Saturday, March 12, 2016
chi
I was reflecting upon the concept of chi in the Ibo culture. At first when the chi is presented, Okonkwo makes it seem that he can will his chi to do as he please; all he needs to say is yes and his chi will follow. After reading this part of the text I thought the chi was suppose to be ones drive, kind of like a guardian angle; the angel helps you out but mostly lets you do as you please. Later Okonkwo has a lot of misfortune, and he talks about his chi again and how his chi is not willing him to about to great things. Now I am confused because I thought the chi was more like a nice follower but now it is more like fate. This made me think of fate and free will, maybe the chi is suppose to make the reader pounder on the concept but I thought it was weird on how the chi was represented in the two different parts of the book.
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2 comments:
The chi was kind of confusing to me as well. I got the vibe that it was meant to be a sort of conscience. When you google conscience, the definition that comes up is "an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior". I think that sort of the chi, as one can control what they believe is right and wrong, and alter that idea, but they can only do that to a certain extent. I think that towards the end, when Okonkwo blames his misfortune on a bad chi, he could just be trying to place the blame on something. I think that when it comes down to it, most people would be able to control their chi.
It seemed to me at first that chi was a state of mind and something that was all in your head and could therefore effect productivity. But it also seems to be something that has a certain aptitude, and so okonkwo blames his chi's ability for his own misfortune. However, it seems that chi is not something that can be definitely defined.
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