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What is the main theme of things fall apart
The character analysis of chinua achebe's things fall apart novel
The character analysis of chinua achebe's things fall apart novel
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In this book, there are many things that begin to fall apart for Okonkwo. One thing that stood out to me the most was the way that Okonkwo’s life began to fall apart. From a rough childhood, to him killing a boy that looked to him as a father, to his daughter getting sick. Part of that is because of his own actions and wanting to be everything his father wasn’t. Okonkwo hated his father ever since he was a young boy. His relationship with his father was a non-factor because Okonkwo had no patience for unsuccessful men and men who couldn’t provide for their families and his father was just that. His father, Unoka was a coward, he was weak, in debt and because of that Okonkwo didn’t have a good start in life like he should have. Because Okonkwo
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.
"That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog..." Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe is the story of trials and tribulations that the main character, Okonkwo, has to overcome in anyway that he can. Some cultures may have seen Okonkwo as a warrior, a strong man, a manly man, a great farmer etc., but I do not believe he was actually as great as he was made out to be and I don't think that his culture viewed him as all that wonderful either.
Okonkwo is “a man of action, a man of war” (7) and a member of high status in the Igbo village. He holds the prominent position of village clansman due to the fact that he had “shown incredible prowess in two intertribal wars” (5). Okonkwo’s hard work had made him a “wealthy farmer” (5) and a recognized individual amongst the nine villages of Umuofia and beyond. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw isn’t that he was afraid of work, but rather his fear of weakness and failure which stems from his father’s, Unoka, unproductive life and disgraceful death. “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness….It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” Okonkwo’s father was a lazy, carefree man whom had a reputation of being “poor and his wife and children had just barely enough to eat... they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back.” (5) Unoka had never taught Okonkwo what was right and wrong, and as a result Okonkwo had to interpret how to be a “good man”. Okonkwo’s self-interpretation leads him to conclude that a “good man” was someone who was the exact opposite of his father and therefore anything that his father did was weak and unnecessary.
The Igbo were a strong and noble culture in Africa before European colonization occurred. After the slave trade ended, Christians started to go deeper into Africa, looking to spread their religion further across the globe. In the book, Things Fall Apart it focuses mainly on the main character, Okonkwo, who is Igbo, and his life choices when the white come. With the fear of becoming like his father, Okonkwo’s decisions become more reckless and violent throughout the story, these reckless decisions include killing his foster son Ikemefuna, attacking his first born Nwoye, and killing a messenger of the white man.
Okonkwo Difficulty To Accept Change In Umuofia, Nigeria, the Igbo people who lives in a village has many interesting traditions and ceremonies, such as Igbo people use chalk thats made out of clay is used by Ibo in rituals before colonization happened. Can a change affect everyone making everything fall apart especially changing someone? Chinua Achebe in his novel Things Fall Apart answers this question about this by telling a story of British colonization through an African point of view. In this work of historical fiction, Okonkwo wants his power back but he was kicked out of his village because he shot a boy on accident and years later his village were taken over by the christians then they made his people get into christianity, so Okonkwo
Okonkwo is the leader of Umuofia and he has the highest title in the clan people in
Okonkwo is a very special character in the novel, Things Fall Apart. He brings about his downfall through his own actions. Okonkwo is constantly driven by his fear of being seen as weak. He would do anything to not become his father, Unoka. This character perfectly fits the definition of a tragic hero according to Aristotle.
When the structure of Umuofia began to change, Okonkwo found himself incapable of adapting like the rest of the villagers. He was determined to live a life that could not survive the changing world, and his dreams crumbled. Throughout the novel, Achebe demonstrates that the lack of being able to adapt to change will leave you lost in society. Since his childhood, Okonkwo has always been ashamed of his father, Unoka. Unoka was rarely able to feed his children, which made Okonkwo scared and embarrassed.
In the book it is described how everything he does is quite contrary to his father’s actions since these were something to be ashamed of and Okonkwo thought of his father as an efulefu, meaning worthless man. He does everything in his power to become nothing like him resulting in a high social status, a big family and enormous amounts of crops. Therefore when the white men come and Okonkwo realizes that no one in the village will fight back he loses everything he belives in, in a way becoming his father which is one of the reasons to his tragic end.
In Umuofia’s esoteric civilization, the people share a general and substantial belief in Gods and religion. Okonkwo and the rest of the Igbo respect the Gods and go to them for wisdom: “…and offered prayers to them on behalf of himself, his three wives and eight children.” (Achebe, 14). Okonkwo seeks guidance from the Gods so they can receive mirth for his obedience to them. Because he will do what his Gods want, his actions and thoughts are all based on his morals and values towards his deities.
“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, or even a young wife. But in spite of these disadvantages, he had begun even in his father’s lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future” (18). Most of his accomplishments were despite his father, whom Okonkwo loathed, but with whom I connected. In the novel, I relate more to Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, a much more laid back character. Like Unoka, I am in love with life, lazy, not worried about tomorrow, and deeply in debt.
In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is portrayed as a respected and determined individual whose fatal flaw eventually works against him. Throughout the novel the readers are shown that Okonkwo has many of these Characteristics because he is obsessed with the idea of becoming just like his father. This becomes his flaw in the novel that puts him into exile and makes it hard for him to adjust to the changes that were made with in his village.
Throughout Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo forms relationships with people that are both expected and surprising. Okonkwo is far from an expert at positive relationships. His interaction with his family alone alternates between angering, heartbreaking, occasionally sweet, and sometimes just plain annoying. Okonkwo seems to believe that strong positive relationships are feminine and weak, especially if this relationship is with one of his wives. Despite this, Okonkwo has a deep, if rarely acted upon, love for his family and his village, and he wants both to have a successful future.
The father-son relationship throughout three generation is the key point of the story. Firstly, the father-son relationship between Okonkwo and his father Unoka is the main point is the story. The reason is that; this father-son relationship is the exact opposite. The characteristics of Unoka is lazy and miserly, he cannot take care of his wives and children, even dies with unpaid debts.
In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Okonkwo’s relationship with his father affects all of his actions. In his childhood, Okonkwo was exposed to ignominy because his father, Unoka, was not respected by the rest of Umuofia, the village they lived in. In adulthood, Okonkwo’s shame grows with him and with the shame comes a fear of being like his father. He spends his whole life avoiding acting like his father and ultimately fails in his death. Okonkwo became ashamed of his father in childhood and this shame affected his behaviour throughout his life and ultimately lead to him dying in similar circumstances to his father.