Life Now

           Now that I am getting along well with this new village, in which I'm native to, I slowly start to feel at home. The other day I called Okonkwo my dad! I was doing my work and had finished and he said I could get a meal at that exact moment so I said, "Thanks Dad!" He smiled and said you did good today. Ever since then I call him father. Nwoye slowly gets more and more upset at me and father. I try to be his friend but he doesn't like me as much because Okonkwo never yells at me like he does him. I heard Okonkwo arguing with someone inside his hut. They had given him terrible news, I had no idea what they had told him. He came into the hut in which I shared with Nwoye and his mother. He had said The Oracle had sent some men to tell him that either I or Nwoye must be killed. Okonkwo wouldn't find out until the morning... In the morning Okonkwo is awakened by 4 large men outside his hut waiting for him to wake up. When he greeted them they said the Oracle had come to a decision. Okonkwo was deeply saddened by what they had told him. I didn't hear who was going to be killed but I heard them tell him not to help in the murder of his own son. I then thought they were going to kill Nwoye. Okonkwo then said he must otherwise he would be weak to his people. Then they exited the tent and told me and Nwoye to come inside, so we did. They announced I was going to be the one that gets executed, they took me to his back room and I yelled, "My father, they have killed me!" I then ran to Okonkwo dazed in fear, he then drew his machete from his sash and I knew he was going to end it right there.

Trust

       I earned the trust of Okonkwo's family by doing many things for them. One thing I did was becoming Nwoye's friend, he didn't have any friends who he hung out with in his free time. So I became his best friend, even though he is two years younger than I am. We talk every day and we even do our work together. I made Okonkwo like me because I did all my work unlike Nwoye who could only get half of his jobs done. After a few days I had completed a whole weeks worth of jobs while Nwoye only completed about 2 days worth. After doing all that Okonkwo made me feel welcome by giving me more to eat at meal time. I could see Nwoye getting even more upset because he saw that his father didn't favor him like he favored me. I started helping Nwoye with his jobs as well and Okonkwo started to notice him doing better and said "Good, Ikemefuna's hard working attitude must've rubbed onto you." Nwoye seemed to get even more upset after that. I told Nwoye I'm trying to get them to be in a better relationship but it just isn't happening. I started to feel down after that as well. I wasn't Okonkwo's son but he treated me like I was and Nwoye wasn't. It breaks my heart knowing his father doesn't love him like a son. I wanted to make Nwoye get along with his father more.

The crime!

        The day of the crime I was helping my big brother with all of the work needed at my mothers huts, my brother was away from the village fighting in a war against another village. I was working way harder than I usually did with my work because my mother has promised me a special reward for finishing all of my jobs within a few hours, I always finish my jobs but I usually don't get done until late at night because I am a slow worker. This time my brother was back at home helping so it made me like my work more than usual because it was nice just to work with him and be able to talk with him. Later that after noon we had finished all of the jobs we had been assigned and we were on our way back to mother when there was loud screaming from all over the village. It had sounded like we were being invaded and our people were all being murdered. It turns out there was a man who was from our village who had slaughtered an innocent women from Umuofia, the man was very popular among the village and nobody thought he would do such a thing. I returned home with my big brother to find my mother weeping at our dinner table with several men comforting her. She saw us come in and my brother ran over to her asking what was wrong, the biggest man came over to me and asked me if I was Ikemefuna. When I told him that I was in fact I boy he was looking for he grabbed my hands and pulled me out the door. My big brother ran out trying to stop them and the other men pulled him back. They had forced me to black out, when I awoke I was in another mans bed with a woman sitting next to me. She was one of the wives of a man named Okonkwo and she was taking care of me until I awoke. I was devastated because I knew I would never see my mother or my big brother ever again. I refused to eat and slacked off on the work they had me do. The only good that came out of this was I made a new friend. It was another child of Okonkwo's, he was named Nwoye. After a few days I adjusted to this new lifestyle with my new family and began to eat and work again. Okonkwo soon began to favor me which made me feel a lot more comfortable with his family.

Ikemefuna

       Hi, my name is Ikemefuna. I am a fifteen year old boy from the Ibo clan, and I was given up to Umuofia as a sacrifice, for our tribe killing one of the daughters of Umuofia. I now live with Okonkwo's family where Okonkwo favors me as a son over his true son Nwoye. Living with Okonkwo has allowed me to become good friends with Nwoye which I am grateful for. I am two years older than Nwoye. I was taken away from my family for a crime in which I had no part in and didn't even know about! At least I got here during the week of peace. I'm not going to lie. When I moved in with Okonkwo and his family, I was terrified and refused to eat until I was taken back home to my loving mother. After a while, I got used to living with Okonkwo's family and started to feel at home, though I still missed my mother and never got used to not seeing her face every day. I earned everyone's respect, eventually, because I was so lively and I participated in all of the tribes festivals and activities and I'm just so much more talented than the other kids of the tribe. I can identify birds, trap rodents, make flutes, and I know which trees make the best bows and I tell delightful folk stories while most other kids can not.