Thoughts about Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart is a captivating book that really makes you get a feel for what it was like in pre-colonial Africa tribes.  One character that really interests me is Ezinma.  She was ill often from her Ogbanje, which was basically an evil spirit inside her that causes misfortune for the family which the child was born into.  Usually the evil spirit is born in the child of a particular mother over and over until the iyi uwa is discovered.  The iyi uwa is an object that links the affected child to the spirit world, once the object is found, which in Ezinmas case was a stone, then the connection is broken between the two worlds.  Ezinma's iyi uwa was found and everyone felt relieved because they wouldn't have to worry about her getting sick often.  Also, Ekwefi must have felt a great weight lift off her shoulder, because the Ogbanje was no longer bound and her child won't get sick.  This section of the book, which focuses on Ezinma, interested me and caused me to choose Ezinma's duality for the tracking poster.  One thing I found interesting about the book is the role of men and women in their society.  I think that it would be tougher to live in that society either way if you were a man or woman.  For example, you can’t show emotion as a man, only anger, and as a woman you are expected to birth children and care for them as a main role.