How is nwoyes conversion to christianity ironic

With a feeling of hopelessness, Okonkwo gives up and hangs himself. He commits suicide because he cannot deal with the changes that the Christian white men are making in his village. The new religion appeals to Nwoye because he feels like he belongs. Ogbuefi Ezeudu, a village elder, informs Okonkwo that the Oracle has decreed that Ikemefuna must be killed but that Okonkwo should not be the one to kill him, since Ikemefuna regards Okonkwo as a father.

After killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo is very upset. He was very fond of Ikemefuna and he knew that this boy had been a positive influence on Nwoye and that they too had become great friends. In achieving success, fame, and power, Okonkwo habitually resorts to and comes to rely on thoughtless violence. Without regard for consequences, Okonkwo acts — beats his son, repudiates his father, kills Ikemefuna, butchers the messenger.

He becomes the epitome of violent action and as such ultimately destroys himself. Lesson Summary They build homes and plant yams, but Okonkwo becomes depressed because of how his life has turned out. His uncle Uchendu, after helping to conduct a final marriage ceremony for his son and daughter-in-law, reminds Okonkwo to be strong and to recognize that life is not easy for anyone. The Abame kill the white man because their Oracle said he would destroy their clan. Okonkwo agrees that they were fools and should have armed themselves in preparation.

Killing a clansman is a crime against the earth goddess, so Okonkwo must atone by taking his family into exile for seven years. Out of the community for seven years, Okonkwo lost his status among the village elders and the other egwugwu, and he has fallen behind in obtaining titles in the clan. During the Week of Peace, Okonkwo commits the crime of beating his wife.

This is his first crime against the earth. As punishment, he is told to make a ritual sacrifice, which he does. A few days before the new year, Okonkwo threatens his second wife Ekwefi with a gun. One such convert, Enoch, dares to unmask an egwugwu during the annual ceremony to honor the earth deity, an act equivalent to killing an ancestral spirit.

Prior to this event, the Commissioner tricked the clansmen and put them in jail for burning down his church. What happens to the six leaders of Umuofia during their meeting with the District Commissioner? What punishment does the District Commissioner give the six leaders of Umuofia? At the end of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo hangs himself, preferring suicide to the indignity of being dragged before the colonial court.

After killing…. Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. Afterward, there is an uproar, but Mr. Kiaga firmly refuses to deny the outcasts membership to the church. He argues that they will not die if they cut their hair or break any of the other taboos that have been imposed upon them. The osu soon become the most zealous members of the church. Okonkwo urges Mbanta to drive the Christians out with violence, but the rulers and elders decide to ostracize them instead.

After announcing the new policy of ostracism, the elders learn that the man who boasted of killing the snake has died of an illness. He is grateful to them but secretly regrets the missed opportunity to have further increased his status and influence among his own clan. He also regrets having spent time with such un-masculine people. He also expresses concern for the younger generation, as Christianity is winning people away from their families and traditions.

Furthermore, Nwoye feels himself exiled from his society because of his disbelief in its laws, and the church offers refuge to those whom society has cast out.

Similarly, men without titles turn to Christianity to find affirmation of their individual worth. Okonkwo, on the other hand, has good reason to reject Christianity. Should Mbanta not drive the missionaries away, his killing of Ikemefuna would lose part of its religious justification. The damage to his relationship with Nwoye also seems more pointless than before. Both matters become his mistake rather than the result of divine will. Moreover, men of high status like Okonkwo view the church as a threat because it undermines the cultural value of their accomplishments.

As the Christians begin to gain power, the villagers see their traditional beliefs as increasingly outdated and powerless. For example, Mbanta's Evil Forest proves to be less sinister than they have believed; their gods allow the missionaries to escape punishment.

Here, Achebe implies that clinging to old traditions and an unwillingness to change may contribute to their downfall. Achebe does not pass judgment on their point of view, but he illustrates the kinds of circumstances that could make things fall apart. The missionaries are beginning to influence not only the community's religious views and practices but also its deeper social customs and traditions; for example, they welcome the first female convert, a woman who is scorned by the community because of her four sets of twins.

To her, as well as to other early converts shunned by the clan for one reason or another, the missionaries provide support and acceptance. The missionaries will not throw away newborn twins, and the community will eventually see that they are as normal as other children. The missionaries apparently expect the new Christians in the community to accept a new weekly calendar: "Come [to church] every seventh day. Did the missionaries know about the Igbo four-day week?

Did they preach the seven-day creation story? Consider the impact on a community when outsiders impose a new arrangement of days and weeks. Okonkwo's violent reaction to Nwoye's conversion is typical; he immediately wants to kill the Christians. He recalls that he is popularly called the "Roaring Flame. The last line in the chapter suggests that Okonkwo has an insight: "Living fire begets cold, impotent ash" — perhaps a realization that his own "Roaring Flame" behavior leaves behind coldness and powerlessness in others — as it has in his son.