Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is the story of Okonkwo and his downfall. Throughout the book, the importance of specific relationships grows increasingly due to the further understanding of the text as a whole by the reader.
One of the main themes in Things Fall Apart is fear, the fear of being weak, fear of loss, fear of people, etc., but to understand where all that fear comes from the reader can look specific relationships. The relationship between Okonkwo and Unoka is the relationship where the strongest fear derives from. Chinua Achebe is listing types of fear that are interlaced through the book when he emphasizes “Okonkwo’s fear was greater than [all of] these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself,
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They must be seen strong and completely opposite of his father, Unoka. Ezinma is the only daughter of Ekwefi and “Okonkwo was [e]specially fond of [her]” (Achebe 44). Okonkwo admires Ezinma because she completely understands him and he likes whatever she does. The choice made by Achebe to make Okonkwo’s favorite child a girl reveals that Okonkwo’s life was destined to fall apart. Thus by analyzing the relationship between Okonkwo and Ezinma the reader can further understand the downfall of Okonkwo and the text as a whole. On the other end of the spectrum, there is Nwoye. At the end of the book, he abandons his father and changes his religion to follow Mr. Brown and the Christians. When Okonkwo thinks of his other children following him “[he] felt a cold shudder run down though him at the terrible prospect, like the prospect of annihilation” (Achebe 153). Nwoye is following a similar track to Unoka who Okonkwo is trying to place as far as possible away from him. This foil of close male relatives created by Achebe implies the inevitability of the collapse of Okonkwo’s life. Therefore, by analyzing Okonkwo’s relationship with his children the reader can further understand the text as a whole because the reader can see what Okonkwo’s family life is like and how that influences his …show more content…
In the third part of the book, European colonization has begun to infiltrate Umuofia. The first missionary is named Mr. Brown and “In the end [his] arguments began to have an effect. More people came to learn in his school, and he encouraged them with gifts of singlets and towels” (Achebe 181). In this quote, Achebe portrays Mr. Brown as flexible and compassionate man who is not imposing his religion on anyone rather trying to integrate it into their society and it works. The compassion inside Mr. Brown gives the villagers of Umuofia a sense of trust, which the readers can also connect to this way the readers can better understand what the villagers are going through and in turn further understand the text. The second missionary was Reverend James Smith. “He was a different kind of man. He commended openly Mr. Brown’s policy of compromise and accommodation. He saw things as black and white. And black was evil” (Achebe 184). Mr. Smith was a complete foil of Mr. Brown he believed that there should be very selected crowd of people to enter the church and made it so that happened. The choice by Achebe to make Mr. Smith a foil of Mr. Brown affects the conflict in the story, which helps the reader agree with Okonkwo’s argument that the White men are a disease. Therefore, by analyzing the specific relationship between Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith the reader can
Okonkwo was the son of Unoka, and Unoka was know in all of Umuofia as a poor coward who never paid back his debts. From the day Unoka died, Okonkwo vowed to never be like his father. Instead, Okonkwo was the complete opposite being described as wealthy but frugal, brave, violent and stubbornly opposed to music and anything else that was perceived “soft” such as, conversation and emotion. In regards to his wealth he married 3 wives and his 3 wives bore him 7 children all together. Of his 7 children he favored Ezinma his only child with Ekwefi his second wife, and did not approve or agree with his oldest son Nwoye’s actions. Okonkwo more than anything valued manliness, his own and others. During the time in this book when Ezinma is taken by
It was surprising that Okonkwo went along and ignored the advice of an elder, since he himself wants to become a great leader in the tribe. Shockingly, Okonkwo selfishly chooses to look brave and fearless over the love of the boy he called his own and ends up being the one who kills him. I believed that Okonkwo’s love for his son would outweigh his senseless pride and he would save his son, however I was wrong. Nwoye suspects his father’s wrongdoing and begins to fear
It challenged his identity by losing his high title in the clan due to the change in the village as well as new customs. He responded to the clash of cultures by attempting to encourage others to fight in his mission to get rid of the Western influences in the Ibo community. Because he failed to do so, he lost hope and refused to accept the new culture which caused him to hang himself. The conflict between Okonkwo and his clan’s decision to change their way of living was portrayed through characterization and plot development. Achebe gives the people of Africa a voice with Okonkwo’s character who stayed true to his roots. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe reveals to us Okonkwo’s response as the cultural collision of the English and Ibo challenged his sense of
Okonkwo’s fear leads him to treat members of his family harshly, in particular his son, Nwoye. Okonkwo often wonders how he, a man of great strength and work ethic, could have had a son who was “degenerate and effeminate” (133). Okonkwo thought that, "No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man" (45).
