Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Womens inequality in greek mythology
Womens inequality in greek mythology
Portrayal of women in greek mythology
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Womens inequality in greek mythology
Duty to society is more important than duty to family in Okonkwo and Creon’s eyes because they are both held in important positions and looked up to, but in the end they are both changed people and start to see that duty to family is more important than duty to their society.
I think that Creon and Okonkwo think very similarly even though they were raised very differently. Creon was raised to be a leader from birth, so he hold himself above anyone else and expects them to always bow to him and listen to his commands. On the other hand, Okonkwo’s father was looked down upon and shamed because he was a debtor and Okonkwo grew up wanted to be better than that and i believe he is scared of failure and being like his father. Either way, they
…show more content…
You can worship your own god. It is good that a man should worship the gods and the spirits of his fathers. Go back to your house so that you may not be hurt. Our anger is great but we have held it down so that we can talk to you.”(190). Even though the missionaries have done everything they can to harm the people, the people see them as people—perhaps misguided, but people. This shows the use of logical appeal. This compares to Antigone, where it quotes, “Remind ourselves that we are women and as such are not made to fight with men.”(193). This talks about their society’s view of men and women and to attempt to convince Antigone not to disobey Creon’s law and also it convinces the audience that Creon’s law should be obeyed because he has more authority since he is male. It also proves that Creon values himself above any women and he would never lower himself below a women under any circumstance because it would violate his beliefs and duty to his society. But compared to Antigone, where it says, The Gods, provoked, never wait to mow men down.”(241). By using basic reasoning, the leader of the chorus was able to convince Creon to free Antigone from her tomb. This is different from Things Fall Apart because Okonkwo let Ikemefuna be brought to his death and did nothing to stop it. Yes, he did feel remorse, but unlike Creon he let the boy get murdered because Okonkwo thought he would be …show more content…
On the other hand, in Things Fall Apart, Ikemefuna comes to the village to satisfy a debt and he is placed into Okonkwo’s care. Okonkwo treats Ikemefuna like a son. When it’s time to complete the council’s order of killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo goes with him on a final walk. In the end, it is Okonkwo who carries out the sentence to kill him. Okonkwo feels genuine remorse and “did not taste any food for two days” and “did not sleep at night” (63). Later, when his daughter is taken by a priestess to a temple in the middle of the night, he follows and offers to wait until she is released. It seems like Okonkwo is emotionally unavailable, but he has a deep want to take care of his family and his
Okonkwo is on two ends of a stick. Sometimes he can be shown to be a caring, sympathetic character, but others he is shown as a ruthless person that is very unsympathetic person. Okonkwo is a man of action that would rather solve things with his fists rather than talking it out. He is a great wrestler hailing from the Umuofia clan that has thrown Amalinze the Cat. Okonkwo is also a very good farmer, where he has been able to grow two barns worth of yams. He is someone that doesn’t know how to control themselves when they get angry as he will then resort to violence. Okonkwo’s family relationships make him a sympathetic character because of his caregiving nature and hospitality and he is shown to be an unsympathetic character because of his
Even though Okonkwo loves Ikemefuna and in some ways thinks more highly of him than his own son, he participates in his death because the oracle has decreed it, and he also does not want to be perceived as weak. After that, it was a sullen moment for him: “Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna. He drank palm wine from morning till night, and his eyes were red and fierce like the eyes of a rat when it was caught by the tail and dashed against the floor”(Achebe 63). The death is absolutely traumatic to Okonkwo as it shakes his faith in the traditions that he has built his entire life and existence around. It conflicts many things he believes about himself in terms of his manliness and bravery. Achebe describes Okonkwo’s emotions in order to display a sense of hopelessness and despair to the
Creon’s self-righteous attitude as stated through the quote, “Whatever you say, you will not change my will.” (Sophocles, 20) causes him to believe he is superior to all as he is King and thus does not listen to anyone. As spoken through the quote, Creon’s excessive pride causes him to be selfish and ignorant as he determines that no one can change his mind as he is “all-knowing” since he is King. This excessive pride showcased by Creon leads to his downfall and defiance of the divine law as he completely disregards and tries to justify his actions against the divine law (law created and planted in society by the gods) which become devalued each time he tries to justify his actions. In Anouilh’s version, it is again Creon’s selfishness and excessive pride that leads to his downfall. Creon’s super-ego stops him from listening to anyone as Creon becomes too “power-hungry”; this is shown through the following quote, “Curse you! Find the love for your outlet down there. No women while I live shall govern me.” (Anouilh, 66) This quote shows how Creon himself does not have the power to listen to others as he values his position in society more than the people in society. After talking to Teiresias, Creon doesn’t believe that Antigone could be right and that he could be wrong as his self-righteous just won’t allow him to listen, a characteristic
