Chapter 8

Once again, we see another side of Okonkwo. He falls into a depression state after the death of Ikemefuna. That show that he is actually a kind hearted person, but he is so desparate to be viewed as a strong and powerful man, he comes off as a cold hearted person. His desire for Ezinma to be a boy show that he wants to view Ezinma worthy of being his child, but he refuses to allow himself to openly show this because Ezinma is a girl. Okonkwo's beliefs are that women are like property, and they do not deserve to be a respected part of society. They are meant to serve their husband. When Okonkwo blames his depression on his lack of work, that shows his desire to be viewed as a hard working man. He views depression as a sign of weakness and blames it on his lack of work to do instead of accepting his actual feelings that he feels at the time. In a way, I think this show a major flaw in Okonkwo. If a man is not able to accept his flaws, there is no chance that he is going to overcome them. I think that this lack of acknowledgement is going to hinder Okonkwo later.

When Obierika asks Okonkwo to stay and help him determine a bride price for his daughter, it shows the respect that Okonkwo has gained in the communtiy. The communtiy sees him as a good judge of character. This is ironic because his is really not a very good judge of character at all. If a man will not even judge himself fairly, it is hypocritical to judge another. I found that kind of weird. Okonkwo is good at seeing the work mentality of a person, but he will hold a grudge if he sees any laziness in a person. I guess he could be a good judge of the qualities that the African people wanted in a man, but he would not be a good judge of character outside of Africa.