Okonkwo owes his great success to his unrelenting warrior character, but when his culture begins to fade away and he does not change, it is also his downfall. From the beginning of the story, Okonkwo bases his entire personality…
After reading the novel, Things Fall Apart, you would probably wonder why Okonkwo is such a ruthless person? What drives the character? Iyanla Vanzant once said, “ parents are teachers, guides, leaders, protectors, and providers for their children.” We all know that parents greatly affect their children’s behavior. This is also true of Okonkwo, the way he acts is truly affected by his father. Okonkwo’s characteristic is totally opposite from those of his father, Unoka.…
Okonkwo’s fear drives him to strive for success and honor in his clan; his fear is responsible for his high social status and his title. Okonkwo’s father had left him with absolutely nothing of value; no yams, no wives, not even a compound. He has to work very hard to build up his worth in the village and clan. “Any one who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky. If ever a man deserved his success, that man was Okonkwo.” (34, Achebe). Okonkwo couldn’t deal with just being happy, as Unoka had valued life, he needed the honor and the social status. He needed to wash away the stain that was his father. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond, His fame rested on solid personal…
Throughout Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo's actions take place because he is afraid of becoming "A Woman" like his father. Not only does he act masculine to appear manly to the villagers, he does it to satisfy his own conscious. Okonkwo portrays a short temper in this book. Small things such as his supper being late and remarks about his hunting anger him, and lead to his beating of his wives and his son Nwoya. His desire to appear manly often fogged his judgment. When the time came to kill Ikemefuna, the boy who called him father, he was told by his best friend that he should not take part in this because the boy looked up to him. Okonkwo knew his friend was right. When he, Ikemefuna and other leaders of the tribe went to the woods to carry out the task, Okonkwo did not want the other men to think that he was weak so he cut down his own son. Okonkwo's actions were also motivated by the fear that his whole village would become weak. After returning from his exile in Mbanta, Okonkwo realized that the Christians were taking over. Unlike the rest of his tribe he wanted to go to war with them and drive them out. Soon he realized that during his seven years in exile Umuofia had changed and no longer was feared tribe it used to be. Okonkwo continued to fight the inevitable. His actions were never able to help his village; his worst fear had come true, they had become weak.…
Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was extremely lazy and sickly, while Okonkwo was constantly active and seen with respect throughout the tribe. Unoka had one wife and no title, which showed his lowly importance in the tribe. Unoka was weak and couldn’t support his family, which causes Okonkwo to start working at a young age, so he could take care his family. “Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat.” Okonkwo lived in constant fear of failure. Okonkwo didn’t like showing emotions, unless it was anger. He ruled his household with a heavy hand and with constant threats to his many wives. “His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children.…
Okonkwo, the main character of the book, was born the son of Unoka, who was a loafer. Unoka was too lazy to go out and plant crops on new, fertile land, and preferred to stay at home playing his flute, drinking palm wine, and making merry with the neighbors. Because of this, his father never had enough money, and his family went hungry. He borrowed much money in order to maintain this lifestyle. Okonkwo perceived this as an imbalance toward the female side in his father's character: staying at home and not using one's strength to provide for the family is what the women do. In reaction, Okonkwo completely rejected his father, and therefore the feminine side of himself. He became a star wrestler and warrior in his tribe and began providing for his family at a very young age, while at the same time starting new farms and beginning to amass wealth. He is very successful, and soon becomes one of the leaders of his tribe and has many wives and children. His big ambition is to become one of the powerful elders of the tribe, for what could be more manly than that?…
Okonkwo's father was a man who was not looked up to through out the village. This was because he was a man who was lazy and would not think of the future. On page 3 it is stated, In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of think about tomorrow.' As a result of Unoka's lifestyle, Okonkwo despises a lazy lifestyle. Okonkwo's life is all about hard work and never failing. As it is quoted, He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father' (Page 3). Okonkwo had an obsession with working and never giving up. He would work all day until he made sure all tasks were complete before he would go and rest. Page 11 explains, During the plant season Okonkwo worked daily on his farm from cockcrow until the chickens went to roost.' As it is visible in many sections of this book, Okonkwo has a fear of becoming a failure and this causes him to work as hard as he can. As it is stated above, Okonkwo had no patience with his father, which was due to his fear. Quote: But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.' Okonkwo's fear of becoming like his father was also what drove him to rule his house with a heavy hand.…
Okonkwo’s main characteristics as he is depicted in the first few chapters are he is a well respected warrior and determined individual of the Umuofia clan throughout the nine villages and beyond. Okonkwo is a well respected warrior because when he was eighteen years of age he brought admiration to his village by beating Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling contest. Amalinize was a man whose back never touched the ground. Amalinize was undefeated for a whole seven years. Okonkwo was a tall and huge man who had bushy eyebrows and a wide nose which gave him a very severe look. He had a slight stammer and had no patience with unsuccessful men. Okonkwo’s fears were becoming like his father, Unoka because his father was a failure. The characteristics of his father was his father was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat and people laughed at him because he was a loafer and they swore never to lend him money again because he never paid it back. Unoka was inactive, deprived, wasteful, weak, moderate, and always very fascinated in music and conversation. Okonkwo on the other hand was the total opposite of his father, he just married his third wife, he was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams last but not least he had taken two titles and had shown incredible prowess in two inter-tribal wars.…
