Okonkwo And His Father

The bond between parent and child has a tremendous impact as it molds people into who they are today.In the book, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe emphasises the impact a parent has on their child in the story of a prideful man, Okonkwo, and his fear of both his older and younger generations. Achebe shows the contrast of the three generations of Okonkwo’s family by showing the influence each father has on their child.
The laziness and lack of manliness his father had caused Okonkwo to fear being thought of as weak. When Okonkwo was younger his father, Unoka, was a “failure,” as a man he always borrowed money and ended up drowning in debt (5). For this reason Okonkwo is ashamed of him and aspires to be the exact opposite of him. He fears being seen as weak because he does not want to be compared to his father. When Unoka died “ he had taken no title,” which is looked down upon in Umuofia (8). Therefore because of his fathers lack of barns, wives, and titles Okonkwo had to start from nothing and began working at a very young age. This is the reason he had the strive to become one of the greatest and most respected men in the tribe because he did not want to resemble any part of his father. The influence Unoka’s actions had on Okonkwo caused him to end
up as the exact opposite of him.
Because Okonkwo has issues with his father, he tries his best to make sure Nwoye grows to be a strong and respected man with many titles. When planting yams Okonkwo threatens to “ break his jaw” if Nwoye messes up again(32). This makes Nwoye fear his father and his harsh punishments. Since Okonkwo rules Nwoye out of fear they do not have a strong father son relationship making Nwoye feel distant from Okonkwo. Nwoye does not like listening to the masculine and violent stories Okonkwo tells him he prefers the stories his “ mother used to tell,” because of this Okonkwo believes he is womanly(53). The reason Nwoye likes womanly things and stories is because he is closer to his mother and spent a lot of time with her when he was growing up. He feels more safe and secure with her than with Okonkwo because Nwoye fears Okonkwo and doesn’t want to upset him. Therefore because of their distant relationship Nwoye did not end up as Okonkwo wanted him to.
Unoka and Okonkwo are polar opposites while Nwoye ended up being the mix between the two of them.
Nwoye is not nearly as lazy as Unoka although Okonkwo thinks so, Okonkwo feels “cursed,” to have a son like Nwoye who resembles his grandfather Unoka(152).Nwoye is not exactly like Unoka Okonkwo just thinks this because he does not want his son to resemble his father at all. Although Okonkwo thinks he’s just like Unoka, Nwoye did inherit a few aspects of his father he “grumbled aloud about women,” and he learned how to farm yams from his father(53). Throughout the generations Nwoye ended up being a balance between his father and grandfather but he never fit in his culture because of this and was never praised by
Okonkwo.
The three generations of Okonkwo’s family all shaped each other if they had not been raised the way they were or had those influences they could have ended up completely different. In today’s society parents still have a huge influence on their child. If the parent is not a good role model or does not spend time with their child they could end up influencing them in a bad way. This is why parents need to focus on being a good role model and spending plenty of time with their children to influence them in good ways so they grow up to be good people.