This question can be very controversial. From one point of view, even if it was not the man's fault, it still happened therefore he should be punished. There is another point of view that because it was an accident and not his fault, the man should be forgiven and not punished.
However, it is not just one answer for every incident where this happens. The answer could depend on many different variables such as the severity of the incident and what he is being accused for.
This question arose for me when i read Things Fall Apart. "Okonkwo's gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy's heart" (Achebe 125). Because of this fluke explosion, he killed the boy at the funeral. In their society, this had a major consequence, to be exiled from the village for 7 years. There was no question about it, under that circumstance, his family had to be exiled. I thought this was too harsh when I read it. I believe that maybe a debt of yams would have been a more appropriate consequence because a man was killed because of him, BUT it was not his fault the gun exploded.
Obierika later questions "why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently?" (Achebe 125). When I read through this part in the book, I had questioned the exact same thing. Not everyone in the tribe thought it was the right punishment, but they all knew that they could not change anything by speaking up, so they left it the way it was.
Throughout the book, we see that this tribe had many traditions that HAD to be followed. This had to happen if someone committed that crime so no one questioned it or tried to fight it. If something like that happened today, the person would fight and try to win the case to not be punished. There clearly are major differences from then and today.
Hey Jacob,
ReplyDeleteI also wrestled with the severity of his punishment. I agree that the punishment should have been in the form of a fine rather than SEVEN long years of exile. I think that the people of Umofia are very different from us in the way that they handle justice. The people of Umofia have such a strict set of rules and punishments that do not waver under any circumstances, and this is necessary, in their minds, to keep their tradition and livelihood. Also, Achebe himself may have given Okonkwo the worst punishment of all by giving him the female version, stripping him of his masculinity. The severity of his punishment changed the book entirely and if he had just been fined, he may have stopped Umofia from giving in to the missionaries.
Hey Jacob,
ReplyDeleteI really like this blog post, and I agree with the statements that you make. I think that there are a lot of situations in which it would be unfair to punish someone for something that was not their fault, in this case, the death of the boy at the funeral when the gun exploded. It was not his fault, so I agree that it is an extremely harsh punishment considering the circumstance. I do not think that he and his entire family should be punished for something that was never intended to hurt anyone. The explosion of the gun was an accident, and therefore, there is no reason why his family should ne exiled for sever years. At the same time, I understand the other point of view. I understand that sometimes, you have to do what you have to do. There are rules that cannot be broken no matter what and under no circumstances. It all depends on the situation, but based on this particular situation, I think that the village should find another way to punish him for the gun explosion because it truly was an accident.
- Sydney