Okonkwo In Things Fall Apart

Is Nwoye really as weak as Okonkwo makes him seem in Things Fall Apart? Even though he starts out as a character who is repetitively accused of laziness and weakness by his father, Nwoye's character slowly advances throughout Things Fall Apart. From the inhumane, arbitrary murder of Ikemefuna to his eventual conversion to Christianity, Nwoye drastically changes the way the audience views him despite his father's discouraging, pessimistic outlook on his personality, his actions, and his beliefs. These changes are what cause Nwoye to become one of the most dynamic characters in Things Fall Apart and, in many ways, an archetype of an independently developing child. In Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, the author manipulates the way the

Be it through relationships or significant actions, the author inserts many characters who show the audience that Nwoye is capable of development. One terrific example of a character introduced early in Things Fall Apart used mainly to develop Nwoye is Ikemefuna. Once he began living in close proximity to Nwoye, Ikemefuna seemed to have a heavy influence on Nwoye's character. As the duo strengthened their relationship over time, they also learned about themselves. Nwoye realized that he preferred the stories of his mother over growing and harvesting yams with his father, and Ikemefuna's memory of his real family began to shimmer away while he comfortably assimilated into Okonkwo's family. Then, everything changed; told that they were going back to his original home, Ikemefuna was taken out of the village by Okonkwo and some other villagers. Once they were a comfortable distance away from the village, the villagers and Okonkwo murdered Ikemefuna, with Okonkwo dealing the killing blow. As soon as Okonkwo came home that night, the author writes that, "Nwoye knew that Ikemefuna had been killed, and something seemed to give way inside him, like the snapping of a tightened bow. He did not cry. He just hung limp" (Achebe 61). This quote is very influential in the development of Nwoye for a few reasons. Chiefly, Nwoye begins to significantly separate himself from Okonkwo and his

Despite Nwoye's troubled childhood, Achebe was able to drastically change Nwoye's character throughout Things Fall Apart, leaving him as a religiously-inspired young adult. Nwoye's character in Things Fall Apart really demonstrates to the audience that, not matter how one group of people may view someone, there's always another group somewhere willing to take them in. This is very fascinating because it shows readers that different traits have different values to different people, and everyone should be proud of and practice what makes them