Chpt.+7-8

1. Text-to-self: When Okonkwo wanted and wished that Ezinma, the daughter of his second wife, Ekwefi, was a boy, in chapter 8, it reminded me of my sister, my brother, and myself. When I was young, I used to be very active, like robots rather than dolls, and play more often with the boys. My brother, on the other hand, was more like a girl. He didn’t actually play with girls or play with dolls, but inside of him, like his thoughts, was like a girl. We changed as we grew up, but when we were young, my parents used to say that I should have been a boy and my brother should have been a girl. It also reminds me of my sister because she is like me in my childhood. She likes to play with the boys (because boys are more active), she likes robots, cars, toys for boys, and she likes action animations, movies, dramas, etc.

2. Close reading (pg.33): Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing __seed-yams__. But he thought that one could not begin too early. Yam stood for __manliness__, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed. Okonkwo wanted his son to be **great** farmer and a **great** man. He would stamp out the __disquieting__ signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him.

__underlined__: key words -__seed-yams__ (connotation): the main topic that this paragraph is talking about. -__manliness__ (connotation): another main topic considered in this paragraph. -__disquieting__ (denotation): a feeling of anxiety or worry -**great** farmer and **great** man- repetition
 * bold**: literary elements
 * Okonkwo thinks that man can show his __manliness__ by feeding family with __yams__

3. Question: Why did Okonkwo kill Ikemefuna? I know that Okonkwo had to follow the messenger’s order and that he didn’t want to look weak, but did he had to do it himself? He took care of and treated Ikemefuna as he son for 3 years and killed him. Why did he done something that he would regret and be hated by his own son?