Chinua Achebe 's Things Fall Apart

In the novel, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is a sympathetic character and unsympathetic character in regards to his family relationships with his adopted son, Ikemefuna, his daughter, Ezima, and his father, Unoka, as a result of he appears to genuinely care about his family; but, the pride within himself prevents his expression of such pride and concern openly.

Ekwefi is the second wife of Okonkwo. She was once known as the beauty of the village. Ekwefi loves the sport of wrestling so much that she had left her late husband to marry Okonkwo. Even though she has not had the best experiences in her past, which is full of loss and bitterness. This makes her a strong woman, capable of withstanding much pain and disappointment. Which is a perfect example of how she defies the single story? Sure women in Umuofia are thought to be just used for children, but she does much more than just that. Out of all of Okonkwo’s wives, she is said to be the one to tell him what is up and how he should be changing. For example, Ekwefi is stronger willed Ekwefi has given birth to 10 children and the only one to survive is her single daughter, Ezinma. Being the only to survive Ekwefi is very connected to her. They don’t have a normal mother-daughter relationship like most do. These are reasons why Ekwefi defies the idea of a single story.

African society, influenced by its traditional economy, held strict gender roles, and Ekwefi stayed in the home and focused on traditional female tasks. Although African American society in the twentieth century prized women and elevated females to powerful matriarchal positions in the family, pre-colonial Nigeria in no way tolerated women outside the bounds of the home. Ekwefi lives “in perpetual fear of [Okonkwo’s] fiery temper,” and pours herself into raising her daughter, Ezinma (Achebe 13). Because Okonkwo fails to respect the religious customs and “beat” his wife “very heavily” during the “Week of Peace,” others in clan lose respect for him and his family, and Ekwefi can do very little to change this (Achebe 29) . To deal with her husband’s inadequacies, Ekwefi pours herself into Ezinma and raises her to exhibit strength and bravery. Because Okonkwo and traditional Nigerian society hailed masculinity as supreme and despised femininity, Ekwefi knew that in order to appease Okonkwo’s anger, she must raise her child to exhibit these characteristics, despite her gender. Her strategy proved successful, as “Okonkwo was specially fond of Ezinma,” but only showed his “fondness on very rare occasions” (Achebe 44). Furthermore, Okonkwo repeatedly states that Ezinma “should have been a boy,” (Acehbe 64) because he loves her, but continually

The village beauty was always strong willed and audacious. She was what many other women aspired to be. In fact, even the notorious, masculine Okonkwo wanted her in her youth- but he couldn’t pay her bride price. This woman was so ambitious that she fled her first husband to live with Okonkwo after he beat the infamous Cat. Ekwefi became Okonkwo’s second wife due to her ambition, and this began her journey through life with him. However, when a new culture spread its plague upon the traditions of Umuofia, her life changed dramatically. The village beauty had seemed to lose everything, but the people she lost and things she had to go through seemed to only make her stronger. Because of this, the new culture being introduced to Umuofia impacts Ekwefi in a positive way.

|A lot of this section of the book was focused on Okonkwo and one of his wives, Ekwefi, and their only daughter, Ezinma. There |

Okonkwo’s Uncle, Uchendu, preaches , “ But when a father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother’s hut. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland… And that is why we say mother is supreme.” (134) This is saying that women are loving and sympathetic. Achebe’s diction such as sorrow and bitterness gives a better image of the severity of the problems that women help with. Also, by calling mother’s supreme, the readers learn that mothers are revered for their love and sympathy. This quote shows that feminine characteristics are being loving and sympathetic and masculine characteristics are the opposite. Another feminine characteristic is devotion. The readers see devotion in Things Fall Apart through Ekwefi, Okonkwo’s wife, when Chielo took Ezinma, their daughter. Devotion is shown after Chielo picks up Ezinma and “Chielo began once again to chant greetings to her god… The two voices disappeared into the thick darkness… “Where are you going?” he[Okonkwo] asked. “I am following Chielo,” she[Ekwefi] replied and disappeared in the darkness.” (103) Chielo took Ezinma for some reason and Ekwefi went chasing after Chielo because she is worried what will happen to Ezinma. This shows that Ekwefi is so devoted to her daughter that she is willing to cross

