When The Emperor Was Divine Essay

768 Words2 Pages

Imagine being in a close-knit society. A cultural way of living that is so ever-present in where you live, that it’s really the only way you’ve ever known to carry out your life. Imagine knowing everything that you need for your future, how to prosper, how to lead a successful life within your community. Then, all of a sudden, before you even can process what’s happening; everything changes. In both Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and “When the Emperor Was Divine” by Julie Otsuka, they tell a story of a certain character and how their normal lives and culture are unwantedly changed. Okonkwo and the boy are slowly put under more and more stress due to the sudden changes in their lives, supporting that unwanted change is more negative than …show more content…

In Achebe’s book, Okonkwo would be viewed as a very intolerant person as he comes quick to anger and the slightest misdemeanor could lead to a harsh beating. Okwonko showcases this when one of his wives show up late to make his afternoon meal and “when she returned he beat her very heavily” (Achebe 29). Okonkwo later continues to show examples time and time again of how harsh his character truly is. For the boy, however, instead of anger consuming him, he worries. He thought about his father and worried that he would be too tired to play catch with him under the trees, he worried about his room being taken over by large messy people, and he worried about his father returning bald (Otsuka 549). He continues to worry about multiple things later on in the story, showing the side of his character that is very worrisome in a stressful time. Both characters have some sort of way to vent out their stress, but it’s really doing them more harm than good. The cause of this stress leads back to unwanted change, the change of meal time for Okonkwo and the change of how different life is for the boy without his

Analysis Of When The Emperor Was Divine
725 Words | 2 Pages
Julie Otsuka’s When The Emperor Was Divine told the unspoken stories of many Japanese-Americans during the Interment. Remembering the experiences that thousands of innocent people went through can leave them to feel uneasy and upset. The stripping of their identity and reclassifying them as enemy aliens left them with everlasting trauma and nightmares. Japanese-Americans were arrested, rounded up and transported to Internment camps across the United States where, in some cases, they were held for several years. Therefore, the Japanese-Americans during the Second World War had lasting repercussions from psychological, physical and financial aspects on the prisoners.
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When The Emperor Was Divine Essay
784 Words | 2 Pages
Living in the white world of America was difficult during the time of war; the Asians were tormented by the way they had to present themselves. In history, some people were afraid to stand up for what they thought was right. There were also some courageous people who stood against discrimination and forced it into the public's eye. For instance, Rosa Parks was a dark colored woman who stood against the bus rules by refusing to give up her seat to a white man. By doing this act of bravery she was arrested for not abiding by the “white” laws. On the other hand, some groups like the KKK were in agreement that racial profiling was okay because the “white” image was “supreme” back then. In her novel, When the Emperor was Divine, Otsuka uses racial
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Okonkwo Unsympathetic Character
705 Words | 2 Pages
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
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An Analysis Of Julie Otsuka's When The Emperor Was Divine
1186 Words | 3 Pages
When the Emperor was Divine is a novel written by Julie Otsuka which tells a story of a Japanese American family during the time of World War II. The novel exemplifies the typical life and actions of Japanese Americans of the time period. The novel is told from five different perspectives, the mother, the girl, the boy, the father, the boy and the girl. The chapters are described by the family members and it is express from a third person point of view. At first, the father is arrested by the FBI because of the suspicion as a spy from the government. Therefore, the mother has to take care of her two children. Later the family moved to the internment camp in Utah. After
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Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
941 Words | 2 Pages
Okonkwo’s first and most distinctive flaw is his fear of failure. Many people would agree that this flaw is driven by the fear of becoming his father, but Okonkwo takes this fear too far. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was known for being a very lazy and carefree man. He also had notoriety of being “…poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat.” (Achebe 5). A big tradition in Umuofia is having a father who is supposed to teach his children right and wrong. In Okonkwo’s case, these lessons had to be self-taught. Okonkwo had to commit to his own understandings of what defined a “good man” and to him that was the exact opposite of his father. Because of his fear to be seen as weak, Okonkwo even murders a child that calls him father. Ikemefuna was sent to live with Okonkwo because someone was murdered in a nearby village. An example of Okonkwo’s ill-hearted actions are shown in the following quote: “As the man drew up and raised his machete, Okonkwo looked away. He heard the blow. He heard Ikemefuna cry, ‘My father, they have killed me!’ as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.” (Achebe 61). The fact that he kills Ikemefuna shows that his reputation is more important than the life of a child. Okonkwo’s fear permits him to receive more respect from his tribe, but only because it inclines him to do better than anyone else.
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Okonkwo: The Tragic Hero in Things Fall Apart
470 Words | 1 Pages
Okonkwo’s fear of unmanliness is kindled by his father, who was a lazy, unaccomplished man. Okonkwo strives to have a high status from a young age and eventually achieves it. He has a large family, many yams and is well known throughout the village for his valor. He raises his family by his mentality of manliness and is ...
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When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka: How Characters Change in the Story
1642 Words | 4 Pages
In When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, each of the characters – the mother, the daughter, the son, and the father - change because of their time spent in the Japanese-American internment camps. These characters change in not only physical ways, but they also undergo psychic and emotional changes as a result of staying in the camps. These changes weaken their resolve for living and cause the quality of their lives to decline; some of these changes will affect their lives forever. Their reclassification into the internment camps stays with the family long after they are released from the camps.
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Uchendu Quotes
473 Words | 1 Pages
Okonkwo is supposed to be comforting to his children, but instead he hurts them. “Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears, whereupon his father beat him heavily. As for Ikemefuna, he was at a loss. His own home had gradually become very faint and
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Okonkwo A Sympathetic Character
563 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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The Stubborness of Okonkwo
389 Words | 1 Pages
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.
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Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
741 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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Sympathetic and Unsympathetic Characters in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
625 Words | 2 Pages
In the novel, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is a sympathetic 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. The protagonist, Okonkwo demonstrates his sympathetic character solely to himself, personally, and infrequently not in the eyes of others. During the plotting of Ilemefuna’s death, Okonkwo was hesitant to make the boy aware of his fate and also hesitant to take part in his death. “‘I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy,’ he asked Obierika” Okonkwo was aware that the adopted boy from an opposing tribe thought of Okonkwo, not only as an authority figure and high-ranking tribal member/warrior, but also as a father—his father. Until the death of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo continued to show Ikemefuna kindness due to feeling that “his son’s development was due to Ikemefuna.”
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Things Fall Apart Adapt To Change Essay
622 Words | 2 Pages
Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, is a story about a society on the verge of a cultural change. The main character, Okonkwo, is driven throughout the story by fear and a drive for success. He relied on the village of Umuofia to stay the same because he used the structured culture to feel safe and appreciated. He lives in a constant state of fear because he wants to find his own meaning in life. 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 down. Throughout the novel, Achebe demonstrates that the lack of being able to adapt to change will leave you lost in society.
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Depiction of Masculinity in the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
962 Words | 2 Pages
Okonkwo’s ideas of masculinity, family values, and his sense of male duty are very antiquated and traditional. When new ideas are presented to him in the form of European religion and culture, Okonkwo, along with many others, fails to open his mind to the change and refuse to compromise. Thus, there is conflict and a shattering of clan values and relationships that have lasted for generations. Neither group is willing to compromise its ideas or philosophy, and thus by the end of the novel it is evident that the clan has been irreversibly altered.
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Character Analysis Of Okonkwo
1034 Words | 3 Pages
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).
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When The Emperor Was Divine Essay

Analysis Of When The Emperor Was Divine