They had broken into tumult instead of action. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. The other white men have divided them and taken over them. However, Africans have proved unwise when they have allowed white people. He blames white men for the change who have arrived in the African continent to spread their religion. Okonkwo expresses these words of disappointment to Obierika when he sees that everyone has turned against each other. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.вЂќ Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. However, he says that they do not believe that those stories were accurate at that time. He tells about the stories in which white men take the black people away as slaves. He admits that there are stories about white men with powerful guns and alcohol. Obierika speaks these words after Okonkwo tells him about the OracleвЂ™s warning. вЂњWe have heard stories about white men who made the powerful guns and the strong drinks and took slaves away across the seas, but no one thought the stories were true.вЂќ It is the same as if he is learning to use his left hand in his old age when he is a right-handed throughout his life. Therefore, it seems that there is a new beginning for them. He has to start a new life in the new place. The narrator expresses the plight of Okonkwo after he is exiled. вЂњIt was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth, like learning to become left-handed in old age.вЂќ In other words, it says that gods are worthy of respect, and Okonkwo must show this respect by keeping his quiet. She means that Okonkwo should not speak against gods, or else it would be considered blasphemy. She warns him about being disrespectful to gods, specifically the goddess of Agbala. These lines occur in the eleventh chapter where the priestess chastises Okonkwo, the warrior. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!.вЂќ After this, Ekwefi gives birth to Enzima who lives to defy this ritual. This is a ritual to save the life of the woman. When Ekwefi, the wife of Okonkwo has failed to keep the child after birth, a medicine man comes and states that this child must be mutilated to stop his arrival again. This line sheds light the importance of rituals in the African villages. вЂњAfter such treatment it would think twice before coming again, unless it was one of the stubborn ones who returned, carrying the stamp of their mutilationвЂ“a missing finger or perhaps a dark line where the medicine manвЂ™s razor had cut them.вЂќ This is his attempt to reassure himself while he expresses hatred over his weakness.

Now that he is feeling shame and guilt, he chides himself that he is becoming a woman. This is his self-reflection that he, as a warrior, has killed five men and has never felt remorse. Okonkwo speaks these words feeling guilty after killing his adopted son Ikemefuna. вЂњWhen did you become a shivering old woman,вЂ™ Okonkwo asked himself, вЂyou, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.вЂ™вЂќ

These lines are important as they show the character of Okonkwo. If a person is rich, but he does not rule over his women and children ruthlessly, he is not considered a man. This is the tradition of the clan of Okonkwo that a man is recognized through his nature he displays at home by being superior. вЂњNo matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.вЂќ

Ego is the enemy #8