Outside Reading, Week 6, Post A

Probably the most frustrating aspect of Okonkwo's culture that I found was their persistence in enforcing their ridiculous and mostly oppressive social expectations and customs. Just one such example is their tradition of creating "osu" or social outcasts who are not able to shave or cut their hair and are forced to live by themselves, outside the village: "'You fear that you will die. Why should that be? How are you different from other men who shave their hair? THe same God created you and them. But they have cast you out like lepers. [...] They alos said I would die if I built my church on this ground. Am I dead?'" (157) This quote comes from the Christian missionary who visits their village, Mr. Kiaga. Kiaga, while also instilling his new Christian religious beliefs and values into the villagers, attempts to disprove many of their long held social rituals. While most of Kiaga's actions are generally beneficial and help to modernize the village, Okonkwo and many of the elders seem disgusted by this new wave that is sweeping over the village and turning their warriors into "those who are soft like women" (183). So, in this way, Kiaga is also corrupting the very foundations of the village hierarchy and government, which in the long run could completely destroy the village and ruin the sanctity that Okonkwo's generation has held so dear.

On the other hand, maybe it is time for these terrible customs to be done with. Some of them seem completely inhumane, such as their policy of killing all twins and keeping social outcasts completely isolated from the rest of their society. Also, a lot of their traditions are based purely on superstition, including their so-called "Evil Forest", where they bury all of those who died from disease so that they can rest with the evil spirits. This essentially only harms themselves, as they are restricting themselves from an otherwise perfectly viable plot of land.