#2 Thoughts on Things Fall Apart

While reading chapter nine in Things Fall Apart, we find out that Ezinma, her mother's only child that has survived infancy, is treated as an equal to her mother, Ekwefi.  I find this interesting because Ezinma calls her mother by her first name.  In my culture it is disrespectful if you call anyone older than yourself by their first name.  I personally don't even like to call my friend's parents by their first name, even though they are fine with that.  You can say this is a bit of a culture shock to me, however, Ezinma is said to be the only one that does this.  Also, it surprises me that her mother would allow for this to happened, despite losing many children in the past.  Therefore, I would think she wants a child to call her by mother.  If I was in Ekwefi's shoes, I would not allow my child to call me anything other than mom, because I believe the title mom shows you have respect for that person.  Especially, when they have raised you to become the person you are today.  However, everyone is raised differently, which is why Ezinma does this.  She does this because Ekwefi cares so much about her that she will let her do whatever she wants.  We see this when it is revealed Ezinma is fed eggs in secret from Okonkwo, and Ezinma even has the power to decide what to eat for supper.  This shows Ekwefi will do anything that will make her one and only child happy, even if that means risking getting beaten by her husband.  Overall, it just interests me that they do not have the average mother daughter relationship.