Again, continue making sure you are up to date on the reading and worksheets. This also includes the themes assignment which you should be doing all the way through the novel. It seemed as if many of you were still behind today and that is going to be problematic as we continue the discussion of this book.
For this evening please respond to the following quote from the novel. What does this quote mean and to what context is it referring? What event occurs to make this quote happen? Lastly, what is your reaction to this quote based on your life? Is this quote one which we, in our society, prescribe to? Why or why not?
23 comments:
NO QUOTE=NO POST
there is no quote!!!
There is surely not a quote there...
Not sure what happened as I know the quote was in there but here it is:
"'When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'"
- Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Ch. 8
Refer back to the original questions to answer.
This quote means that okonkwo still has some of his dad in him. He feels bad for killing ikemefuna because he grew very attached to him and was very fond of him. Okonkwo feels that because he has killed so many people in battle that adding another should not affect him lkem this. I think that the adding a number to his death list is not the poblem but adding one who is so young and who he is so fond of is. Because he became attached he feels that it is a sign of weekness and that his is a woman. He is aftraid that showing compassion will cause him to loose respect and be compared to his father. Although this would not happen he is does not want his tough guy persona to be cracked.
Tom Hall
"'When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'"
The part in the book talks about Okonkwo not being able to keep it together after the killing of Ikemefuna. I belive the quote is saying how Oknokwo is being compared to a women because he is feeling quilty. He is sad after the death of Ikemefuna but belives if he is a man he has to be strong and not show it. Okonkwo is talking about himself becoming weak for caring for the boy. My reation to this quote is that he shouldn't look at himself as weak. Times are different now and it's acceptable to show emotion. We do not agree to this quote. Today's society, it's not looked down upon to show concern.
The quote is referring to when Okonkwo killed Ikemefunu (sp?). It refers to how he basically fell to pieces when he killed the boy. My reaction to this quote makes me think that Okonkwo has feelings deep down. Based on what Okonkwo said, it makes me feel that everyone has a certain amount of feelings inside their tough exterior. I think this quote somewhat applies to our society today. Some people don't like to show their compassion, so they bottle up their problems, as Okonkwo did. On the other hand, some people show their emotions when something troubles them. It could really go either way.
Cody Dykes
'When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'"
- Chinua Achebe
Well, this quote is describing the way Okonkwo feels after killing Ikemefunu. He feels weak because he is known for being a big guy and he's simply letting it get to him. He feels guilty for doing this, he's not use to feeling that way. I think in life there is allot of thing's that are new and have big effects on you. This quote i think is hard to compare to our society. It just seems too specifics to be comparable to our world. It's more of a personal level thing.
"'When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'"
- Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Ch. 8
I think the quote means that no matter what onkonkwo has been through he still has some good in him. This kind of shoes that he cares about people, jut like his dad. He acutually cares about the boy a lot. The event that occurs to make this quote happen is okonkwo killing Ikemefunu in battle. In the quote he is being compared to a woman because of him feeling guilty. And I guess men don't feel guilty at all. He felt guilty for killing Ikemefunu. I think in our society it is good to show that you care about others.
Okonkwo is a man and therefore utters these words in response to his feelings of guilt for killing Ikemefuna in chapter seven. Okonkwo, contrary to his father, has the ultimate masculine unbalance; conversely his father had an ultimate feminine imbalance. As such, any femininity that Okonkwo feels is immediately encroached by his masculine persona. Okonkwo, feeling guilt over killing his beloved Ikemefuna (especially after the eldest member of the village had instructed him not to, no doubt), describes himself becoming a 'shivering old woman', thus clearly regarding his weakness, his femininity, and ultimately -- to Okonkwo -- his failure. Okonkwo shuns upon femininity and regards it as a failing emotion. I presume this is because of how feminine his father was, as Okonkwo despised his father while he was alive and tries very much to be everything Unoka was not. As such, he despises his feminine 'weakness', as it were to him, and points out several of his most masculine achievements upon this recognition, such as being known in nine villages for his war valor and killing five men in battle.
