Two things that’ll destroy your life are death and regret. Those two things can drive your life in a place nobody desires to be in. Death can affect your soul and mind. Regret will ruin your life. If you have those things in your life, you would know that regret compels you to think in ways it shouldn’t. The book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe talks about a man named Okonkwo, his life is slowly crumbling away by those two things. It all started when he had “murdered” Ikemefuna as well as being exiled from the clan.
In my opinion, when Okonkwo's life starts falling apart is when he is being exiled. Okonkwo committed a crime against the earth goddess making him leave for seven years with his family. They'll have to restart everything like
…show more content…
“The crime was of two kinds, male and female. Okonkwo had been committed the female, because it had been inadvertent. He could return to the clan after seven years (Achebe 124)". Considering it was an accident, the punishment was unbearable. Okonkwo's purpose was not to kill him meaning there should be an exceptional punishment. On the other hand, they described the crime being "female" and "male" which leads to them still being sexist. I'm assuming it’s called a female crime becausewomen are weak, they're too powerless to deliberately kill someone, and men are fearless. With that in mind, naming the crime by gender isn’t the respectable towards women. They see them as defenseless, and think they were created to cook or carry their children. Women are more than …show more content…
Some of the customs may cause them to covert. The book stated “He remembered his wife’s twin children, whom he had thrown away. What crime had they committed? The Earth had decreed that they were an offense on the land and must be destroyed. And 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). This implies that that if you disobey the gods they will punish everyone even if one person did it. In fact, they have to kill the twins in secrecy. Murdering twins just because the Earth goddess said they were an abomination isn’t righteous, also knowing you killed them and their innocence will forever be on your soul. Eventually, they will get tired of killing for no particular reason and convert to being a Christian. They’ll get tired of listening to the earth goddess due to her horrible punishments. Maybe they’ll realize that these rules get in their way to live happily and to be free.
Overall, Okonkwo regrets killing his twins and “son”, his life is revolving around death. Which leads to him questioning why such punishments. “Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed advertently (Achebe 125)?” This will cause Okonkwo to look into the earth goddess and her ability. He suffered so much over little things and demands change. Predicting if the Christian missionaries run into
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
With the Christian missionaries are followed by British colonizers. This new political and religious order will upset Okonkwo's social order. He works extremely hard throughout his life to achieve his status and be a better man than his father, Unoka. However, like his father he doesn't completely fit into the community. ...
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
When the missionaries arrive in Umuofia, Okonkwo’s conflict between fighting back and adjust to the changing society becomes even more extreme. Throughout the book, when Okonkwo feels like he has power, he desires more control and leadership over his community. For instance, Achebe writes, “Even in his first year in exile he had begun to plan for his return. The first thing he would do would be to rebuild his compound on a more magnificent scale. He would build a bigger barn than he had had before and he would build huts for two new wives. Then he would show his wealth by initiating his sons into the ozo society. Only the really great man in the clan were able to do this. Okonkwo saw clearly the high esteem in which he would ...
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.
Okonkwo is often described as being similar to characters in Greek tragedies. Okonkwo knew that the end of his clan was coming, and that they would do nothing to prevent it from happening. He took his life out of desperation. He had struggled his whole life to become a respected member of his community, and suddenly his world is turned upside down and changed forever because of an accident. Okonkwo sees that he is fighting a losing battle, so he quits. Suicide was one of the biggest offenses that could be committed against the earth, and Okonkwo?s own clansmen could not bury him. Okonkwo?s death symbolizes the end of patriarchy in Umuofia. The last page of the book is from the point of view of the white Commissioner, who notes that he wants to include a paragraph on Okonkwo?s life in his book entitled The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of Lower Niger. Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs and defeats are all reduced to a paragraph, much like his culture and society will be reduced.
“The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power” (Unknown). In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a novel, Okonkwo lets his past determine his future and control his life. Okonkwo tries to avoid being like his father and therefore it rules his life and does not let him enjoy life. Okonkwo’s motivations and development of his character and his society all suggest that he is a Byronic hero.
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.
Through out the novel Thing Fall Apart, there are many situations have shown societal changes, and those changes always have influences to the characters. One of the specific societal change presented in the novel is the arrival of the white men and Christianity in Umuofia. White men and Christianity missionaries have arrived Umuofia and started to expand their religion. The arrival of Christianity and white men is consider as a societal change because the white men and the new religion have a lot of influence in Umuofia, they trade, built church, school and hospital, they also debates and discuss about religious with the local citizens. Many local citizens, like Okonkwo, rejected white man and Christianity at the first place, they even killed the white man who was the first one to arrive the clan. But slowly they
Okonkwo, a fierce warrior, remains unchanged in his unrelenting quest to solely sustain the culture of his tribe in the time of religious war in Achebe's book, Things Fall Apart. He endures traumatic experiences of conflict from other tribes, dramatic confrontations from within his own family, and betrayal by his own tribe.
Okonkwo’s determination to succeed in life and to not fail leads to his fatal downfall in the end of the novel. His inability to adapt to colonization and his failure to follow the morals of many of the morals of the Ibo culture also are an important key leading to his downfall. Okonkwo was willing to go to war against the missionaries, with or without the clan. He made it clear that he believed the missionaries were in the wrong for trying to change Umuofia. Since the clan wanted no part in the war with the missionaries, Okonkwo took action into his own hands and murdered the head messenger. During the killing of the messenger, Okonkwo had a moment of realization: “He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action” (Achebe 205). Okonkwo finally understands that he doesn’t have support from his fellow clansmen anymore and he feels as if he loses his place in society. Instead of backing up Okonkwo and his decision to murder the messenger, the clan stood in both confusion and disorder and questioned, “ ‘Why did [Okonkwo] do it?’ ” (Achebe 205). Okonkwo’s impulsiveness causes the clansmen to question Okonkwo’s violent actions against the messenger. Throughout the entire novel, Okonkwo struggles to accept the missionaries and the changes that they
Okonkwo is not all that he may seem; as there is more than what meets the eye. Okonkwo is the primary protagonist within the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo is a cruel yet kind man who has everything yet has nothing, which in turn creates a sympathetic character. A character such as Okonkwo has many facets; or masks if you will. Then we have his many influences: the Ibo culture; his father Unoka and of course his own personality. Then there is a staggering list of achievements. Okonkwo is a strong character but thinks only inwardly - especially towards his father - which will be discussed further in this essay.
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).
Due to his inflexible nature, he is destined for self-destruction. In some beliefs, this could also be known as karma, which is the belief that a person's past actions determine their destiny. Okonkwo made bad decisions in order to not be seen as weak, which is his worst fear. Due to his fear, he unknowingly becomes cruel and obsessive, “He [Okonkwo] had a slight stammer and whenever he got angry and could not get his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists” (Achebe 4). His obsession to be seen as strong eventually got so bad that he killed his own son.
Okonkwo is an interesting character that experiences many changes throughout the novel. He is a self made member of the Umuofia community unlike his father. His father’s cowardliness and laziness never provided for him or the rest of his family. Growing up, he developed a fear of becoming like his father and that is why it became his influence and purpose in life is to live successfully. This is one of the reasons he reaches troubling times along with his Chi. The concept of Chi plays a big role in his destiny and it was can be interpreted two ways after reading the book. It is possible that Chi may have caused his difficulties, but I believe that he caused them himself because of his strong-willed nature.