[Bookworm_Girl]

Thank you, sun surfer, for selecting this book. I enjoyed it more than I anticipated. I believe that my reading of it was also enhanced by doing a bit of research into the background of Achebe, the Igbo people and Nigerian history. It was indeed interesting to read the story from the viewpoint of "the other side" as you put it.

My initial impressions are generally the same as already posted. The beginning was a bit rough to get into but by the end I was amazed at the layers of complexity in such a compact novel. I too admire that the story did not present a black-and-white perspective with one side being evil and the other good. Instead we were shown both positive & negative examples about the traditional African customs and also about the changes that colonialism brought to their society. In particular I liked this quote from the scene when the church is burned.

We cannot leave this matter in his hands because he does not understand our customs, just as we do not understand his. We say he is foolish because he does not know our ways, and perhaps he says we are foolish because we do not know his. Let him go away.

I enjoyed the variety of characters that were used to demonstrate contrast internally within each society. For example, I especially liked Obierika who sometimes followed and sometimes questioned their customs and uncle Uchenda's wisdom shared when Okonkwo is exiled to his motherland. I also liked the character of Ezinma, who understands Okonkwo better than her brothers but allows us to see a softer side of Okonkwo in his affection towards her (also contrasted with the harsh treatment of his wives). On the British side, Mr Brown was used to show a softer, more tolerant missionary compared to the stereotypical Mr Smith and the District Commissioner. I liked the debate between Mr Brown and Akkunna about their religious beliefs, which emphasized similarities despite their differences and that their heathenism was not so simplistic.

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I did a little investigating afterwards on the Igbo people of Nigeria that this book is based on, and I was quite surprised to find that the traditional Igbo culture and society is still stronger and more prevalent than I would've expected given the colonialism. It may now be heavily influenced by colonialism and modernity, but it is still there, to the point where I found a message board where Igbo people a few years ago were actually discussing if nowadays it was acceptable to befriend or marry osu (the outcasts/untouchables from the book), with some actually replying that they just couldn't marry an osu because the stigma is too strong. One had even moved and was now living in the UK and still said he wouldn't marry an osu for anything.

I wanted to know what happened to Okonkwo's people & heirs. Therefore, I read No Longer at Ease which is set in the 1950s and is about Nwoye's son Obi, "the grandon of Ogbuefi Okonwko who faced the white man single-handed and died in the fight". Similar to his grandfather, Obi also finds himself alienated from the changing culture and experiences a tragic downfall as the result. Whether or not it is appropriate to befriend or marry osu is a major part of the plot. In this book Nwoye reveals what he thought of the death of Ikemefuna and his father's action. This story also has an interesting passage in which Achebe tells us what he thinks of books where the main character commits suicide. What is the legacy left behind to this new generation? This quote summed it up.

Spoiler:

"When I was young I knew of them-Okonkwo, Eseudu, Obierika, Okolo, Nwosu.... And many others, as many as grains of sand. Among their fathers we hear of Ndu, Nwosisi, Ikedi, Obika, and his brother Iweka-all giants. These men were great in their day. Today greatness has changed its tune. Titles are no longer great, neither are barns or large numbers of wives and children. Greatness is now the things of the white man. And so we too have changed our tune. We are the first in all the nine villages to send our son to the white man's land." Our son specifically refers to Obi, Okonkwo's grandson sent to England for his education at the expense of the village.

Originally Posted by desertblues

The title from the book is taken from the lines of the famous Irish poet W.B.Yeats... It intrigues me, this quote, even when learning that Achebe is born and raised in the Nigerian village Ogidi; one of the first Anglican missionary work centres. Why not something from an African tradition?

That's an interesting question, desertblues. From what I read, there was also critcism that Achebe chose to write his book in English. He wanted to reach a wider, Western audience so that they could be enlightened that Africa had its own history and traditions. He wanted to provide a political contrast to the racism of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The poem "The Second Coming" by Yeats was written in the aftermath of Word War I. Perhaps he found some irony in using this famous poem about the falling apart of Western civilization (that would have been relatable to the Western audience) as an introduction to a book about the effects of European colonization on Africa.