As
we read on the last chapter Okonkwo was exiled out of Umophia. He decides to go
to Mbanta, his motherland, for those seven years. He is warmly received by his
uncle Uchendu and his other kinsmen. They inclusively give him many seed yams
and a land to start his farm. Okonkwo builds himself an obi and also huts for
his family. At the end of the chapter Uchendu says him that it doesn’t matter
who he was in Umophia; here in Mbanta he is no one. Also that he should stop
replying for what had happened to him because that’s nothing compared to what
Uchendu needed to carry with.
Two
years passed when Obierika, his friend came to visit him. Obierika came with
some big new. He said that a white man had come to Umophia with an iron horse
(really a bicycle). The elders didn’t know what to do with him so they went to
ask the oracle. They were said to kill the white man and tied his iron horse,
to prevent him from calling more men. And so they did as they were told.
Uchendu said that they should have never killed the white man because you need
to be careful with someone who is quite, they will take revenge. He illustrates
his point with the story of Mother Kite.
From: http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/riverine.html
Other
Two years passed when Obierika visited again Okonkwo. His friend told him that
the missioners had settled in Umophia. That some people had listened to them
and were convinced by the one and only god they mention. Some people had converted
to this new religion, but everyone looked at them as traitors and as if they
had any value. Later on the missioners arrived to Mbanta and they gave a speech
to convince people. Nwoye was attracted to this new religion because he was
tiered of the demands of the oracle. The missioners asked for a place to build
a church and they gave them a piece of land in the evil forest. Everyone
thought they would not survive there but they did. Okonkwo got very angry with
Nwoye so he escaped and went to the church, where he stayed. The church started
gaining power by accepting the marginalized people of the tribe, in this case
the outcasts. The tribe expelled everyone of the church from the tribe because
someone had killed the sacred python on purpose. At least that was what the
tribe thought.
The
seven years had finished and Okonkwo was preparing to return to Umophia. He
asked Obierika to start building him his huts, not his obi. At the end Okonkwo
offered a big fest as a demonstration of gratitude and a goodbye.
Achebe, C, (1994), Things fall apart, Anchor Books, New York.
