Question

Referring closely to the events, answer the following:

Why does Nwoyi secretly become attracted to religion of the missionaries? What was his father’s reaction?

Answer 1

Nwoye’s Attraction to the Missionaries:

• The Answer to “Internal Questions”: Nwoye was haunted by certain traditions of his clan that he found cruel specifically the custom of abandoning newborn twins in the Evil Forest and the killing of Ikemefuna, who had become a brother to him. The Christian hymns and stories seemed to provide a balm for these troubled feelings.
• The Poetry of the Gospel: Achebe describes the “poetry of the new religion” as something that settled in Nwoye’s dry soul like raindrops. He was captivated by the hymns’ music and the story of a God who had a Son.
• Escape from Masculine Expectations: Okonkwo constantly pressured Nwoye to be a manly warrior. The missionaries offered a gentler alternative that valued the sensitive nature Okonkwo despised.

Okonkwo’s Reaction:

• Physical Violence: When Okonkwo learned of Nwoye’s interest in the church, he choked the boy by the throat and threatened him with a heavy stick, demanding to know where he had been.
• Disownment: After the confrontation, Nwoye left the compound forever to join the school in Umuofia. Okonkwo decided that Nwoye was no longer his son, famously musing on the effeminate nature of his firstborn.
• The “Living Fire” Metaphor: Okonkwo sat by his fire and realized that “Living fire begets cold, impotent ash.” He viewed himself as the fire and Nwoye as the useless ash, lamenting that all his life’s work would be inherited by a son who had abandoned the ancestors.