…the missionary had immediately paid him a visit. He had just sent Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, who was now called Isaac, to the new training college for teachers in Umuru. And he had hoped that Okonkwo would be happy to hear of it. But Okonkwo had driven him away with the threat that if he came into his compound again he would be carried out of it. (157)
“.If Ezinma had been a boy, I would have been happier. She has the right spirit”(Achebe, 66); Okonkwo kept saying that he wished Ezinma was a “boy” and that she “has the right spirit”, which shows that he likes her but will not show these emotions, this and many other choices Okonkwo makes are due cultural influences. Despite kind feelings, cultural influences betrayed him in the end. “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being weak”(Achebe, 61); Okonkwo is almost always afraid of being considered weak....
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.
In Thing Fall Apart, we see a conflict early in the story between Okonkwo and his father, Unoka. "Okonkwo was ruled by one passion - to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness a...
This passage shows the reader that Nwoye is extremely different from many members of his family and the other members of the village. After Okonkwo learns that his son is interested in the new religion he is furious. Okonkwo has always been disappointed in his son. He believes that Nwoye is not as strong as a man of their clan should be. When Okonkwo was Nwoye’s ...
Things Fall Apart follows the tragic fall of Okonkwo, the leader of the Umuofia tribe, and the Igbo culture. Okonkwo as the leader of his tribe is extremely steeped in the culture of his Indigenous African tribe. He resents the idleness of his father, and the shame his father brought to his family, and so Okonkwo resolves to show his manliness and strength through extreme acts of violence and insensitivity. Although brutal and unforgiving, Okonkwo upholds the culture and tradition of his people through actions that could be considered brutal and savage. However, Okonkwo and his family are exiled from their village after committing a crime against an African Goddess.
Although the reader feels remorseful for Okonkwo’s tragic childhood life. It is another reason to sympathize with 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 wife 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).
The character of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was driven by fear, a fear of change and losing his self-worth. He needed the village of Umuofia, his home, to remain untouched by time and progress because its system and structure were the measures by which he assigned worth and meaning in his own life. Okonkwo required this external order because of his childhood and a strained relationship with his father, which was also the root of his fears and subsequent drive for success. When the structure of Umuofia changed, as happens in society, Okonkwo was unable to adapt his methods of self-evaluation and ways of functioning in the world; the life he was determined to live could not survive a new environment and collapsed around him.
Iyasẹre, Solomon Ogbede. “Okonkwo's Participation in the Killing of His ‘Son’ in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: A Study of Ignoble Decisiveness.” Understanding Things Fall Apart: Selected Essays and Criticism. Troy, NY: Whitson, 1998. 129-40. Print.
Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, follows the tragic life of Okonkwo, a man who suffers a miserable fate due to the fear of failure that controls every action he makes. Though the fear of failure acts as motivation to become a successful and respected man at first, it later cripples Okonkwo in such a way that failure ultimately defines his life. Okonkwo is constantly afraid of being a victim of weakness and desperately tries to remain a strong and unyielding man. It is his overwhelming fear of weakness that causes things to fall apart in his life, as his attempts to avoid failure and weakness eventually lead to the ultimate defeat: his shameful suicide. Fear of failure and weakness dominates Okonkwo throughout his life.
Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, uses the changes in African tribal culture brought about by European colonization to illustrate the evolution of the character Okonkwo. As Okonkwo leads his life, his experiences, personality and thought are revealed to the reader. The obstacles he faces in life are made numerous as time progresses. Okonkwo's most significant challenge originates within himself. He also encounters problems not only when in opposition to the white culture, but in his own culture, as he becomes frustrated with tribal ideals that conflict with his own. The last adversary he encounters is of the physical world, brought upon himself by his emotional and cultural problems. The manner through which Okonkwo addresses his adversaries in Things Fall Apart creates the mechanism that leads to his eventual destruction.