Chapters 4- 8 outline the period where Okonkwo goes to Mbaina to negotiate peace. He brings Ikemefuna back and raises him like his own son, and is then complicit in the boy’s death.
Day 1 – Chapters 4-8
Okonkwo goes to Mbaina to negotiate peace. One of Umuofia’s women was murdered at the Mbaina market, and in order to avoid war Umuofia has demanded one virgin and one young man. Knowing they cannot win against Umuofia, they agree, and Okonkwo returns home with the boy and young girl. The girl is given to the man whose wife was murdered. Okonkwo takes the boy who becomes like a son to him. When the village decides the boy must die as a consequence of the murder, Okonkwo is advised not to participate. But Okonkwo does participate. In fact, he deals the fatal blow.
Class 1
1) Consider the ways in which Okonkwo defines manhood for himself and the other men. Do these definitions resonate in the 21st century?
2) The elders tell Okonkwo not to participate in the death of Ikefuma but he does it anyway, mostly driven by ego. Have you done something that was ego-driven? Did you later regret it?