nine' that he does not acknowledge (Apppiah, XVII)."
             Okonkwo does not ever want to become his father, who he believes is agbala or woman, and so must always act strong so as not to reflect his father's weaknesses. His father loved music and did not relish in work; though Okonkwo does enjoy music, he spends his life constantly busy, with never a free moment. He does not ever want to become lazy, and it just so happens that he is beginning to see these ungraceful traits in his son, Nwoye. Later in the novel, the European missionaries arrive in Africa. Though after their first speech, not many are enthralled with the ideas of only God who is all loving and who is not to be feared, there is one who does listen – it is none other than Nwoye, Okonkwo's first son. He was not so much captivated by the mad logic of the Trinity, but rather it was something else. As thought by Nwoye:
             "It was the poetry of the new religion, something felt in the marrow. The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul – the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed. He felt a relief... (Achebe, 128)."
             The two confronted each other one day after Okonkwo learned from his friend that Nwoye had been with the Christians. Okonkwo disowned his son, who soon became a new convert. The irony in this
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