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Analyse the character of okonkwo
Okonkwo's character analysis
Character of okonkwo
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Okonkwo’s behavior could be described as violent because he has beat his wives, killed his “son”, and accidentally killed a sixteen year old boy. During the week of peace Okonkwo beat his wife for returning too late to make his dinner. “And when she returned he beat her heavily.”(21) To him it does not matter where he is at, he will be violent anywhere, even if it ruins the occasion. Okonkwo cannot control his violent behavior, or he does not care. Due to his violent behavior and often outbursts of anger, he beat and nearly shot his second wife, solely because she cut a few leaves off of the banana tree. “Without further argument Okonkwo gave her a sound beating and left her and her only daughter weeping.”(27) After he beat her he planned
Okonkwo let his ego get to him and it later led to his death. Okonkwo was abusive to his family; he beat his family because he was scared. Okonkwo beats his wife because he has fear, and being abusive relieves him from his stress. (Achebe 38) Okonkwo had beat his wife near the banana tree. Okonkwo was so abusive because in his tribe it was ok to beat your wife.
Okonkwo is a man of action, he would rather settle things with his strength rather than talk it out with the person he is mad at. This is very unsympathetic because not only is he going to use violence towards others, he is doing it just because he can not get his point across with using his words. This quote shows that he does not care towards others emotions because he would rather just fight them than talk it out. Another quote that shows Okonkwo’s unsympathetic behavior is,“He rules the household with a heavy hand” (Achebe 13). Okonkwo is shown to be someone who disciplines where he sees fit, if he does not like what is going on then there might be a high chance that the heavy hand is going to come down onto you. It shows how unsympathetic Okonkwo is because it shows how he might not care about his family’s feelings towards getting hit when they disobey him. His wives are more often beaten, especially Ekwefi, who has been beaten almost to death because Okonkwo was in a bad mood. It shows that he lets his emotions get the best of him and he does not control them very well, he would rather let it all out violently than talking it out with the people that he is mad at. Those quotes show how Okonkwo can be seen as a very unsympathetic person from his
Okonkwo was broken when he was sent away from his “fatherland”. Mbanta was his “motherland”, which he took refuge for committing a “female”. He committed one of the two crime in Umofia “There are two types of crimes, male and female. Okonkwo has committed a female crime because the murder is an accident”(124). The reason Okonkwo fled to his “motherland” was because the accidental firing of his gun which killed Ekeudu's son. Okonkwo’s actions upset himself because “His life had been ruled by a great passion to become one of the lords of the clan. That had been his life spring. And he had all but achieved it. Then everything had been broken. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish on to a dray, sandy beach, panting. Clearly his
Okonkwo's downfall was predicted from the beginning. The book Thing Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is about the great warrior Okonkwo who builds his life in the Igbo tribe from the ground up. After adopting a child named Ikemefuna, Okonkwo's life goes downhill. Many things in Okonkwo's life could have caused his own destruction, but there are a few things that could have been bigger than others. I think that Ikemefuna's death played a big part, as well as Nwoye's betrayal, and his father's failure.
Unlike his father, Okonkwo is a hard worker with little debt and a driven personality. His internal fear leads to his decision to beat his wife during the week of peace and to take part in the mandatory action of killing his beloved son, Ikemefuna.
In the situation with his youngest wife, Ojiugo, Okonkwo was waiting for her to bring him his dinner, but to have it to never come due to her leaving the house to get her hair plaited. Okonkwo becomes angered because of this, and when she returned he beat her, even though there should be no violence during the Week of Peace. He had other wives at the time who were in the household that could have gotten his meal at the time, but because he was so overwhelmed with anger that she defied him, he resorted to violence. Okonkwo’s anger was not justified, he did not have to beat his Ekwefi or Ojiugo in either of those situations. The only reason he beaten them in the first place was a way for Okonkwo to assert his dominance and show that he should not be opposed of, that he is “strong.” This is a clear example of toxic masculinity being shown through Okonkwo’s action of the traits of domestic violence and the devaluation of women. Although women are generally considered to be the weaker sex in the Ibo culture, they hold an important role in the tribe as
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.
