Ezinma is kidnapped by Chielo against her/her parents' will and brought to the Oracle. Agbala, a god, has called for Ezinma. They are followed by Ekwefi and Okonkwo separately and eventually she is somehow okay... I'm not really sure how or what happened to make her okay (that is, if she is okay). It is a bit unclear to me as to where she stands at this point.
As I mentioned in my previous post, the spirits play a huge role in the novel. A selection opens up with a trial, which is another public gathering. The trial is between a husband-wife and their respective families (almost like a Double-Dare 2000 type of game show if you've ever watched Nickelodeon). A man is made to pay for his crime which is abusing his wife. He must pay her family with wine or another regional commodity. There are spirits attending and one overbearing spirit called the ~Evil Forest~. Basically, a lot of rumble and jumble all about the village.. the elders are praised.. Okonkwo represents his village secretly in the egwugwu, etc etc. My head is going.. wait, 'what the hey' is going on right now?!
Justice or injustice -- we may never know. I spent all of my 2nd semester Junior year with Mr. Potchatek in Early Classical Thought trying to define justice, virtue, good, bad, etc. within the ancient Socratic dialogues. There is no real answer--just perpetual questioning.
It is an eternal search, so my advice to the reader is to just go with it:
Let the people do what they gotta do,
and do not question,
just eat your foo-foo.
I guess we can go on and on discussing whether their specific justice system is right or wrong, but it is not up to us. Of course, we (in 2011) cannot agree with everything, but these people confide in their gods 110%.
Okonkwo kills a boy inadvertently. It is unfortunate, but perhaps foreshadowing something for later on in the book. I want to take the words murder and exile.
@Okonkwo
Do you want to leave the village? I know that the gods say you must go for committing this big no-no, but seven years is a long time! Do you not have the power to stay? Page 118, it is, "[decreed by Earth] that they (a pair of twins) were an offence on the land and must be destroyed." Who is Earth (the Gods?) to decree this death sentence?
Perhaps I am hindered by my personal anti-religious views.. It is hard for me to get a grip on why no one is allowed to rebel against the gods.
Maybe someone will? A twist? I am adrenalized to see.
-As of now, the spirits continue to determine the events.
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