Ian+Chang+Chapters+12+-+14

Unlike what others and I thought about African culture, it was way more sophisticated. We thought it was a simple civilization with primitive thoughts and traditions. However, we were wrong; the Ibo society had methods of punishment, cultural diversity, etiquette, standards, wine, and marriage that many sophisticated cultures had. They were just crafted with the image that I had and many others had during the era of imperialism, when the idea of "Social Darwinism" was prevailing. The Ibo people had a method of punishment like many other civilizations. When Okonkwo accidentally shot Uzuedu's 16 years old son, he had to be exiled to his mother's village. This ostracizing could also be seen in Greek city states. When the majority of citizens in a Greek city-state agreed to ostracize one of its citizen, he was exiled from the country and had to stay in another city-state for a limited time. In addition, the Ibo people had a wide variety of food; as shown from the reading, the Ibo people had palm wines where many people drank during a festival or an important event. This is similar with our culture; alcohol and wine are drank when there is a special event where one needs to be celebrated. The Ibo culture also had guns which shows the cultural diffusion of the European and the African society. If the European didn't make contact with them, Ibo couldn't have had a gun, which Okonkwo used to accidentally kill Uzuedu's son. Still, I have to wonder and question the modern day law, if a crime is "accidentally" committed should they be punished?

I have some predictions about the remainder of the book. As the book's title is "Things Fall Apart," something will happen to Okonkwo. Some aspects are already tearing apart; he killed Uzuedu's son and he had to be exiled; his dream of becoming a lord have been ripped apart. In addition, Ikemefuna was killed by his "father." Many things are falling apart and I think there will be an European encountering with the Ibo people, as this book was written at the zenith of imperialism. I also think that Okonkwo is going to return to his original village to pursue his goal of gaining his title and becoming a lord of the clan. As Okonkwo is a consistent and a hard working man, he wouldn't give up.

I had a question relating to the reading, Should some one be punished for a crime that was accidentally committed?