Igbo song

Quotes analysis- Personal accomplishments-[5]

"Do not despair. I know you will not despair. You have a manly and proud heart. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone."

They took great pride in personal achievements, hence the term ''A proud heart''. This is related to Okwonkwo's survival and hard work  when other farmers just lazied about and procrastinated. He was the only one who survive the drought through diligence. His pride rested in surviving alone rather than having the painful experience of failing alone.''since i survived that year, i shall survive anything'', he claimed.

quotes analysis- social expectations-[4]

''Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered. As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings."

Age was not the requirement in order to gain reverence but rather the accomplishments of a person. If a young person is able to do great things in connection to what the society expect of him, he gains the admiration of the tribesmen just like Okonkwo who's fame was known throughout the nine villages.

Igbo women

quotes analysis- Beliefs and traditions(Living in fear)-[3]

''Darkness held a vague terror for these people,even the bravest among them.Children were warned not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits. Dangerous animals became even more sinister and uncanny in the dark. A ear knowing what the snake was never called by its name at night, because it would hear. It was called a string.''

This quote brings out a fact that the people of Ibo were very superstitious and therefore gave credit to certain beliefs and  notions based on what they presumed to occur .They lived in fear  knowing that certain events could be foretold by specific unrelated prior events such as the appearance of evil spirits should a person whistle at night. Accepting these these beliefs and abiding by the do's and donts had nothing to do with a person's physical strength or ability.Rebelling or acting in contrast to those notions resulted in inevitable 
consequences.

A figure representing the mami-wata water spirit of the Igbo believed to bring both wealth and loss of fertility to her lovers and followers.

 

quotes analysis-gender class-[2]

["No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women), he was not really a man."

This quote focuses on the reality of male dominance in the social system. Obviously women in Ibo society were only capable of being married and ruled by their husbands. Failure of the man to carry out his rightful authority only depicted him as a weak person regardless of his wealth accumulation. To show his power, Ibo men were justified in carrying violence against their families and most specifically women.Its no wonder then that  Okwonkwo beat his children and wives, bossing them around to show his capability as a real man.

 A TYPICAL IBO FAMILY

Introduction-[1]

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achibe is an important African novel which  involves the class of cultures and belief systems, as colonization affects the people.The story  takes place in a Nigerian village of Umuofia in the late 1880s, before missionaries and other European colonisers arrived.The Ibo clan practiced common tribal traditions such as the worship of gods,''ancestoral feasts'' and sacrifices, communal living, war, and magic. They determined leadership  based on a man's personal worth and his contribution to the good of the tribe. Okonkwo, the man mentioned at the begining of the story ''had brought honor to his village'' and therfore stood  out as a great leader of the Ibo tribe.He was  respected  for his ''personal achievements.'' Eventhough Okonkwo was revered,he gets punished for his accidental shooting of a young tribesman. The Ibo ban Okonkwo from the clan for seven years. Upon his return to the village, Okonkwo finds a tribe divided by the influence of missionaries. Will there be a cultural clash? Will the people of Umuofia loose thier culture? The story addresses the personal hardships of Okonkwo in connection with the Ibo culture and its disintegration.