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kites
the bird, I assume
yams,
🍠
Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.
As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with kings and elders.
An ultimatum was immediately dispatched to Mbaino asking them to choose between war on the one hand, and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation.
interestingly collectivist society. they don't ask for the individual perpetrators for punishment, but rather the whole group is given reparations by the other whole group.
At the end they decided, as everybody knew they would, that the girl should go to Ogbuefi Udo to replace his murdered wife. As for the boy, he belonged to the clan as a whole, and there was no hurry to decide his fate.
But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.
And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion—to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.
he always feels like he has something to prove. motivated by shame. no empathy.
And so the stranger had brought him, and a girl, a long, long way from home, through lonely forest paths. He did not know who the girl was, and he never saw her again.
they are victims, too, in their own way
The Oracle was called Agbala, and people came from far and near to consult it.
"it," not a person
And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors, his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm.
kola nut
caffeine-containing seeds are the origin of "cola"
The first cup went to Okonkwo, who must taste his wine before anyone else. Then the group drank, beginning with the eldest man.
youngest pours. women then also drink in order of rank
especially these days when young men are afraid of hard work.
the youth are always lazy!
His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew women’s crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop.
“This meeting is for men.”
sick burn
three market weeks,
market used as time marker
Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.
“Yes,” lied Nwoye’s mother, trying to minimize Ojiugo’s thoughtlessness.
the wives are loyal to each other
But after a while this custom was stopped because it spoiled the peace which it was meant to preserve.”
😂
He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him.
I don't think that's going to have to effect you are hoping for...
All cooking pots, calabashes and wooden bowls were thoroughly washed, especially the wooden mortar in which yam was pounded.
reminding me of Jewish new year customs
He heaved a heavy sigh
he was concerned his actions might actually have repercussions? or actual concern for his wife?
“Is that me?” Ekwefi called back. That was the way people answered calls from outside. They never answered yes for fear it might be an evil spirit calling.
“Sit like a woman!”
not like a girl? or not like a man?
In the distance the drums continued to beat.
ooooh a bit of an ominous ending to the chapter
The elders said locusts came once in a generation, reappeared every year for seven years and then disappeared for another lifetime.
They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom, and kill him there. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. He calls you his father.”
Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.
“But if the Oracle said that my son should be killed I would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it.”
Her suitor and his relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe.
🤮
“You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the children.”
oh buddy do I have some news for you.
iba,”
fever
She had borne ten children and nine of them had died in infancy, usually before the age of three.
began to mutilate the child.
glad ekwefi wasn't there to see this
Everybody knew she was an ogbanje. These sudden bouts of sickness and health were typical of her kind. But she had lived so long that perhaps she had decided to stay.
“There is too much green vegetable,” she said. “Don’t you see the pot is full of yams?” Ekwefi asked. “And you know how leaves become smaller after cooking.” “Yes,” said Ezinma, “that was why the snake-lizard killed his mother.” “Very true,” said Ekwefi. “He gave his mother seven baskets of vegetables to cook and in the end there were only three. And so he killed her,” said Ezinma. “That is not the end of the story.” “Oho,” said Ezinma. “I remember now. He brought another seven baskets and cooked them himself. And there were again only three. So he killed himself too.”
“What kind of lover sleeps with a pregnant woman?” There was a loud murmur of approbation from the crowd.
If, in the other hand, Uzowulu should recover from his madness and come in the proper way to beg his wife to return she will do so on the understanding that if he ever beats her again we shall cut off his genitals for him.”
Nwoye’s mother and Okonkwo’s youngest wife
not referred to by their own names but by their male relations
It was only on his fourth trip
the most effort we have seen him out forth for another person, I think
When they saw it they drove it back to its owner, who at once paid the heavy fine which the village imposed on anyone whose cow was let loose on his neighbors’ crops.
and it's the women's job to take care of this urgently
taking their bride home to spend seven market weeks with her suitor’s family.
A man’s life from birth to death was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors.
A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust. Palm
the violence of nature, the violence of man (or vice versa?)
“the nuts of the water of heaven.”
hail
A man belongs to his fatherland and not to his motherland. And yet we say Nneka—‘Mother is Supreme.’ Why is that?”
A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme.
“‘For whom is it well, for whom is it well? There is no one for whom it is well.’
this is like the motto of the whole book lol
“And so they killed the white man and tied his iron horse to their sacred tree because it looked as if it would run away to call the man’s friends.
motorcycle? bike? car?
