0Let\\u2019s read that part\\xa0from chapter 15.\\xa0

\\xa0

Page 137\\xa0

\\xa0

We see a white man, presumably a missionary, traveling on an\\xa0iron horse, which we later will understand\\xa0to\\xa0be a bicycle,\\xa0attempting to engage a local group.\\xa0 When the clan decides\\xa0to kill him on the advice of their oracle they provoke a revenge attack\\xa0from the colonial government they pretty much don\\u2019t even\\xa0seem to\\xa0realize is\\xa0part of a larger world that now geographically overlaps their self-contained one.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

There is a man by the name of Robert Wren who very\\xa0convincedly, at least to me, argues that Achebe\\xa0drew on an actual event\\xa0that happened in 1905 in the villages of Obezi and Eziudo-\\xa0when he creates the Abame\\xa0story.\\xa0 There were\\xa0two villages\\xa0about\\xa050 miles south of Achebe\\u2019s home village of Ogidi which of course is\\xa0the model for Umuofia- and something almost exactly like this happened there.\\xa0 The real life incident was\\xa0actually one of the smaller events that were\\xa0part of what the British called\\xa0the campaign of\\xa0\\u201cpacification\\u201d\\xa0in\\xa0Igboland.\\xa0

\\xa0

I really love how governments\\xa0or people out to control you\\xa0do that- whatever something is called, if a government gives it a name, it actually\\xa0does the exact OPPOSITE of what it claims\\xa0to do in the name.\\xa0 If a\\xa0government\\xa0act is called a protection of privacy act, you can be assured that it will in fact invade your privacy; if it\\u2019s called a freedom act, you can be assured it\\u2019s meant to enslave someone somewhere and so forth.\\xa0 If something is stated to promote transparency, it actually is being designed to hide something.\\xa0

\\xa0

Exactly, and the pacification of Igboland was actually genocide- an act of violence.\\xa0 But what is even more interesting than that, is that the incident Achebe uses in his story to introduce colonial violence is a small event, comparatively speaking.\\xa0\\xa0Around this same time a much larger event occurred in real life in 1901-\\xa0one that\\xa0included\\xa0the overtaking of a\\xa0culturally significant oracle\\xa0and involved\\xa0the buying and purchasing of slaves to take to other parts of Nigeria.\\xa0 This event today called the Aro-Chukwu conflict\\xa0was much wider in scale encompassing over 6000 square miles, involved resistance form the Igbo,\\xa0but is not referenced at all in Achebe\\u2019s story.\\xa0 Christy, why do you think that is the case, if indeed, Achebe is wanting to discuss colonialism and colonial violence?\\xa0 Why not bring a huge conflict into the story?\\xa0

\\xa0

Well, I\\u2019m going to theorize\\xa0as to why- but\\xa0most\\xa0critics\\xa0agree that\\xa0Achebe\\u2019s story\\xa0does seem to be\\xa0comparatively\\xa0light on\\xa0colonial violence.\\xa0 Achebe has been criticized for this.\\xa0 Some argue\\xa0that\\xa0if you are talking about the transition from pre-colonialism to\\xa0colonialism\\xa0it should encompass all of the atrocities that were involved?\\xa0\\xa0Some critics\\xa0say it\\u2019s because Achebe himself was\\xa0a product of colonialism and was blind to it.\\xa0 I absolutely don\\u2019t think that\\u2019s the case at all.\\xa0\\xa0In his many essays,\\xa0he often\\xa0references colonial cruelty\\xa0unequivocally.\\xa0 In his essay\\xa0\\u201cThe\\xa0Education\\xa0of a British-Protected Child\\u201d\\xa0he says, \\u201cColonial rule was stronger than any marriage.\\xa0 The Igbo fought in the battlefield and lost.\\xa0 They put every roadblock in its way and lost again\\u201d.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

So, here\\u2019s my thoughts on this-\\xa0Achebe could absolutely have written a post-colonial novel detailing\\xa0atrocity after atrocity, arousing sympathy, illustrating man\\u2019s inhumanity to man in great detail.\\xa0 He could have written the story of brave men and women\\xa0resisting\\xa0this change.\\xa0 But that is not this story.\\xa0\\xa0This book is not\\xa0meant to be an\\xa0example of \\u201canti-colonial resistance\\u201d.\\xa0 Okonkwo is not\\xa0supposed to Mel Gibson in\\xa0Braveheart.\\xa0\\xa0Remember, Achebe said he wanted to give his people their voice- to display their civilization- to show\\xa0cultural equivalents-\\xa0and so there needed to be a very careful exploration of the issues without letting the\\xa0outside culture\\xa0overshadow the Igbo one, in the case\\xa0here,\\xa0it\\u2019s very obvious that the\\xa0British\\xa0enter the story but they are not\\xa0center stage.\\xa0\\xa0His accusation of the British, if you remember,\\xa0is that they first\\xa0dismissed his culture\\xa0as if it didn\\u2019t even exist, then\\xa0they\\xa0came in and\\xa0hijacked his culture through the colonization process.\\xa0 What\\xa0Achebe is not going to\\xa0do is\\xa0allow the Europeans here to hijack\\xa0his\\xa0story.\\xa0 This is a story about\\xa0Igboland, about\\xa0Africa, and it will stay that way\\xa0all the way until the\\xa0very\\xa0last page where we do see an ironic twist\\xa0and shift, but that\\u2019s for later.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0

It is really a very difficult perspective to take- how do you tell the story of a colonized people\\xa0without focusing on the\\xa0colonizer?\\xa0

\\xa0

Exactly.\\xa0 And\\xa0so\\xa0Achebe\\u2019s novel\\xa0takes a few liberties at this point and does not enforce a\\xa0strict adherence to the\\xa0exact\\xa0historical events\\xa0like you might read in\\xa0historical fiction.\\xa0\\xa0The\\xa0Igbo\\xa0stay\\xa0center stage,\\xa0and\\xa0British are introduced initially indirectly through the voice of\\xa0a\\xa0wise and respected native,\\xa0Obierika.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0

And next week, we will see just how all of this plays out for the people of Umuofia and the comments on the world that Achebe makes through the introduction of missionaries and eventually colonial government agents and soldiers.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.