Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe Contemporary Classics Study Questions PART I Chapter 1 1. Describe Okonkwo’s position in the clan and his personality. Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected warrior of the Umuofia clan, a lower Nigerian tribe that is part of a consortium of nine connected villages, including Okonkwo’s village, Iguedo. In his youth, he brought honor to his village by beating Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling contest. Until his match with Okonkwo, the Cat had been undefeated for seven years. 2. Describe Okonkwo’s father. His father is named Unoka. Okonkwo is completely unlike his now deceased father, Unoka, who feared the sight of blood and was a debtor, always borrowing and losing money, which meant that his wife and children often went hungry. Unoka was, however, a skilled flute player and had a gift for, and love of, language. By the standards of the clan, Unoka was a coward and a spendthrift. He never took a title in his life, he borrowed money from his clansmen, and he rarely repaid his debts. He never became a warrior because he feared the sight of blood. Moreover, he died of an abominable illness. On the positive side, Unoka appears to have been a talented musician and gentle, if idle. He may well have been a dreamer, ill-suited to the chauvinistic culture into which he was born. The novel opens ten years after his death. Chapter 2 3. What does Okonkwo think when he hears the gong? He wonders what was amiss, and he sensed in the crier’s voice that it may be a
Okonkwo also tries to show himself as an unsympathetic character to show that he is not a weak man, like his father, Unoka. (Being a weak man is a very degrading quality for the culture of Umofia.) An example of Okonkwo’s unsympathetic personality is Ikemefuna’s death. Although Okonkwo treasured the presence of the adopted buy, Ikemefuna, Okonkwo contributes the last and fatal blow to Ikemefuna, causing him to die in the Evil Forest. Okonkwo, regardless of his love for the boy, killed Ikemefuna ultimately to prove his manliness and strength to the tribe, a valued aspect of the culture. “Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body.” (Achebe 146) Okonkwo is also very unsympathetic in regards to his father, Unoka. Unoka was a poor man who was always in debt; he had an interest in music and enjoyed talking.
8. “And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion- to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved.”
Land. His eventual downfall was because of his stubbornness and excessive pride. He would not
Okonkwo continually rejected the ways of his father, who was deeply indebted to other members of Umuofia, holding no titles, to the point where Okonkwo’s “whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (16). He transferred his fears into the context of Umuofia and the traits that society valued, but what was really the driving force in his decisions “was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father” (17). The values of Umuofia resembled the polar opposite of what Unoka was and Okonkwo twisted his motivations around in his mind and presented them to himself and the community as derived from Umuofia’s traditions. From this delusion, Okonkwo established his ultimate goal of becoming a revered member of the village, possessing many titles, and achieving anything necessary displaying his prominence in the community.
Unoka, for that was his father's name, had died ten years ago. In his day he was lazy and improvident, and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow. (Achebe,4).
Unoka is Okonkwo’s father, he is a very lazy man and has amassed many debts. Okonkwo is very ashamed of Unoka and seems to hate him very much. Achebe states
what he perceived to be his father’s moral shortcomings, the hypocrisy of his parents’ lifestyle,
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 was very well known thruoghtout nine villages and even beyond that. As a young man of the eighteenth centurry he bought geat honor to his village. This was a very surprising thing to do when you are young at that time .He defies this very well at the begining of the novel ‘’ hard work pays off’’.He does this by beating Amalinze the cat. Amalinze the cat was a great wrestler for seven years being undeafeated from umuofia to Mbaino .’’A young man of the eighteenth century bought great honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat who was a great wrestler for seven years from Umuofia to Mbiano’’(Things fall Aaprt pg 2).This is a very good quote to be edvidence of my theme I picked ‘’hard wor pays off’’. However hard work pays off does not mean anything as it progresses towards the end of the novel. However hard work comes in very well when the novel talks about Okoye and Unoka. Unoka is a very hard working man and tries to feed his wife and children by any means neccessary even when it comes down to borrowing money. Thing about him is that he has a very bad issue with paying people back their money on time.But in the novel people should undeerstand and respect what he is doing to feed his family.’’Unoka was of course a debtor and he owed every neighbor soe money from a few cowries to substantial amounts ( Things fall Apart pg 3).Unoka son definetly shows how hard work pays off.’’He was still young but still had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages’’.He was wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams and just married his third wife(pg6)This tells you he was a great man trying to make something out of himself and not trying to be like his father borrowing many from people and making a name for
Okonkwo the son of the useless and unimportant father Unoka strives to become rich and successful in the Ibo, unlike his father who was simple, poor and always was in debt from all of the people around. Okonkwo tries to
In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, there are several significant differences between Okonkwo and his father Unoka. Amid Okonkwo’s journey throughout life, Okonkwo does everything in his power to set himself apart from his father. One of the most important things to Okonkwo is that he works hard to earn what he has. He has a plentiful farm, three impeccable wives, and several children to his name. While Okonkwo built his success from the ground up, his father did the opposite. Unoka did not slave away to provide for his family in the manner that Okonkwo did. He instead was lazy, and never knew a day of hard work in his life. Okonkwo also did not like borrowing money from any tribe members. He considered it a weakness that a man must borrow
Okonkwo, as seen in Chapter One on pages 3 to 8, was a man born into the unlucky fate of having a father like Unoka. Unoka was a lazy and incompetent man who died an
This most fearsome warrior has proven himself from the youngest age as worthy of honor and respect. He is driven by his father's legacy of shame and has no use for unsuccessful men. But as he projects his image of strength, we
And although for the people have read this very well know they are very different but at the same time share some similarities. Some of which are they both provided for their families in whatever way they could. This can be seen in the quotes “ but Unoka was such a man that he always succeeded in borrowing more and piling up his debts.” (5/2). Also the quote “ And what made it worse in Okwonkwo’s case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest.”(22/3). This textual evidence goes to show how they both worked in their own way however they could to provide for their family. But in contrary they differ in the sense that Okwonkwo is sucessful and Unoka is not. This can be proven with the quotes “ Unoka the grown up, was a failure.” (5/2). And the quote “He was talking about Okwonkwo, who had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of the
Okonkwo adopt a put of ideals that are entirely opposite to those of Unoka in an try to discriminate himself from his sire’s undesirable legacy. Umuofia does not judge an special on his or her forefathers; rather, discernment is base on the actions of the individual. Umuofia’s leniency concede Okonkwo to follow a reform energy, and he in the end effect his goal: “Although Okonkwo was still inexperienced, he was already one of the top man of his period. Age was regard among his kindred, but accomplishment was venerate. As the elders before-mentioned, if a brat washed his work force he could board with kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his custody so he ate with kings and elders” (pg.8). Through perseverance and limit, Okonkwo is efficient to enact himself as one of the “top man of his season.” His character differs fully from that of Unoka; Unoka was recreant, lazy and of insignificant frame. In foil, Okonkwo was the top wrestler in all nine villages, constant in his product ethic, and deference throughout the commonness. Okonkwo is said to have “washed his men” suggestive of the event that he has dissociated himself from the bad name of his sire and has befit a revered member of Umuofia. The endeavor that Okonkwo faces can be categorized as an superficial one, in that it is largely societal affliction which incite Okonkwo.Adichie modify the underlying sense for contention accomplished in