Okonkwo is surely just as poor a person as his father was, if not poorer. Unoka did not -- rather, did not from what we may assume beat his children and wives and scold them as a simpleton as his son does.
I think this quote is not a prescription to our society in general as we do not tend to focus on being too masculine or feminine. I suppose if the quote is regarded as metaphorical then it may be prescribed to the social disease that we try to be cool by conforming to the norms and trends of society, and there do exist people like Okonkwo who shun upon people for being 'uncool', however I think I am being over-analytical in my supposition.
When I take this quote into consideration upon paralleling it with my own life, I see no correlation. I do not think that I am too masculine or feminine; I think that I am me. Masculinity and femininity are like testosterone and estrogen, respectively, in a sense as men tend to have more testosterone and women tend to have more estrogen, but no person has absolutely all of one hormone and none of the other. Okonkwo tries to converse this, for he attempts to be as masculine as possible.
A truly flawed individual. In trying to be so much better than his father he has himself become just as bad, if not worse; his moral judgment is supremely and clearly clouded by his lust for success and masculinity.
This quote means that okonkwo feels that his feelings for Ikemefunu have made him weak. He says he has become a women because of his belif that women are weak. This occurs after he went out to kill Ikemefunu and was sad about the whole thing. I for one would feel the same way sort of. I would not feel weak, but i would mourn over a lost loved one. I think that all people would cry over a death of a loved one, and some people think that is a weakness and will try to avoid it. I think Okonkwo has the right idea, but does not now how to express himself with the fear of weaknees. I think that Okonkwo is too hard on himself.
Ugh i was really dissapointed in you mkay i wa actually gonna do the blog today hahaaa sucker
The quote from Things Fall Apart in chapter eight shows okonkwo's true colors and how he really feels about the killing of Ikemefuna. All of Okonkwo's life he tried so hard to be unlike his father that he lost sight of what is really important and what isnt. He started becoming so consumed with being strong and important to the villages and not be like his dad that he lost sight of real feelings for others. After he became really attached to young Ikemefuna, he felt so awful about killing him he started to actually put things into perspective. Like all people go through eventually, he made a mistake in a big way. People often get so consumed with trying to be what they think other people want them to be that they loose what is really in their hearts to do and be. I of course can relate to this kind of social pressure, as well as probably the entire society as a whole. It is important to always keep in check right from wrong, and learning from your mistakes.
rachel duelo.
"'When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'"
- Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Ch. 8
i think that it is explaining that even after you have done wrong you can do right. like when okonkwo killed ikemefuna. Even though he has made a terrible mistake he can redeem himself. i also think it's trying to say that if some thing bad happens there's nothing you can do undo the problem. you just have to look forward and think positive. i also can look at the same example of killing ikemefuna for this one. now that ikemefuna is dead there is nothing any of them can do for him. all you can do is move on with your life. if you don't move on it will just go on for ever because it is an irreversible thing. life will move on without you, you will get left behind.
"'When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'"
- Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Ch. 8
the quote is referring to the commonly held idea in the village, that if you show any compassion, empathy, or anything other than ferocity and strength, you are a woman. men in the village were there to defend, show strength, pride and power, and emotion dissolves that image. the event is okonkwow's love for the boy his village. i think this quote relates to my life, because of the amount of people in the world that insist on being a hardass. they are putting on a face that is not their own. and people i would say do tend to describe to this idea. because in business, showing weakness means you make no money. you need to be stronger than your competetion and fight for what you need, and any crack in that is failure.
Ah, the people who thought they could get away without posting due to there being a previously quote-less entry... Methinks some people are not going to be happy at all *chuckles*.
