Okonkwo In Things Fall Apart

667 Words2 Pages

In the novel Things Fall Apart the author, Chinua Achebe, set the novel in Nigeria with the participation of the Igbo People. The main character of the novel is Okonkwo, he was a very hard working man, who was respected by everyone in the villages. Unfortunately he gets to one point in his life where he did everything to not be seen as weak as his father. His father was a lazy man who never gained respect in the villages. He was always in debt and never paid it back. There was one time when someone called his father “agbala” that means “woman” and that's where Okonkwo started to work harder and do anything because he didn't want to be called woman. Okonkwo is a tragic hero because his flaw is the fear of being considered weak like his father. In chapter five, Okonkwo was not feeling comfortable at events and was not having fun. He was always thinking about something else. For example, “But somehow Okonkwo could never become as enthusiastic over feasts as most people. He was a good eater and he could drink one or two fairly big gourds of palm-wine. But he was always uncomfortable sitting around for days waiting for a feast or getting over it” (Achebe 37). This means that Okonkwo had in his mind that his father loved parties and events and …show more content…

For example, “ With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. He neither inherited a barn nor a title, nor even a young wife” (Achebe 18). This means that Okonkwo’s fathers was not a responsible father, like other fathers are. Okonkwo worked hard because he didn't want to be seen as weak as his father. Okonkwo had everything for his children that he did not had when he was little because his father was not a responsible father, and Okonkwo was a very respected men in the villages, he gained all of that by working hard in the

Open Document