There is a connection between the death Ezeudu (the one who warned him not to kill Ikemefuna) and the violent crime committed by Okonkwo. During Ezeudu’s death, Okonkwo kills his son which is a sign of evil in return to Okonkwo’s ignorance (not listening to Ezeudu and killing Ikemefuna). When Okonkwo kills Ezeudu’s son it is said he “could return to the clan after seven years” (pg.124), this was one of the evil sins that lead to some kind of connection between Ezeudu’s warning and Okonkwo’s accidental killing. Another reason was that when Ezeudu warned Okonkwo about not attending Ikemefuna’s killing was that he did not want to be seen as a woman for his act. This is a very significant
Okonkwo is supposed to be comforting to his children, but instead he hurts them. “Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears, whereupon his father beat him heavily. As for Ikemefuna, he was at a loss. His own home had gradually become very faint and
In these few chapters that we read, we have already learned a lot about Okonkwo, his life, and how he shows sympathy to some, but to others he is heartless. Okonkwo is other wise known as an unsympathetic person. Okonkwo is a clan leader of umuofia who holds many titles and is well known among his people. Okonkwo's daily life consists of tending to the three yam farms he has produced and to make numerous offerings to numerous gods and to help himself and his family. Okonkwo's personality is hard driven, since his father did not provide for him and his family Okonkwo had to start man hood early and this led him to be very successful in his adulthood, Okonkwo is an unsympathetic character who only shows sympathy rarely because he believes it's a sign of weakness Okonkwo's family relationships make him a sympathetic character because when his children show signs of manliness or do their jobs right he shows sympathy towards them. He is an unsympathetic character because whenever he get a little mad he has to take his anger out on something and that is usually vented by beating his wife's.
In the essence of his character, Okonkwo evokes sympathy in the reader only because of his many cultural and personal influences. These influences make him a product of society. Due to this he has lost much but also gained much. Okonkwo also thinks he is doing something to help when he may in fact being harming others. He has a conscious and regrets certain deeds. He punished himself after killing Ikemefuna. Therefore, Okonkwo is a cruel yet kind man who evokes sympathy in the reader.
In the novel, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is a sympathetic character and unsympathetic character in regards to his family relationships with his adopted son, Ikemefuna, his daughter, Ezima, and his father, Unoka, as a result of he appears to genuinely care about his family; but, the pride within himself prevents his expression of such pride and concern openly.
Many times, we find ourselves not liking people. We may not like the way they are but we still understand the reasoning behind their actions. In “Things Fall Apart”, Okonkwo’s wife and son are treated differently in ways but still receive the same punishments. Okonkwo’s family relationships make him a sympathetic character. I personally understand Okonkwo’s motives for his actions.
Okonkwo’s actions throughout the book are mostly because of his father and his fear of becoming a man like Unoka. Okonkwo's fear of being like his father affects him and his family throughout the book in both positive and negative ways. Okonkwo’s fear of being like his
...sively never end up in their favor anyways. In both Antigone and Things Fall Apart, they were challenged in ways where at first they believed their verdict of the situation was appropriate and equitable they come to realization at the end that they were very incorrect in thinking so. Okonkwo finds, at the conclusion of the book that everything he ever aimed to become was essentially inevitable. Mirthfully enough, he becomes just like his father, a disgrace to the clan. Creon as well realizes his fault at the end of the book, where he has his anagnorisis. He understands that making this law, and entombing Antigone lead to the death of all his loved ones. The two together rule by fear and don’t like showing weakness. They are oblivious to the desires of those around them, and don’t take into account that the view of the people and their families may be quite different.
He chooses the latter and slices Ikemefuna down with his machete. The violence of the scene is then contrasted by the morose tone of the portion of the novel that immediately follows. Okonkwo does not speak and barely eats for the next few days (63). He mourns the boy in secret. Too afraid to show feelings, Okonkwo hides away from the world.
Further into the story during the Week of Peace, Okonkwo had broken that peace. As a result, a fellow clansman told him, “The evil you have done can ruin the whole clan. The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us her increase, and we shall all perish” (Achebe 30). In a similar case, Okonkwo once again committed an action that could have angered a goddess. He accidentally killed a clansman during a funeral where “if the clan did not exact punishment for an offense against the great goddess, her wrath was loosed on all the land and not just on the offender” (Achebe 125).