From birth Okonkwo had wanted his son, Nwoye, to be a great warrior like him. His son instead rebelled and wanted to be nothing like Okonkwo. Okonkwo would not change so that his son would idolize him, as he had wanted since his son's birth. He chose not to acknowledge his son's existence instead. This would weigh heavily on anyone's conscience, yet Okonkwo does not let his relationship with his son affect him in the least bit.
Both the beatings of his wives and the killing of Ikemefuna helps to manifest Okonkwo’s impulsiveness. During the misunderstanding about the banana tree, Okonkwo “... who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger, suddenly found an outlet” (Achebe 38). Okonkwo resorts to violence to try to relive many of his frustrations in life. His anger is shown in his incompetence to control himself. Okonkwo states, “ ‘Who killed this tree? Or are you all deaf and dumb?’ ” (Achebe 38). Okonkwo’s frustration and temper starts to build up until he cannot handle it anymore and lashes out on his second wife for “killing” the banana tree. The tree, in fact, was still alive, but since Okonkwo’s impulsiveness controls him he could not understand that his second wife had only taken a few leaves from the tree to wrap up some food. Without listening to his wife’s explanation for why some of the leaves on the tree were missing, “Okonkwo gave her a sound beating and left her and her only daughter weeping...His anger thus satisfied, Okonkwo decided to go hunting.” (Achebe 38). Okonkwo’s actions towards his wives highlight his impulsiveness. All of Okonkwo’s built up anger and emotions are trapped inside of him and are usually released at the expense of others through his actions. Okonkwo’s part in the killing of Ikemefuna
He took vengeances against anyone who dared go against his wishes and commands. He uses aggression to establish his rule and his action of defiance against the elders and the Gods shows his “king like” status that he so much enjoys. “But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess.” (19). Okonkwo physically and mentally abused his family, especially the younger ones who were easily intimidated by his sizzling temper and challenging personality. Okonkwo would mistreat his wives and kids without any reason or rational thought. “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, live in perpetual fear of his fiery temper” (9). Okonkwo temper and aggression gave him dominance and control over his family to the extent that no one could question his
Okonkwo cannot control himself when one of his wives or kids does something that makes him frustrated, he either beats them or punishes them in another way, “His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess” (Achebe 4). Okonkwo has tried to influence his son in positive ways but already sees that Nwoye is already...
It is another to sympathies for a man who believes he is powerful and respected by many when in reality, he is feared by his own family and that is another reason that leads Okonkwo to his downfall. He started positive, motivated but down the line, Okonkwo treats his wives and children very harshly. When the author mentioned, “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children” (pg.13). This is not power but a weakness when Okonkwo uses power to rule his own house, detaching himself from the emotional connection with this family rather than being frightening to live with. The sign of “gentleness” as like his father means weakness to Okonkwo even with his own family. Especially his wives, when the narrator demonstrated the lack of emotion to his wife, “Okonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his young wife, went to plait her hair at her friend’s house and did not return early enough to cook the afternoon meal… He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo’s return. And when she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace…But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half –way through, not even for fear of a goddess” (pg.29-30). Okonkwo does not even fear the goddess and the Week of Peace and ends up beating his wife to show that he owes
Unfortunately, the clash of the cultures that occurs when the white man's missionaries come to Africa in an attempt to convert the tribal members, causes Okonkwo to lash out at the white man and results in his banishment from the tribe. Okonkwo had a bad temper which he often displayed: Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear of failure and of weakness.
In our class, the discussion mainly took place on the broad points of fear, gender, and religion. Although I agreed with most of the discussion that took place, I had some disagreements in some of the points that people touched upon. The first question that started the discussion was “Why did Okonkwo kill himself?”. The answer that many people responded with was that Okonkwo lost faith in his clansmen and that he and his people were weakened by the white men who colonized their village. Many people stated that Okonkwo’s act of committing suicide was a cowardly act, however I feel like that he had too much pride in himself to be under the white men who divided their village and families. Another question that we came across as a class was Okonkwo’s
...rgivable. The clan considered "it an abomination for a man to take his own life" (Achebe 207). Okonkwo went from being someone that his clansman respected to a stranger that no one cared about.