Okonkwo has just killed his pseudo-son Ikemefuna. He is wracked by feelings of guilt and, I would say almost betrayal by the rest of the village for making him go through with this. I find myself agreeing with Ryan Moore on how this makes Okonkwo feel as weak and as feminine as he saw his father to be. This is why I would think that Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna himself, to ascertain if he was truly a woman or a true man. He insomuch as became scared as to whether he and the other males of the village would see that as true and think any less of him. I find this quote to hold little significance in my life. I do what I wish, when I wish because I feel like doing it. However, I do think that American culture subscribes to this idea that guys cannot and should not do anything "girly". While there is some stuff that I think males just, well, don't do; I think that the differentiation between "girly" and "manly" is an old, chauvinistic way of thinking and I think society should be more accepting of, well, whatever floats one's boat.
"'When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'"
The culture in their village certainly looks down unpo woman, and really puts men up on a pedstool next to woman. This quote is doing just that, and sort of reffering to woman as being weak. The event that really striked this question into Okonkwo's mind is the death of Ikemefuna, and how we could have prevented it, yet did nothing about it. He didn't understand why he felt such guilt and loss over a boy that was not even his own. Feeling loss and saddness is a sign of weakness in their villages, which also is a feature of being a female to them. All though this quote does not directly state woman as being very weak, it is implying that they look down upon them and in my life, and our society today I think we sure do a great job at keeping up with eachother, men and woman. There are so many things that we do differently, but also things that we are each stronger at varying on person and gender as well. But I don't think that our society goes along with this quote stating female as weak, because we are all so capable of doing the same things, its just the steriotype that got woman as being seen as the weaker person, which in most cases is not true.
'When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'"
- Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Ch. 8
This quote is talking about Okonkwo having remorse for killing Ikemafua. Okonokwo looked after the boy as if he was his own. He liked having Ikemefau around because it was making his son more of a man. He did not want to become attachted to him, but he eventually did. He asked himself why he became attached because he was supposeldy such a man and he shouldnt have been attached to him. He thought that the man of his masculine should't show any feelings. This is hard to relate to our American society because it most likely wouldnt happen with all of our laws. But, it still may happen in African society.
"'When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'"
To be honest i am rather confused with this quote but i will do my best to answer it. I believe there is some regret he is feeling about him self and doesnt belive that everything he is doing is right. He also has some sorrow about the recent death that he is dealing with and may need some time to cool off from it. His feelings are inside him and will not change.
Scott Roteamn
"'When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'"
Its not the fact that i take offence to this but i just hate it when someone says "when did you become such a woman..." what does that even mean? that they are now weak? uhh thats so annoying, but anyways lets me tell you what i think about this now. I think that his past has made him a little head strong about himself thinking that hes this perfect man who will always be strong and a "man"... to be weak isent showing that you are a pussy or less of a man, it shows you are just a person.
-Lyns
This quote is saying that he feels less of a man because it was hard for him to kill a human being, after he has already killed five!
The event that happened in this quote was that the Oracle ordered that Ikemfuna be killed. Okonkwo had to kill that little boy himself! Okokwo was very attached to this young boy. I would hate to have to kill anyone, regardless of age. I would especially hate to kill someone that I am attached to! This quote is not one which we, in our society, prescribe to because no man or woman can handle killing a human-being without crying.
I believe he is refering to himself as a women because he feels sorrow over the death of Ikemefuna. He had to kill him to not show wahat he saw as weakness. Now he is feeling horrible about his death but as hes doing that hes doesnt want aybody to know because he sees it as being weak. I dont believe that he should feel bad about caring for someone. I also dont think of it as weakness. Society should not go by this quote as it is alright in our coulture to morn a death of someone you've become fond of. If society did go by the quote everyone would have to not show emotion, which would be totally different than what most think is normal.
The qoute is ferering to Okonkwo's dad and how even though he is not around he will always be in Okonkwo. He feels week for what he has done. He may not even be sure on how to react to something like this. I mean he did kill his son. How would you feel is you did such a bad thing. I know i would want to die. I deffinatly wouldnt be able to live with myself. Well cant wait to see what happens next.
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