“Okonkwo selected the best from his bundle, in their due proportions, and cut them up.”
Forces Ezinma to take the medicine- for her own good- shows his love for Ezinma
“He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool, astride the steaming pot.”
Okonkwo values his knowledge and family more than the culture of his clan, where he was willing to sacrifice the superstitions.
Goes into the bush at night to collect medicine for Ezinma- willing to make sacrifices to cure Ezinma
Little faith of beliefs about the night in the clan- evil spirits, terrified by the villagers
Try to cure Ezinma with remedy- shows his disbelief in the chi stone nor Ezinma being an ogbanje (a child that dies repeatedly and returns to be reborn)- do things based on his knowledge.
“Okonkwo returned from the bush carrying on his left shoulder a large bundle of grass and leaves, roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs.”
ignores the superstition, insist that medicine is more helpful- chooses the best for Ezinma, not blindly following the beliefs
Okonkwo is declarative to Ekwefi, though very demanding, but it’s only out of his affection to Ezinma.
He gives harsh orders to Ekwefi, but they are only to help Ezinma.
“Give me the pot. And leave the child alone!”- wants to take care of Ezinma himself
Declarative- shows his care of Ezinma
Very impatient with Ekwefi when she mistook the proportion of the medicine pot
roared at her- anger
“roar”- metaphor comparing Okonkwo to lion- suggests Okonkwo’s violence at the time, and also anxiety
He uses anger to hide his fear that Ezinma might die from the sickness.
Gives direct and focused order- keen on making Ezinma better
“you must watch the pot carefully, and don’t let it to boil over.”
“A little” printed in italics in the passage to show his fury
Concerned that the disproportion is going to lose its power- scared that Ezinma will not be cured- shows that he loves Ezinma a lot.
OTHER WORDS-
Fondness- Affection, kindness, attachment
Demanding- Harsh
In the passage from chapter 9 of the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, it describes the scene where Okonkwo takes meticulous care of Ezinma when she was suffering from a fever. This passage is particularly significant because it reveals Okonkwo’s hidden characteristics of being kind, emotional and non-superstitious through his actions when he took care of Ezinma. Throughout the excerpt, Chinua provides different perspectives of Okonkwo’s character, and essentially, deep inside, he is soft and emotional just like his father. This is shown when he reveals his fondness to Ezinma when she was sick; and when Okonkwo raged to Ekwefi out of his worry about Ezinma’s sickness. Okonkwo is also described to be non-superstitious in the excerpt through his actions of going out into the bush at night to collect medicinal plants to cure Ezinma, which is greatly terrified by the villagers.