Who is chielo and why is she important

Killing a clansman is a crime against the earth goddess, so Okonkwo must atone by taking his family into exile for seven years. Okonkwo gathers his most valuable belongings and takes his family to his mother's natal village, Mbanta. What does Umuofia mean? Umuofia The community name, which means children of the forest and a land undisturbed by European influences. Unoka Okonkwo's father's name; its translation, home is supreme, implies a tendency to stay home and loaf instead of achieve fame and heroism.

What does Ekwefi fear? Ekwefi Character Analysis. Ekwefi is Okonkwo's second wife and the mother of Ezinma. Having lost her first nine children to death in infancy, Ekwefi fears that she will lose Ezinma too.

Why does Chielo calls Ezinma my daughter? Tribal Religion. When she does not find her, Chielo goes on to Ekwefi's hut because she claims to have someone waiting to see the daughter in the hills and the caves. Why did she call Ezinma my daughter?

Quote Calling Ezinma by a name denoting a family relationship is a way of showing deep affection and love. What is an Agbala? Agbala is the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. Agbala has influence over the daily lives of the people of Umuofia. The Oracle was called Agbala, and people came from far and near to consult it.

They came when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute with their neighbors. Why did Okonkwo kill ikemefuna? In achieving success, fame, and power, Okonkwo habitually resorts to and comes to rely on thoughtless violence. And when Okonkwo goes to the cave to help his wife and protect their daughter, he displays behavior uncharacteristic of him — a man who uses village tradition to a fault in killing Ikemefuna.

The priestess Chielo continues to refer to Ezinma as "my daughter," suggesting a relationship that may lead Chielo to choose Ezinma as a priestess. She has twice before acknowledged that Ezinma may have special status because she was, but is no longer, an ogbanje see Chapters 6 and 9.

Agbala do-o-o-o! Ezinmao-o-o-o Chielo, the priestess, takes on the voice of the divine Agbala to ask for Ezinma to come to her. This sound represents spitting and cursing simultaneously. Previous Chapter Next Chapter Removing book from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title. Are you sure you want to remove bookConfirmation and any corresponding bookmarks?

My Preferences My Reading List. Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe. Brown, Reverend Smith is uncompromising and strict. He demands that his converts reject all of their indigenous beliefs, and he shows no respect for indigenous customs or culture. He is the stereotypical white colonialist, and his behavior epitomizes the problems of colonialism.

He intentionally provokes his congregation, inciting it to anger and even indirectly, through Enoch, encouraging some fairly serious transgressions. Uchendu receives Okonkwo and his family warmly when they travel to Mbanta, and he advises Okonkwo to be grateful for the comfort that his motherland offers him lest he anger the dead—especially his mother, who is buried there. Uchendu himself has suffered—all but one of his six wives are dead and he has buried twenty-two children.

He is a peaceful, compromising man and functions as a foil a character whose emotions or actions highlight, by means of contrast, the emotions or actions of another character to Okonkwo, who acts impetuously and without thinking. An authority figure in the white colonial government in Nigeria.

The prototypical racist colonialist, the District Commissioner thinks that he understands everything about native African customs and cultures and he has no respect for them. He plans to work his experiences into an ethnographic study on local African tribes, the idea of which embodies his dehumanizing and reductive attitude toward race relations. By the standards of the clan, Unoka was a coward and a spendthrift. He never took a title in his life, he borrowed money from his clansmen, and he rarely repaid his debts.

He never became a warrior because he feared the sight of blood. Moreover, he died of an abominable illness. On the positive side, Unoka appears to have been a talented musician and gentle, if idle. He may well have been a dreamer, ill-suited to the chauvinistic culture into which he was born. The novel opens ten years after his death. Ekwefi ran away from her first husband to live with Okonkwo. Ezinma is her only surviving child, her other nine having died in infancy, and Ekwefi constantly fears that she will lose Ezinma as well.

Ekwefi is good friends with Chielo, the priestess of the goddess Agbala. A fanatical convert to the Christian church in Umuofia. While Mr. Brown, early on, keeps Enoch in check in the interest of community harmony, Reverend Smith approves of his zealotry.

The oldest man in the village and one of the most important clan elders and leaders. Ogbuefi Ezeudu was a great warrior in his youth and now delivers messages from the Oracle.