Journal 5

Briefly summarize the story of the tortoise. What is the purpose of this folktale about the tortoise? Why do you think it is inserted at this specific point?

Answer:

The tortoise is a very cunning and untrustworthy animal. He wanted to go to the feast of the birds but he had no wings. So he asked the birds for feathers and they are reluctant to give them to him but they eventually did. He also told them that before a feast it is the custom to change their names, he changed his to "all of you". They flew up to the feast and the tortoise gave a great speech and when the host announced who the food was for, they said "All of you" only referring to the tortoise. The tortoise ate all of the food which got the birds very mad, and they took back their feathers. The tortoise told one of the birds to deliver of message to his wife to put all the soft things on his house so he can jump down on it. When the bird gave the message to the wife he changed it to put all the hard things on his house. When the turtle jumped down he cracked his shell on his house and it had to be put back together. That is why the tortoise's shell is not smooth. 

This might have been inserted into the story because the tortoise is like Okonkwo. The tortoise is arrogant eats all of the food and cares about himself, like Okonkwo. This might foreshadow that Okonkwo will have something bad happen to him or be punished later in the book.