Chinua Achebe 's ' Things Fall Apart '

Okonkwo life is “dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13). When Okonkwo was a boy, his playmates teased him calling, saying that his father was agbala. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was lazy. He did not work on his farm; he died in great debt. He did not acquire a single title. He did not have a barn to pass down to his son. Unoka is a type of man who is scorned in Umofia. He is seen as weak and effeminate. As Okonkwo grows older, he is determined not become a failure like his father. His father was weak; he will be strong. His father was lazy; he will be hard-working. Okonkwo earned his fame by defeating the reigning wrestling champion. Okonkwo diligently plants yam, building a successful farm. He builds himself an obi, has three wives and many children. His fame “rested on solid personal achievements” (Achebe 3). Okonkwo will not let one womanly trait sully his reputation. Therefore, he “hate[d] everything that his father Unoka had loved” (Achebe 13). One of these was gentleness. Okonkwo refuses to show any signs of emotion, except his temper. He

Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected warrior of the Umuofia clan. Umuofia is one of the nine clans that are connected. The village consists of Igbo people in the African country of Nigeria. His fame became solely from personal achievements. Okonkwo was much unlike his father who was poor, a debtor, and basically a failure to his people. When his father died all, he took with him was debts that were never paid. In the village of Umuofia, a man is judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father. Okonkwo had great things planned for his life and wanted to be the nothing like his father whom he was so ashamed of. He had to start from scratch because his father wasn’t able to leave

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.

Answer: In Chinua Achebe’s novel “Things Fall Apart” Okonkwo is a tragic hero. Aristotle’s Poetics defines a Tragic Hero as a good man of high status who displays a tragic flaw ‘hamartia’ and experiences a dramatic reversal ‘peripeteia’, as well as an intense moment of recognition ‘anagnorisis’. Okonkwo is a leader and hardworking member of the Igbo community of Umuofia whose tragic flaw is his great fear of weakness and failure. Okonkwo’s fall from grace in the Igbo community and eventual suicide, makes Okonkwo a tragic hero by Aristotle’s definition.

He is the greatest wrestler in the land and has four wives and a large land size and farm all of this and no thanks to his father Unoka. Growing up his father was poor and gave him no land and no wife and Okonkwo was forced to start his adult life from scratch. Because of his father Okonkwo fears laziness and everything his father enjoyed. “Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness,[...] a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken to title” (Things Fall Apart 12). If he see a sign of laziness in his children a punishment is followed. Because of his father's laziness it motivates him to succeed. This flaw of the fear of weakness and being like his father is one characteristic that makes him a tragic hero. He is a dedicated to the tradition of the Ibo culture and follows the traditions of his culture(reword this). Okonkwo is also ill-tempered he tends to beat his wife's if they do something wrong, once he threaten to get his gun. This can be seen from a statement in the book “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper” (12). Okonkwo can be described as a tragic

In the beginning, Okonkwo feared being like his father, he raised his family and built up his life by his self because he did not want to be like his father. “He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had had no patience with his father.” (pg. 1 TFA) the book said. He wasn’t very fond of his dad; his dad did not own much and had a lot of debt with everyone. Okonkwo did not want to grow up like his father; “In his

Okonkwo is initially introduced as a proud, hardworking, successful warrior. He is described as "clearly cut out for great things" (6). But he is the son of a ne'er-do-well father; though genial and inoffensive, Unoka must certainly have been considered a failure. He is lazy and does not provide for his family. Not only is this disgraceful, but life-threatening as well. He is dependent on other members of the clan and must have been considered unsuccessful. Okonkwo chafes under such disgrace and his success is a consequence of his desire to be everything his father is not; society's vision of an exemplar citizen. The fact that Okonkwo is able to rise above his poverty and disgraceful paternity illustrates the Igbo's acceptance of individual free will. But Okonkwo's fate and his disharmony with his chi, family and clan are shown to cause his ultimate disgrace and death.

He wanted to show that he was not like his father in any way. His father was a poor, lazy, man whom he didn't respect at all. Okonkwo gained respect through being a clansman. The clansmen were the law making body of the village, which everyone had obeyed. They enforced rules and laid down punishment.

The breakdown of Okonkwo’s relationship with his son is evident throughout this novel. The reason for this tumultuous relationship is, Okonkwo is too engrossed in maintaining his status quo, and his relationship was governed by his own beliefs, principles and his own “right way to do right things”. He treated his family very strictly as he believed that showing affection revealed a sign of social weakness; thus the disheartening lack of respect and love was a mal nourishing factor with in the family.

Okonkwo's thoughts and actions convey his motivation to become nothing like his father. Okonkwo's whole being is to be everything his father wasn't and hate everything hid father loved (Unoka is the name of Okonkwo's father). “Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure”. Okonkwo whom wanted to be nothing like his father despited any man that was a failure and had no titles, he would try to belittle whomever snd kill their spirit. “Without looking at the man Okonkwo had said: “ This meeting is for men.” The man who had contradicted him had no titles. That's was why he had called him a women. Okonkwo knew how to kill a mans spirit.” Okonkwo was nothing like his father, he was a highly respected man. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and

One of the ways that the pressure to be masculine affected Okonkwo was that it made him cruel towards his wives and children. His family was frightened by him and how quickly he would

First, Okonkwo starts off as a poor child, as shown when the book states, “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” showing that Okonkwo and his family were penurious, compared to others in the Igbo tribe (Achebe 16). Eventually, through his hard work and effort, he became a noble leader, which emphasizes his role as a tragic hero. Throughout the story Okonkwo goes through many challenges, but “In the face of futility, however, he maintains his nobility of character”(Gaydosik).

The story first starts out with descriptions of Okonkwo’s father, “… lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow.”(Achebe 3) Okonkwo’s father Unoka was a man who enjoyed the pleasures of life, not so much the work that achieved such pleasure. He was a frequent debtor owing up 1000’s of cowries to various village people, leaving his family constantly impoverished and starving. This caused Okonkwo to mature at a young age. With his father idle and not up to work it was left up to Okonkwo to look after their farm and family. Also during this time when Okonkwo was still a boy he overhead people calling his father an agbala which not only meant woman but also a man with no title. From that moment on he decided to hate everything his father stood for, gentleness and idleness. After his father died Okonkwo became a renowned wrestler and a wealthy farm owner through his never ending determination and hard work.

Comparatively, Okonkwo was the opposite of his father, Unoka. It states, "Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with kings,"(Achebe 6). This quote refers to Okonkwo being well known around the clan. However, his father was very lazy, died in debt to almost everyone in the village of Umuofia, and was known as, "agbala"(Achebe 10), another word for woman or man who has no title. Likewise,

Chapters eighteen and nineteen of the novel, Things Fall Apart (1959) by Chinua Achebe shows how the customs and traditions of the clan are fading, as the church and Christianity grow and become stronger. With his exile coming to an end, Okonkwo is eager to return to his homeland. However, upon his return, he is disappointed in how “womanly” and weak the clan has become, allowing the Christians to take over and ruin the values previously held in place. One of his main concerns is that because of this, his achievements and hard work will not be acknowledged or honored, and wants to use an aggressive method to drive the white men away. Achebe uses irony to reveal how Okonkwo’s desire to restore and maintain tradition has a more selfish motive