The Theme Of Like Father Like Son

Like Father, Like Son…not The novel Things Fall Apart and the plays All My Sons and Fences all have the common theme of the protagonists, or fathers, have very high hopes and dreams for their sons. Whether it is Okonkwo’s hopes for boldness and power for his children, or Troy Maxson’s desire for his son, Cory, to experience success and achieve goals in life that he never even got to hope for, or Joe Keller dreaming that his son Chris to someday take over his business, all these fathers had goals set when it came to their children’s success, and at times this took over the way they lived their lives, and not always in a correct way. In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is the father of one daughter, one biological son,

Growing up, Okonkwo’s father lived a “contemptible life” and died a “shameful death” (Achebe 18), therefore causing Okonkwo to commit his life to living the complete opposite of his father’s, and to stand for everything his father did not. He did this passionately by “throwing himself into it like one possessed” (Achebe 18). He was “dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness,” (Achebe 13) not only fear of repeating his father’s failure in his own life, but the fear that his father’s failure and work ethic would be passed onto his own children and they would also be seen as lazy and weak. Okonkwo’s dream was to pass a strong, successful, and the hard working legacy on to his sons, while instilling a solid character that people would respect – no longer remembering the failure that was their grandfather. Okonkwo was adamant to teach his boys what it meant to live an honorable life that was free of laziness, free of weakness, and ultimately free of failure. Okonkwo was a strong man, who took the approach of “never

Troy grew up in an unloving home with a father he wished he had never known or experienced. Troy attempted to play baseball in the major leagues, but was rejected because of his skin color, not necessarily because of his baseball ability. This painful and infuriating experience, along with the lack of preparation and training from his father, is the root cause of Troy’s intensity and intentionality in the way he raises Cory. His goals for Cory, while different from Okonkwo’s actual goals for his sons, are similarly shown through tough love and harsh treatment at times. Troy uses his dad as an example of what not to do in certain scenarios, as well as at time what to do in other situations. He admires the way his father “felt a responsibility towards [them]” because “without that responsibility he could have walked off and left [them]” (Wilson 51). Troy understands that sometimes you do something for your child because you have to, not because you want to. Other than that feeling of responsibility to raise his children, Troy views his father as an example of how he does not want to live, as well as how he does not want to raise his own children. Troy is adamant about not allowing Cory to act on the football scholarship offer he receives because of the experience he had with major league baseball. Troy tells Cory that “the white man ain’t gonna let you get nowhere with that