Okonkwo's Relationship With His Father

U.S. politician, Frank A. Clark, once said “A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he [is] meant to be.” In all three of these stories there is a common theme of breaking predestination.This paper will address all the different, but perplexe relationships the main characters have with their fathers, as well as, how the main characters in Things Fall Apart, Fences and Oedipus unsuccessfully attempt to change their intergenerational fates. First, in Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo has a horrible relationship with both his father and his son and works to not develope into his father, the next story is Fences, where the main character Troy has an abominable bond with his father and son even though Troy does make attempts to not
Okonkwo’s own father was negligent in providing for his family, as we see in quotes for example “He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. People laughed at him because he was a loafer, and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back”(Achebe,Things Fall). Unoka borrowed money to succeed in providing the bare minimum for his family and thus triumphed in becoming a underclass in Umuofia's society. Though, on the other hand it might seem that Okonkwo took excellent care of his family, due to not being negligent with his money and being a laborious person, but Okonkwo still had massive flaws namily being physically and verbally abusive to his son. For instance, in this quote the author readily explains the dreadful childhood Nwoye had “at any rate, that was how it looked to his father, and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth”(Achebe,Things Fall). So, though Okonkwo though he was creating a better childhood for his son, in the end he still gave his son a miserable boyhood. The memories of Okonkwo’s youth are so imminent in his mind that even when he receives a second son, who is everything he envisioned, he cannot fully love him. Okonkwo’s father killed his inner spirit, thus he did the same
According to the book, Okonkwo’s greatest fear “was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father”(Achebe,Things Fall). Throughout the book, Okonkwo goes to great lengths to be the opposite of his father, but he ended up dying with no titles, just as his father did. When Unoka died, the book says he “ had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt. Any wonder then that his son Okonkwo was ashamed of him”(Achebe,Things Fall)? Okonkwo being ashamed of his father, goes to show the embarrassment Okonkwo felt, in addition to Okonkwo’s willpower to be different. According to 123helpme.com, “ However, in the end we find that [Okonkwo’s successes] really do him no good because each title is stripped away as he makes one mistake after another....Because of the love that he had for himself, and only himself, there was no room in his heart for him to care about the others in his life and for that reason "things fell apart" (Okonkwo). This goes to show how diligence and perseverance in achieving titles became the center of Okonkwo's life and eventually his downfall. When Okonkwo died though, the titles he had worked for became absolved, because even though he made a strong decision to commit suicide, self-immolation is looked down upon in Umuofia. When Okonkwo died, according to the book, the clansman of his tribe said “It is against our custom,” said one of the men. “It is an