I will be a great leader! Nwoye, said to himself. I will show them that I am just as good of a leader as my father is! One day soon they will know the name Nwoye and respect it. Nwoye knew that he had to be different from his father, he wanted to show his mother, brothers and sisters that the new way of the colonists was the right way. He wanted his family to join him in this new world and to learn the new religion.
Sometime later, the Commissioner came to Nwoye and explained to him that his father Okonkwo had committed suicide. He explained to Nwoye that because of the tribes customs they would not cut him down from the tree, that, that responsibility had now fallen to his shoulders as he is the eldest son. The news that his father had hung himself shocked, saddened and dismayed Nwoye. He said to the commissioner; "He was always a strong man, a leader, what could have happened?" With no reply from the commissioner, Nwoye went about the sad task of cutting down his father from the tree, with the help of other tribesmen that have crossed over to the new religion.
Nwoye, thought to himself that maybe his father wasn"t as strong as he had thought. What man takes his life, like the lowliest animal on earth? He was to be buried in the ground but not consecrated ground, the new religion also didn"t believe in a man taking his own life. If it was the olden times the great Okonkwo would have been thrown into the evil forest.
Now I can go and talk to my mother, Okonkwo's wives and my siblings about the new religion and new way of life. They will want to join me now, because their provider Okonkwo is gone, and I should be the head of the family. This all made sense to Nwoye, but making it right with his family turned out to be a lot harder then he thought.
When Nwoye first arrived at his father's compound, he saw Obierika, so he went over to Obierika to say hello. Obierika was surprised to see Nwoye there, because he knew that Okonokwo had banished him from his house.