TFA+Reflections+Stella

April 7th, 2010 <> There were many interesting points discussed in our discussion. First, Discussion Director(Rosa)'s question asking "If you were one of Okonkwo's wife, would you live with him?". I think this was a very interesting question to think about. I could think in the wives' point of view and understand more about the character of Okonkwo. All of our group members agreed that we won't want to stay as his wife because he is too demanding over women and weak people. In addition, talking about Okonkow's attitude towards his family members were interesting, too. Okonkwo seemed like he doesn't have much love towards his wives. For example, he even tried to shoot his second wife when he got mad. On the other hand, Okonkwo wanted his son to be a strong man which is quite caring. We concluded that Okonkwo loves his family but he cannot express it in a good way.

April 13th, 2010 <> Through chapter 7 to 13, we could see that Okonkwo changing into a more caring characteristic. Even though he eventually leaves Ikemefuna to die, he falls into deep depression because Ikemefuna called him "father" and he realized his love towards him. In addition, there were some interesting cultural parts, too. Fable about tortoise gave a lesson not to be selfish. Also, there was a religious event that showed how people are obsessed with religion too much. For example, they decided whether to kill a person or not relying only on religious thoughts. It was the negative part of their cultural characteristics that we found.

April 19th, 2010 <> In the chapters we talked about today, we could see how white men are doing in this Igbo society. They are giving benefits such as education and medication to the Igbo people. On the other hand, white men are building church and spreading their religion, Christianity, which is wrong for the village people who strongly believe in their Igbo religion traditionally. In some ways, the missionaries seem helpful to the village people but in other ways, they are just disturbing the Igbo people.

April 21th, 2010 <> Today was the last discussion about Things Fall Apart. The most important topic we talked about was why did Okonkwo hang himself at the last. We came up with several possible answers. First, he might have killed himself because he was scared that he will not be successful. In the past, everyone praised Okonkwo as a warrior of the village but now he doesn't get those praises. On the other hand, Okonkwo might have been scared of getting punished by the white men because he killed one of the missionaries. Lastly, Okonkwo might hated his village that turned un-mascular than before that he didn't want to live anymore. I think our group had meaningful discussions throughout this book and it really helped on understanding the stories.