My Father’s Body (Nwoye)
When I heard the news today, I was not surprised.
My father was the kind of man who never found anything to be good enough, especially not me. He always wanted me to be a wrestler, a man comfortable with blood and senseless violence.
When I think back on where my father truly went wrong, as I sometimes do, I am always first reminded of the day Ogbuefi Ezeudu came to visit, solemnly walking through our compound, leaving an air of unease behind him. The next morning, my father left the house around noon with Ikemefuna. Our compound was near silent, waiting and hoping. My father came back late that night, long after the moon had risen into the black night. Ikemefuna was not with him. I knew what he had done. I sat there, limp, not even wishing anymore that my father might be innocent. I knew he was too weak for mercy.
Soon after, Ezeudu died. As the cannon and the ekwe broke the morning sky, women began to wail and men grabbed their ceremonial dress and their weapons, going about the village, fierce and violent in their warrior’s salute. After the last, most terrifying egwugwu had come to pay his respects, the final frenzy begun. It was cut short, though, when a shot fired. My father’s gun had gone off, killing a boy. He was exiled to Mbanta.
I first saw the missionaries in while we were in Mbanta. Everyone gathered around as the white man walked into the village, accompanied by men who spoke a strange dialect. The man who translated for the white man began to tell us stories about a son who was also a father and a god. None of the men took him seriously, laughing and joking. My father, however, was out to pick a fight, challenging the man when he said that the gods and the ancestors did not exist, grumbling off when it was clear none of the other men wanted violence. I lingered after he left, still curious about the white man. The missionaries began to sing. Suddenly, I felt drawn to them, as if their singing was a joyful answer to my father’s abrasive confrontations. I stood, enthralled, until they stopped, walking away as the people dispersed, almost believing I could hear Ikemefuna among them.
I longed to go beyond our compound walls, to meet the Christians and hear them singing again. Even as everybody laughed when they built their church in the Evil Forest, I believed. I was proven right when, after 28 days, it was still standing. One day, I finally ventured out to talk with the Christians. When I returned to the compound, my father knew. He began to choke, then beat me, demanding to know where I had been, as if it was not obvious, until the wives intervened. I walked out and never came back, seeking refuge in the church, where the priest and the congregation welcomed me.
I will not go to see my father’s body. When they give him an outcast’s burial, I will not go. I will sit in the church and pray for his soul to be clean of sinful pride.
Bibliography:
- http://africaawaken.com; Young Igbo men wrestling
- http://www.nairaland.com/1005808/igbo-architecture-ulo-ome-nigbo; An Igbo Mbari house - a sacred structure, an example of Igbo architecture
- http://jonesarchive.siu.edu/?page_id=486; An egwugwu
- http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/january-february/world-missionaries-made.html; Christian missionaries in Nigeria
- http://www.nairaland.com/1005808/igbo-architecture-ulo-ome-nigbo/5; The wall of an Igbo compound
This story shows Nwoye’s perspective on his father to be a view of him as weak and sinful. I noticed that this exposed a similarity between Nwoye and Okonkwo, as both thought their fathers to be weak and aspired to stray from their path.
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ReplyDeleteSorry to repost this, I had a typo the first time! Throughout this piece, I interpreted the perspective of Nwoye, as you told it, as a dichotomy of peacefullness (based on the Church’s encouragement of acceptance) but, beneath that, an underlying resentment of his father. Throughout the story, it was interesting to watch you weave these two themes together: specifically, at the end of the story, when Nwoye refuses to see his father be buried and instead chooses to pray, he is doing so both because his brand of Christianity encourages a peaceful acceptance of others’ actions, but also because his deep bitterness and anger towards his father makes him unable to celebrate his life along with the rest of the village. As a result, I think this duality represents that Nwoye is attracted to Christian faith because of its values, but is partly attracted to its values because he looks for the opposite of his father and his upbringing. Bringing this duality into the story was very compelling, and introduced another aspect of Nwoye's character that wasn't explored much in Things Fall Apart.
DeleteSorry to repost this, I had a typo the first time! Throughout this piece, I interpreted the perspective of Nwoye, as you told it, as a dichotomy of peacefullness (based on the Church’s encouragement of acceptance) but, beneath that, an underlying resentment of his father. Throughout the story, it was interesting to watch you weave these two themes together: specifically, at the end of the story, when Nwoye refuses to see his father be buried and instead chooses to pray, he is doing so both because his brand of Christianity encourages a peaceful acceptance of others’ actions, but also because his deep bitterness and anger towards his father makes him unable to celebrate his life along with the rest of the village. As a result, I think this duality represents that Nwoye is attracted to Christian faith because of its values, but is partly attracted to its values because he looks for the opposite of his father and his upbringing. Bringing this duality into the story was very compelling, and introduced another aspect of Nwoye's character that wasn't explored much in Things Fall Apart.
DeleteI really liked how you skipped from Nwoye joining the church to him saying he would not go see his father’s body. I like how this emphasizes his connection to the church over his family.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story, Nwoye was a great character to choose because he did have so much anger and confusion. I think that you wrote Nwoye’s anger and disdain towards his father very accurately and powerfully. Nowye feels shame for his father and the things that he has done and continue to think are right.
ReplyDelete“I knew he was too weak for mercy.”
ReplyDelete“My father was the kind of man who never found anything to be good enough, especially not me.”
Katie brings Nwoye back to his childhood and writes about his memories of his father’s wrongdoings. This sets the stage for Nwoye’s acceptance of the Christian religion that she speaks to later on in her essay. My favorite part of her story was the ending. Nwoye’s (warranted) disrespect towards his father even after his death shows just how powerful his emotions were. This displays the resent that Nwoye feels towards his father, and his newly internalized belief in Christianity.
The obvious animus Nwoye felt toward his father seemed tangible in this piece, with enough emotion present that it seems rational how his grudge could influence his decisions so heavily. Some powerful phrases like “joyful answer to my father’s abrasive confrontations” stuck out to me as misguided, but definitely a logical response to the situation.
ReplyDelete“A sinful pride” This interesting idea attached to Okonkwo when he killed Ikemefuna. After this event, everything that the once great leader did was “sinful” and wrong. So what Okonkwo saw as pride was seen by everyone else as weakness counteracting Okonkwo’s desire to recover his past traditions.
ReplyDelete- The story was written so clearly that I found that Okwonko and Nwoye were much more similar then I thought before. I think the relationship of Okwonko and Nwoye was parallel like Okwonko and his father’s relationship. Both sons talk about their father’s weaknesses and talk about their hopes and dreams for the future. Katie’s story was written in a way that the reader could interpret new perspectives of Okwonko and Nwoye’s relationships.
ReplyDeleteYour portrayal of Nwoye’s perspective in his interest of christianity is really well conveyed. Also how Nwoye felt defiant against visiting his father’s body due to how he is now rebellious of his father’s views. This really goes well with Nwoye’s personality traits as well.
ReplyDeleteI think that choosing an outcast son to write about was very effective due to the lack of explanation during the story. When you read the story, it was exciting to feel like an outcast. I enjoyed how Nwoye had a calm and collected mindset. It really set the mood of leaving for something better.
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