"Warrior Ibo culture in late 19th century society is far more collectivist than the United States, but even they have members who clearly fall into Ryan and Romney's takers category. One of these is the protagonist's father Unoka, who fits Romney's 47 percent designation and legitimately deserves to be castigated:
In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow. If any money came his way, and it seldom did, he immediately bought gours of palm-wine, called round his neighbors and made merry. He always said that whenever he saw a dead man's mouth he saw the folly of not eating what one had in one's lifetime. Unoka was, of course, a debtor, and he owed every neighbor some money, from a few cowries to quite substantial amounts."
- Robin Bates
Hmmmm.... Interesting but rather unsophisticated take on Unoka, Okonkwo's father. A bit disappointing actually, considering that Professor Bates has been teaching Things Fall Apart for quite a while. I believe it is time to re-assess the complex character that was Unoka. Unoka was a deeply sensitive artist who was quite an accomplished but unappreciated artist (musician – he played the flute). He did not fit the mode of a man in a patriarchy that had certain orthodox expectations of men. And he suffered greatly for it. By orthodox standards, he was a failure, but was he really? Or was it the society that failed to understand and appreciate his own gifts? He did not belong in a farm. That did not make him lazy.
Anyway... read on...
- Ikhide
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