1. CHAPTER TWENTY- FIVE
Okonkwo didn’t say a word when he got back from the marketplace. When night fell, he closed his
eyes silently as he lay on his bamboo bed. Outside of his Obi, he could hear insects singing, and when the sun
fell, the sound swept away with the night breeze. Okonkwo sat up, realizing that he had been lying there for
too long. He had a desire to pull out his machete, and wipe out all the white people was lucidly in his mind.
He could visualize the glory it would bring him if he kills them all. He would gain his title again and be with
the egwugwu. But what will happen to him tomorrow when the messenger asks to see him? He won’t run
away; as a matter of fact that means cowardice and feminine act. And if he get caught, then what will people
see him as? Another weak man that has go to through exile again, only this time he has a risk of becoming a
low slave of a white man. Okonkwo will not able to stand being a slow slave; he can remember himself as a
warrior and the “Roaring Flame”. He cannot die like his father who is untitled, powerless, and weak; he has
tried his best to be opposite of him, and he has don’t a good job of it. Until his Chi turned against him.
The Obi was now humid as the sweat of a nervous man filled the atmosphere. Okonkwo couldn’t
breathe, so he walked out with his goat skin bag, and went straight to a tree standing opposite of his Obi. The
cool, relaxing windswept passed him as he sat down and saw a setback of nostalgia; his wrestling match, the
achievement of ignoring his father, the successful title of the clan, and his wealthy farms that kept him once
entitled. But when the wind stopped, he could see the reality; the disappointment of his son, the ludicrous
religion that is impelling the culture, and how his clan changed from a powerful warrior to a woman. He
cannot stand another year or so being in jail or exile again, especially when people who are phantom will
punish him in anyway. This will make him loose so much dignity and soon his family, as things fall apart.
But why did he do it? He is not ashamed of it, because now he can reassure other people and himself
that he still holds his position and manhood. However, the thoughts of Ikemefuna fled through him, like
someone hit him, hard. Why did he kill him? It was because he could not stand the sympathy and the fearful
face of Ikemefuna, and the feelings of fear that he had. Same as the messenger, as it is trying to brainwash his
people with a world, law, and expectation. This is obvious that Okonkwo cannot deal with, and many other
people as well. But what can he do to stop them spreading around like a disease? He needs to sacrifice himself
and kills the messenger to show people how the old tradition is still alive. But when he thought about it, his
sacrifice was worthless; as he could see from his son, which people would change their beliefs and the white
men would get stronger. The old generation will pass away, and no one will even notice it.
Okonkwo stood up and took a good look at the land surrounding him. The Obi where he was
sleeping, the ground of the wrestling game, the sound of the drums, and finally he thought to himself I failed,
and there would be no more wrestling match, the Week of Peace, or even the titled which I once earn and now lost.
His sorrows consumed his mind and he felt unconscious, he picked up a piece of rope from his goat skinned
bag and tied a loose end on a branch of a tree, and the other tied it like a big knot. His body now motions
less, and his arms and legs now moving uncontrollably, like his Chi was governing his reflexes. Okonkwo now
possessed, inserted his head through the knot end of the rope, and loose his tip toed feet of the ground.