The Life of An Exile

     After Ikemefuna died, things carried on as normal for awhile, until one of the oldest men in the clan died. His funeral was fit for a warrior, and it was all it was supposed to be. As the egwugwu were dancing and blessing his body and there was music and food and everything else, my gun exploded. A shard of metal pierced a boy's heart and he lay in a pool of blood. This boy happened to be the 16-year-old son of the man who died that day. The only option of someone who kills another clansmen is to flee the village. There is a female and a male version of this crime. I have committed the female one, since I did not intend to kill him. Therefore, I can return to my homeland after seven years. Until then, I must flee with my family to the motherland, where I will be safe. After I got settled in, my good friend Obierika came to visit me, and it was nice to see him after a long while apart. He brought with him two surviving villagers from Abame. I was curious why they were with him, so Obierika spilled the whole story. He said Abame was taken over by the white men. They were not albinos, but something else. They wiped out the entire village and set up their church there. I was a little worried that they might go to other villages, but I pushed the thought to the back of my head so I could enjoy my visit with Obierika. Two years later, when he came back to visit me, things we're so great back in Umuofia. The white men had arrived, set up a church, and started getting people from the tribe to convert to their religion. The same thing was happening here, and we figured if we gave them a section of the Evil Forest to build on, they would all die off eventually, but nothing happened. The thing that made me the most angry is when Nwoye, my own son, decided he did not want to follow me and that he wanted to be part of their faith. We have been in a constant battle with the white men and their followers. They killed one of our egwugwu, so we burned down their church. Then they imprisoned us and demanded 250 cowries from our people or they would not let us go. Eventually, at a meeting where we were supposed to be working out our differences, I lost it and chopped the district commissioner's head right off with my machete. Things are falling apart in our village, which is why I have decided I don't want to be around to see what happens next. I'm going to hang myself, and this will be the last time anyone hears from me.

A Lot All At Once

     I don't know what happened. This rush of anger just came over me when I heard that one of my wives had cut down the banana tree, just to use the leaves for cooking. I beat her heavily during the week of peace, and I had to sacrifice a she-goat, a hen, a length of cloth and a hundred cowries to the shrine of Ani for this wrongdoing. I can't let anyone else know that I feel guilty or regret doing this, because that is not who I am. After the week of peace, the New Yam feast came, and Ikemefuna seemed very excited. I noticed he isn't very good at farming, though. I must teach him to be better. Recently, I got to go and see a wrestling match between Umuofia and a neighboring village. I remember the days when I used to be the star of the ring, but now I am old and must watch from the sidelines. Yesterday, the locusts decended on our village, a sight only the eldest of the clan had seen before in their lives. They were like an enormous black cloud covering the sky, and we were hoping they would stick around awhile, because they are very good to eat. Suddenly, the elders appeared at my house to inform me that the clan had decided to kill Ikemefuna. I didn't know what else to do, and I didn't want to be thought of as weak, so I told him he would be sent home today. As we were walking, the men quickly killed him before he knew what was happening, and he cried out to me but I could not help him. Leave that for the weak.

Meeting Ikemefuna

     Last night before I went to sleep, I heard the town crier running around beating his drum, telling everyone to meet the next morning. I knew this must be very important, because no one is ever out that late unless it's something very urgent that can't wait until morning. The next morning, all the elders of our clan were gathered together, and as I took my place among them, there was a lot of nervous chatter. Finally, it was announced that one of the daughters of Umuofia had been killed, and everyone gasped. I tried to contain my shock, but it was very difficult. It was then decided that I would go alone and unarmed to the neighboring village of Mbaino, the ones accused of the killing. I was to give them the choice of going to war with our feared clan, or handing over a young lad to the village and a virgin for the man whose wife was killed. When I arrived, I spoke with some of the elders and other men who had high titles in their village. The decision was made that we would not go to war. They handed over to me a virgin and a young lad to take back with me. I never saw the girl again. The young lad was named Ikemefuna, and it was decided that he would live with us as part of our family for now.

My Struggle Through Life

     This is it, I thought to myself. This was my chance to show all of Umuofia that I was the best wrestler around, better than Amalinze the Cat, and better than anyone else. The pride of my whole family rested on this moment. Before I knew it, the Cat was sprinting towards me, and without thinking, I slipped past him and somehow managed to pick him up and throw him to the ground. The crowd roared and I knew I had won. However, in the midst of all that glory, I couldn't help but remember my old, weak father. He never really did anything with his life, and some of the villagers started to refer to him as a woman, since he never earned any high titles. All he was interested in was playing the flute and relaxing. My father was a failure at farming, and he owed almost everyone some sort of debt. None of those debts were repaid when he died, and I needed to build a good reputation for myself with almost nothing to start with. Thankfully, a kind elder of the village gave me some yam seeds to start a farm, and I had some left over from last season's harvest. So, needless to say I live everyday in fear that I won't be able to support my wives, that I will earn a reputation like my father's, or that I will not have a place of honor as a man like myself should. 

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