Saturday, March 5, 2016
Ezinma
I feel bad for Enzinm. Okonkwo keeps saying he wishes she was a boy and that would some how make her better. I see on the one hand in there society that a father wishing that his daughter if good enough to to be a boy and be his successor would be honorable, but from today's society's perspective it is hurtful. Enzinm, in Okonwo's eyes has all the characteristic to make her the perfect successor. His oldest boy is too much like Okonwo's father to become "great" like him, so Enzinma make the cut, except that her fatal is he gender.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I definitely see your point Anastasia, but this just makes me more mad because he actually got an opportunity to have this manly son that he's always wishing for and he killed him... It's just selfish that he is given a prisoner from another village that fulfills his manly son requirement and still isn't satisfied. Poor Ikemefuma... He could have just been miserable as a prisoner in another village with another family but he actually grew to love them and acted exactly as Okonkwo wanted and he still ended up being killed.
It also upset me while I was reading the novel that Okonkwo kept reiterating that fact. It seems like he even sometimes tries to put her down in order to make himself feel better about the fact that she is not a boy. It is almost as if he is trying to prove that a girl cannot be equivalent nor an honorable successor. Okonkwo a lot of the time looks for the worst in people, and analyses them based on his own standards that he deems acceptable. And when he does admire someone for a certain trait, he makes sure not to let them know that he admires that trait. I wonder why that is? I don't see the benefit in keeping that inside oneself. Perhaps because he feels jealous? I am not sure.
I agree with what y'all are saying, and upon initially reading it, that was my reaction too. However, now that I'm thinking about it more, This could be read in a more positive way in favor of Okonkwo... (Not that I really like him that much but anyway...) Okonkwo could be saying that he wishes Ezinma were a boy because he knows the harsh restrictions that his society puts on women. He knows that even though she is tough and man quality, his society would never accept her as a leader. So, when you look at it this way, it seems that Okonkwo is actually complimenting Ezinma and wishes that she had more of an oppurtunity to make an impact.
Once again I agree whole-heartedly. It seems that in this culture, the discrimination between male and female is just as bad as the discrimination between race. It almost seems that Okonkwo is trying to stop himself from caring for her simply because she is a girl and not a boy. It's upsetting that he can't just get over it and accept her for who she is. This reminds me a lot of some writings I've read of Chinese daughters and how they are always frowned upon for not being boys. It's amazing how long it's taken for society to realize that women have their own strengths and value, and how even in some cultures they have still barely realized it. It's also quite remarkable the difference between the value of women in Achebes Ibo culture and the value of women in Equiano's Ibo culture. They are both Ibo tribes and yet the culture is so different.
Post a Comment