In another part of the story, Okonkwo is banished from his fatherland. This incident is the first where he is punished greatly for his actions. It marks a turning point in Okonkwo’s downfall, and therefore the downfall of the traditional culture that he stands for. His hopes and aspirations are almost forgotten while he is away from Umuofia, and he desperately tries to regain his status when he returns. During this period of time, Okonkwo also discovers that his son has converted to his enemy’s ways and beliefs. He abandons his son, and doesn’t want to be his father any longer. This shows that his relationships with family and…
He was masculine, hardworking, reputable, and wealthy. He didn't want to be like his father, a failure. Okonkwo believed his father was a failure because the man was very lazy, disgraceful, and poor. Over the years in his village it was said by the elders, “...if a child washed his hands...and so he ate with the kings.” This quote indirectly characterizes Okonkwo, displaying how he knew what he had to do if he wanted to be a great hero, furthermore developing his character as a young man. Towards the end of the novel one can imagine Okonkwo as a tragic hero because, like other tragic heroes, he has one major flaw. His main flaw develops from his fear of being like father, whom he dispised. He as well can't display his emotions because he doesn't want to look weak or sissyish, and when he does show any emotion, it is an uncontrollable rage. As a result of his flaws, Okonkwo has suffered countless tragedies, which ultimately leads to his ironic death. Okonkwo's tragedy was due to many things that happened in Umuofia, but the main reason was the arrival of the white missionaries, “Does the white man understand our custom about land?” (chpt. 20). Okonkwo says this, due to his…
This all sums up that okonkwo behind all those hardship and setback lays a sympathetic person who care so much about his family. he beats his family and rules with a heavy hand because he cares for his family. And he cares for then enough for them not to turn into his father and a disgrace to his family and a village. He doesn't do all of this because he is a cruel man, he does it because he cares. If he didn't care he might as well have killed his wife and beat his kids till death. Those were my reason an statement to say that okonkwo is a sympathetic man to the village and his…
Okonkwo’s obsession with what others think of him started from an early age, which would drive him to be insecure. Okonkwo’s father is the reason for Okonkwo’s insecurity. His dad being viewed as a nothing would make Okonkwo wants to be viewed as everything his father wasn’t. Okonkwo’s first priority is to maintain his masculinity in front of people, which would lead him to success at first. But, later on he would be so afraid to look weak, that he breaks a lot of tribal rules just to keep his image intact. Okonkwo starts breaking the rules by beating his youngest wife Ojiugo during the week of peace because she left the hut without cooking dinner. He later one does another fatal error that would start leading to his fall down, he kills the boy which called him father although the clan’s leader and the authorities told him not to. Okonkwo loved Ikemfuna but he still killed him because he resembles any feelings with femininity and for him any sign of femininity is being weak.…
Okonkwo is an aggressive warrior that is an important member to the clan and his morals are to be a man, to not act as a female, to be strong, and to protect what is his. An example that supports Okonkwo’s characteristics about manliness and everything else, in the book, Things Fall Apart, it states, “Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards to compare ourselves with the men of Abame.”(pg.175 para.6)…
Initially Okonkwo’s pride serves him well and leads him to become a respected man in Umofia. He uses his pride as a mecanism to avoid showing signs of weakness and maintaining his respected status in Umofia. His personal pride allows him to celebrate his success and seperate himself from the shame of his father: “He had begun even in his father’s lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future. It was slow and painful. But he threw himself into it like one possessed. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death” (18). By examining this quote, it becomes clear that his motivation in life is to never be associated with his father’s failure. It’s almost as if he feels he must carry the weight of both him and his father. His success is a compensation for his father’s failures. His hard work is motivated by his “fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father” (13). As successful man Okonkwo has reason to be proud, however he often gets carried away by his lack of patience and respect for those less fortunate than him and ends up offending others. This causes him to alienate himself from his fellow clansmen. For example during a town meeting a man of no titles contradicts Okonkwo. He retaliates by insulting this man in a very passive agressive way: “This is a meeting for men”…
Okonkwo never understood the concept of going with the flow or adjusting to circumstances. It started in his childhood. His father, Unoka, “had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt” (Achebe 8). He was a poor farmer and a coward in war. The people of Umuofia called him an agbala, which means woman. Okonkwo was immensely ashamed by him, and his life was definitely affected because of him. “Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had. He did not inherit a barn from his father. There was no barn to inherit,” (Achebe 16). In a perfect world, his father would have been a bloodthirsty warrior, with many wives and children, and a number of cowries. Okonkwo was narrow-minded, and this quality backfired in the form of shame and discontent. “He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father,” (Achebe 2). Unoka never had the money to support his family, and this disgraced Okonkwo. Okonkwo was never able to understand his father and his different ways. Since Unoka was his father, he couldn’t say anything to him, but in his heart and mind, he meant nothing to Okonkwo.…