Suicide in the Igbo culture is considered Nso ani. In the book “Things Fall Apart,” Nso ani is described as a religious offense of a kind abhorred by everyone, literally earth’s taboo (2, A Glossary of Ibo Words and Phrases). The Igbo culture frowns upon the act of a man taking their own life and this act is considered taboo and evil. The clan finds that a person who commits this crime is considered shameful and does not receive a proper burial and is instead thrown into a bush (1). The clansmen will not even touch the body of the sinner to remove or bury it. The family is required to cleanse the area where the death took place and mourning for the loved one is forbidden. In the village men are to be strong, fearless, and masculine anything
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He was an undefeated wrestler for seven years prior to the age of 18. Every challenged given to Okonkwo was completed with ease, including the murder of his beloved son. The Igbo clan looked at him with much respect for his strength and bravery. He was fearless and would kill without any regard. In the end of the book Okonkwo committed this heinous sin. He hung himself off of a tree branch while wearing his warrior gear. Okonkwo’s death embodies the trials of colonialization and the unwillingness to understand other cultures.
I believe that Okonkwo ended his life out of vindictiveness. Okonkwo saw the tribe’s faith and culture changing from a warlike tribe to a tribe that questioned motives and actions of their people. Okonkwo spent his entire life proving to be a robust warrior which was how to gain respect in his community. After the changing times due to the missionaries’ arrival and many of the clansmen converting to Christianity, …show more content…
Okonkwo was the last tie to the tribe’s traditional values. With Okonkwo hanging himself on a tree, I believe this symbolized the last part of their tradition dyeing prior to the white man taking completely over. Not only was killing himself a sign of defeat, but he was the only clansman left who held on to his beliefs and he too was almost handing the tribe over to the white people due to there not being anyone to fight for the tribe any longer. At the end of the book the commissioner thought to write a story of the man that had killed a messenger and hung himself (2, pg208). At first he thought to write a whole chapter and then only a reasonable paragraph on the warrior. I believe him reducing the amount of words he would write on warrior with Okonkwo’s stature symbolizes his lack of knowledge of the African culture from the white men. Writing about the warrior’s death after killing a messenger is degrading to the warrior making him seem as a coward instead of writing about why it is that he killed himself and explaining the tribe’s
He was an undefeated wrestler for seven years prior to the age of 18. Every challenged given to Okonkwo was completed with ease, including the murder of his beloved son. The Igbo clan looked at him with much respect for his strength and bravery. He was fearless and would kill without any regard. In the end of the book Okonkwo committed this heinous sin. He hung himself off of a tree branch while wearing his warrior gear. Okonkwo’s death embodies the trials of colonialization and the unwillingness to understand other cultures.
I believe that Okonkwo ended his life out of vindictiveness. Okonkwo saw the tribe’s faith and culture changing from a warlike tribe to a tribe that questioned motives and actions of their people. Okonkwo spent his entire life proving to be a robust warrior which was how to gain respect in his community. After the changing times due to the missionaries’ arrival and many of the clansmen converting to Christianity, …show more content…
Okonkwo was the last tie to the tribe’s traditional values. With Okonkwo hanging himself on a tree, I believe this symbolized the last part of their tradition dyeing prior to the white man taking completely over. Not only was killing himself a sign of defeat, but he was the only clansman left who held on to his beliefs and he too was almost handing the tribe over to the white people due to there not being anyone to fight for the tribe any longer. At the end of the book the commissioner thought to write a story of the man that had killed a messenger and hung himself (2, pg208). At first he thought to write a whole chapter and then only a reasonable paragraph on the warrior. I believe him reducing the amount of words he would write on warrior with Okonkwo’s stature symbolizes his lack of knowledge of the African culture from the white men. Writing about the warrior’s death after killing a messenger is degrading to the warrior making him seem as a coward instead of writing about why it is that he killed himself and explaining the tribe’s