In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo, the hero, a warrior and a group pioneer and should never demonstrate non-abrasiveness or shortcoming. Not at all like his dad who is fainthearted and shocking man, who passed on in disgrace. In the novel, Okonkwo has numerous obligations from being a father, agriculturist, and pioneer. Be that as it may, his reality breaks apart when he needs to slaughter Ikemefuna, a kid he assumes responsibility of when his tribe wins a settlement with another tribe, and when he shoots Ogbuefi Ezeudu's 16-year old child. Which vanishes him from his tribe.

Okonkwo is generally a round character throughout the story. Even though he always tries to maintain the outside indifferent to no matter his neighbours or family members, actually he, as a husband and a father, truly cares for his family. Afraid of being like his father, he breeds his children in his way, and he thinks himself as a good father. When Chielo takes away Ezinma, Ekwefi, Ezinma’s mother, secretly follows Chielo to inspect what she is going to do with her daughter. It was the feeling from mother that she would even die with her.

Ekwefi was Okonkwo's second wife. She was once a village beauty who ran away from her first husband to live with Okonkwo. Ekwefi, the character with the most attitude, was the only one of Okonkwo's wives who dared to challenge or upset him, she had the scars to prove it. Ekwefi was an amazing person, she loved her daughter, was a strong person, and to top it all off was as brave as a lion.

Unlike, Ojiugo and his first wife, Ekwefi stands up to Okonkwo and his attitude showing the readers her admirable strength when confronting Okonkwo. Ojiugo is the youngest out of the two wives. Unlike, Ekwefi she has several children, but despite having several children she tends to become scatterbrained when crossing Okonkwo’s path. Thus, infuriating Okonkwo and causing him to beat her in the Week of Peace. This helps the reader understand how Okonkwo is and how thinks about having complete ownership over his family because of the way he was brought up and the way he has learned to be as a

In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the Igbo’s way of marriage is vaguely defined throughout this universal book. For the Igbo men it is not uncommon to have more than one wife and many mouths to feed. For Igbo women it is normal to not receive a lot of affection, if any at all, from their husbands. Why is this?

According to Achebe, the main character detested his father at a very young age, “Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala.”(28) The Igbo tribe in Things Fall Apart uses the term an “agbala” which is used to describe “woman”. Okonkwo considered his father to be weak, effeminate, poor, disgraceful, and always in debt to his fellow tribes people. Okonkwo’s life revolves around the deep fear of becoming a failure and adopting the image of his father. Due to this self rooted perception of failure there are indications that he tries to rise above his father’s legacy.

Okonkwo’s participation in the slaying of his adopted son, Ikemefuna is a pivotal moment in Things Fall Apart. It is a moment of horror that cannot please Ani, the great earth goddess, the center of community, the ultimate judge of morality for the clan. It is a moment that changes the course of events, a moment eerily paralleled in the death of Ezeudu’s son. It is a moment that ultimately causes Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye’s to abandon his ancestors and become a Christian. It is a moment when the center of community life, the need to honor blood ties and the need to respect the earth goddess, can no longer hold. It is a moment when things fall apart.

Okonkwo treated his son and daughter very differently. The child-father relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye was a distant and strained one while Okonkwo exhibited another type of feeling towards Ezinma which is filled with care and concern. This was due to the fact that Nwoye “was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness” whereas Ezinma was thought to have the “right spirit” and “alone understood [Okonkwo’s] every mood”.

Not only is the theme underlined through Okonkwo’s actions, but also through the other character’s actions. In the text it states,”A strange and sudden weakness descended on Ekwefi…Ezinma’s voice soon faded away and only Chielo was heard moving father and farther in the distance… ‘I am following Chielo,’ she replied and disappeared in the darkness’” (Achebe 101-103). Ekwefi fears of losing her only daughter, Ezinma. Instead of being fearful of Chielo and the gods, she finds the nerve follow Chielo. In this scenario, she doesn’t allow the fear of the gods get to her head, but instead uses the fear of losing her