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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…
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"Okonkwo's machete descended twice and the man's head lay beside his uniformed body" (146). Okonkwo, the son of the effeminate and lazy Unoka, strives to make his way in a world that seems to value manliness. In so doing, he rejects everything for which he believes his father stood. Unoka was idle, poor, profligate, cowardly, gentle, and interested in music and conversation. Okonkwo consciously adopts opposite ideals and becomes productive, wealthy, thrifty, brave, violent, and adamantly opposed to music and anything else that he perceives to be "soft," such as conversation and emotion. He is gruff, at times, and usually unable to express his feelings, but his emotions and motivations are quite complex. Despite his overall image as a violent brute, Achebe shows Okonkwo as a tender, worried father and a hard worker, who had "cracked [his palm-kernels] himself" (19).…
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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…
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In the book, Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe emphasizes cultural collisions dramatically. Okonkwo, the protagonist, a warrior and a clan leader and must never show softness or weakness. Unlike his father who is cowardly and dishonorable man,who died in shame. In the novel, Okonkwo has many responsibilities from being a father, farmer, and leader. But his world falls apart when he has to kill Ikemefuna, a boy he takes charge of when his tribe wins a settlement with another tribe, and when he shoots Ogbuefi Ezeudu’s 16-year old son. Which vanishes him from his tribe. Over all, Okonkwo tries get back on his feet, but he ends up suiciding and Obierika then says that no one can move or touch his body because it is a grave sin; thus, according to custom. Then a district commissioner finds Okonkwo’s story to be interesting and makes a story of it and calls it The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the…
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Okonkwo has grown up hating his father due to his laziness which caused his family to starve and go deep into debt. From boyhood, Okonkwo would grow yams to support his mother and sisters which begun his success. Okonkwo feared laziness and cowardice holding himself to high standards and giving him a great work ethic which all the leaders of the clan saw. Because he showed that he was not afraid of hard work after his father’s death he was able to borrow seed yams from Nwakibie to start his own farm at eighteen; most boys inherited farms from their fathers.…
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Fate is a powerful word, with different meanings to most individuals. To some, fate is a superstition. But to others, fate is a strong belief by which they live their life. For those who believe in fate, it can destroy the plans of even the strongest and most determined people. Which is what happened to Okonkwo in, “Things Fall Apart”. Okonkwo worked all his life to be everything his father was not, but his fate was inevitable and his inner weakness was revealed. His family was a main point of weakness for him but he tried not to let it show. Also, when his life became difficult, he took his own life proving how weak he truly was.…
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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…
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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…
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The novel "Things fall apart" by Chinua Achebe describes the social and cultural traits of a culture based on the principles of labor and masculinity, conformity and kinship and finally on solid juridical system.…
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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.…
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To illustrate, he develops a fear of cultural change caused by his fear of losing his high status. Okonkwo opposes the orders of the church because he feels that not being in control will weaken his masculinity and wonders why his fellow Umuofians do not use violence to get rid of the church and oppressive government. Another key indicator of his fear of judgment is the fact that he never openly shows any type of emotion unless it is anger. According to the Igbo culture, “To show affection was a sign of weakness”(28). In Okonkwo’s mind, being seen as weak is not an option.…
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He was a protagonist who didn’t want to be like his father ( The stereotypical drunk father), but in the end he kind of ended up just like him, “The depressed, miserable father who could not support his family”. “Despite all of Okonkwo’s showy manliness, he is ruled by fear – a profound fear of being deemed weak and feminine, like his father. Essentially, Okonkwo fears nothing but himself. ”(Achebe). “To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.…
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“He was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death.” In chapter 3, we learnt that Okonkwo was shameful of his father, and he looks down on him. His hatred for Unoka drove him to be successful, and capable. He did not want to resemble his father in any way, thus, he worked hard, to achieve success in every other way.…
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Okonkwo as described in the novel is in constant fear to be anything like his father, he hated everything that reminded it of Unoka, and he is in a never ending battle against failure, weakness and fear. This made him commit mistakes and get into trouble, as he once offended the Igbo community, got exiled for killing a kid by mistake for seven years, and he deliberately killed Ikemefuna following the Oracle’s orders and refusing the advice of letting someone else do it, some say he did it for he wanted to hold no grudge against that person, some say it’s another try of him to prove he is not weak nor afraid. Another important incident related to the British coloniser that brought Christianity to their community, Okonkwo could not tolerate this, and…
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Since Okonkwo was young, he always was scared that he was going to turn into a failure like his father, Unoka. In the village, Unoka is known to not be able to take care of his family and falling into debt. Unoka’s bad reputation drives Okonkwo’s to fear being a bad father and being a disgrace to his family. “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. … Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.(pg. 13)” In this quote the phrase “Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father” stick out because they show that Okonkwo is truly afraid of himself and of what he is capable. Okonkwo grew up watching his father fail and bring nothing but shame upon his family. By watching his father fail it motivates Okonkwo to fear himself, and to make sure that he becomes a responsible, respectable man.…
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