Nwoye In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Growing up in a culture where men should be strong warriors, Nwoye didn’t fit in. He preferred to help his mom rather than working in the field to harvest yams. Nwoye’s father, Okonkwo, didn’t appreciate his son’s lack of strength and manliness, and he disciplined Nwoye every time he was being lazy and unhelpful. Through the many beatings and disappointment from his father, Nwoye’s encounters with the Christian church made a positive impact on him by welcoming him into their accepting society.
Okonkwo despised his father for his lack of strength and “was ruled by one passion- to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved.” (Achebe 23) Because of Okonkwo’s fear of weakness, Nwoye grew up in a household where laziness was not tolerated.
Okonkwo blames Nwoye’s weakness on the fact that “…there is too much of his mother in him” (70) and “too much of his grandfather.” (70) Unoka was seen as a failure throughout Umuofia and Okonkwo doesn’t want to be the father of a failure so “…he sought to correct him [Nwoye] by constant nagging and beating.” (23) Although Okonkwo views his actions as helping and disciplining him, Nwoye doesn’t view it like this. Rather than having a caring father, Nwoye lives his life “in perpetual fear of his [Okonkwo’s] fiery temper.” (22) While Nwoye tries to please his father, he is never able to do so and always does things wrong. In exchange for his wrongdoing, Nwoye receives a beating from his father. Okonkwo gives these beatings to make him stronger, but all it does is make Nwoye weaker and more fearful. Growing up with constant abuse, Nwoye has yet to break, but he can’t wait to leave his father.
When Christian missionaries come to his village during his family’s exile, Nwoye was greatly interested in what they were teaching.
As the villagers gathered to listen to the teachings, Okonkwo resorted to violence and wanted to “chase the men out of the village or whip them.” (140) Nwoye, however, was captivated and felt a “relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul.” (141) The missionaries’ preaching’s spoke to Nwoye. He had always grown up in a house that wasn’t nice or welcoming, but the missionaries were different. Nwoye despised his father “and was happy to leave him.” (146) Committing to the missionaries meant escaping his father’s disappointment and abuse. It led him to a new lifestyle where he would be accepted and learn the ways of the white men’s teachings. He learned of a new life where violence wasn’t permitted and he could escape judgment. Okonkwo wasn’t as accepting of Nwoye’s new lifestyle as others as he was “…suddenly overcome with great fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him [Nwoye] by the neck.” (145) Okonkwo’s violent reaction only ensured Nwoye that he was making the right choice by joining the missionaries. The missionaries “joy was very great” (145) and Mr. Kiaga, a Christian missionary, blessed him for leaving his family for the missionary’s sake. Only speaking to the Christian’s for a short amount of time, Nwoye was already receiving better treatment than his father had given him during his 14 years of life. The Christian teachings
taught him that God accepts everyone and does not punish those who do wrong, unlike his father and old religion.
The coming of the missionaries made Nwoye view life in a way he hadn’t before. While he was constantly abused by his father for his lack of manliness, the Christians told him that God accepts everyone no matter who they are. For Nwoye, things didn’t fall apart. Instead they looked up as he took on the name Isaac and created a new life with the missionaries. Without Nwoye in the novel, Okonkwo would have never reached his self-actualization and overcome the fear of his father. Overall, Nwoye had a positive impact as the Christian church came into the villages. He was treated with more respect and found his place in life as he grew older, which is something that he was never able to do under Okonkwo’s watch.