They are people

After much reading I was beginning to wonder how Things Fall Apart was a shoutout to Conrad. Chapters 8 through 13 are the shoutout. Conrad created a picture of the natives depicting them as things, possessions, or even animals. Achebe points out that the rituals may seem slightly off, the natives are human beings with morals nad values. In Chapter 8, there are true rituals as to the engagement ritual. This ritual almost reminded me of the engagement process in our culture. Typically the young man asks the father for his daughter's hand in marriage, other than paying for the bride, this is what the men of the Ibo do. Chapter 9 discusses all the superstitions of birthing. These superstitions are a bit odd, yet the funny part of this is our culture has our own weird superstitions. How reliable is dangling a needle from a piece of thread and depending on the way it sways determines the sex of the child? Chapter 10 is the legal system. Instead of assigning blame to the person on trial, there is a resolution. Maybe America should look at the Ibo's legal sytem. Chapter 11 looks at the parental concerns, these people are human beings; they have cares and fears just like we do. Chapter 12 is the wedding. Granted the wedding ceremonies do not last days in our culture they do last a whole day and admittedly the planning takes months and months. So really our celebration lasts almost longer than the Ibo's. Chapter 13 visits the funeral aspect of their culture. This chapter shows that they do show remorse for those that have passed on and they do believe that they go on to a better life. These chapters show that the Ibo do have odd beliefs. These chapters also show how odd our own customs and rituals can be. The Ibo are humans too!