'I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy,’ he asked Obierika.
‘Because I did not want to,’ Obierika replied sharply. ‘I had something better to do.’
In the Igbo culture you have to earn the respect and voice of others ,especially the male figures, by getting/gaining titles. If you have no titles others in the clan will make fun of you for being a “woman” or “a femininie figure” because of you not having any titles means that you have no important status to the clan. It also teaches that if a man has no status means that you aren’t masculine and you have no important say or role in the Igbo hierarchy.
Chapter 17
The man who had contradicted him had no titles. That was why he had called him a woman.
Okonkwo is masculine man by acting like a strong man of many titles. He believes that masculinity is a strength of physicality but emotions of masculinity are acts of anger and aggression. He feels that showing true emotions is a sign of weakness in a man because a man should be assertive towards others, even people they care about.
Chapter 24
“In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwo's machete descended twice and the man's head lay beside his uniformed body.”
“Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness,-the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else - with a heavy hand.”
Okonkwo was asking Obierika about why he didn’t come with him to kill Ikenefuma. Obierika felt that he had better things to do than to kill a boy that was a part of Okonkwo’s family. Obierika has a different vision of what a true man is than Okonkwo. Okonkwo follows the traditional Igbo religion very strictly because he feels that a true man follows the religion very strictly. Obierika views being a true man different from Okonkwo by believing that you shouldn’t kill a son-like figure. He feels that you need to stay true to you and your family before anything.
Chapter 25
‘It is against our custom,’ said one of the men. ‘It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offence against the Earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansmen. His body is evil, and only strangers may touch it. That is why we ask your people to bring him down, because you are strangers.’
Nwoye doesn’t want to upset his father, Okonkwo, because he knows that his father believes in the traditional Igbo religion and that nothing else matters besides following it. If his father found out that he was exploring a new religion, especially one that the white missionaries brought over, he wouldn't talk to Nwoye or accept him anymore. He also knows that his father doesn’t want him to follow in music because that makes you “femininie” as well as it is like Okonkwo’s dad who didn’t turn out successful but poor.
“Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, he kept it secret. He dared not go too near the missionaries for fear of his father.”
Okonkwo beheading the head messenger shows that his masculine emotions ,anger, took over because he hated that they interrupted their meeting. This also tells that the masculine emotions are more aggressive and impulsive.
The reason that the Igbo men can’t take down Okonkwo and bury him is because it is apart of their customs that suicide is a know as a feminine act and is disgraceful to their culture. So, they can’t bring him down; they have to pay strangers to do it. Even though he was one of the greatest men of all time for his masculinity, he was to be known for being femininie. He was known this way not only for killing himself but letting his true emotions and vulnerability get the best of him. Cause he was so scared to not be masculine and strong that it got the best of him and turned him “feminine”.
'Why can't you take him down yourselves?’ he asked.
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