Things Fall Apart: Chapter 9

This chapter starts out with Ekwefi running in and telling Okonkwo that Ezinma is dying. Of course this is just an exaggeration she only has a fever (well atleast that is all I think it is). The reason Ekwefi is so scared is because she lost nine other children during childbirth, and Ezinma means the whole world to Ekwefi. I believe that if this is more than just a fever, that Ekwefi will not recover and could actually take her own life because of all the grief. Okonkwo once again shows some emotion and goes to find a medicine man. Now this is the weird part, the medicine man tells Okonkwo that their problem is a "ogbanje". A ogbanje is a "evil" child that enters the mother's womb only to die over and over, so the "ogbanje" cause a great deal of emotional stress. Of course, this "ogbanje" theory is just completely ridiculous, but in a way its shows the reader a great deal of how they thought back then. Instead of thinking that it is just a cold or something they think that it is a spirit of some kind. The most disturbing thing about this chapter is when the medicine man mutilates Ekwefi's third child to ward off the spirit. I think that whole step just completely skipped the good part and went to the bad. That was just completely uncalled for. If Ezinma would happen to die, I believe that their whole family would fall apart.