Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Throughout the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is affected by colonialization which caused a dramatic change that affected his cultural sense and identity. This can be seen through the desertion of his family and being exiled from his own tribe from the overload of new traditions that are being forced upon him and his tribe by the white man. To begin with Okonkwo reacted harshly to the sudden shift in colonization and culture. Such as his murder of his friend, which caused an upset to Nwoye; Okonkwo did this to prove his strength to his tribe. Due to Okonkwo’s choices he was exiled from his tribe to Mbanta proving Nwoye right calling his father womanish and spineless.

The protagonist, Okonkwo demonstrates his sympathetic character solely to himself, personally, and infrequently not in the eyes of others. During the plotting of Ilemefuna’s death, Okonkwo was hesitant to make the boy aware of his fate and also hesitant to take part in his death. “‘I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy,’ he

In the beginning of the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, we are introduced to Okonkwo, the protagonist of the story. Throughout the world there are many novels where the protagonist is a hero, the person who fixes the problem. Okonkwo, however, is not this type of character. He is not perfect and does not fix the problem, he gets angry at it. Many people believe he is an overall good man. On the other hand I believe Okonkwo is deeply flawed because of his anger and abuse to his family.

The character of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was driven by fear, a fear of change and losing his self-worth. He needed the village of Umuofia, his home, to remain untouched by time and progress because its system and structure were the measures by which he assigned worth and meaning in his own life. Okonkwo required this external order because of his childhood and a strained relationship with his father, which was also the root of his fears and subsequent drive for success. When the structure of Umuofia changed, as happens in society, Okonkwo was unable to adapt his methods of self-evaluation and ways of functioning in the world; the life he was determined to live could not survive a new environment and collapsed around

In Things Fall Apart, Ezinma regularly attempts to take on male roles and male-associated tasks. Ezinma asks Okonkwo, “Can I bring a chair for you?” and Okonkwo responds with, “No, thats a boy’s job.” (44). Even though Okonkwo strictly holds to tradition, he seems to accept and even sometimes support Ezinma and her masculine endeavours. Okonkwo asked Ezinma to, “Go and bring me some cold water.” (64) and she doesn't hesitate. She

Who are you? Have you ever wondered where you get your identity; what exactly defines you as a person? The obstacles in our lives shape us people, Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart illustrates the circumstances one man and his son face in an Ibo village in Nigeria. Okonkwo, the protagonist/antagonist has a tragic flaw, the fear of weakness which ultimately causes him to expect more from his son, Nwoye who never falls short in disappointing him. The relationship between the two is not the most desired seeing that they both do not show the affection most father-son relationships do. Traditionally, most sons follow their father's footsteps, however, this is not the case for both

In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart the protagonist, Okonkwo is a broken man, caught in emotional paranoia. Throughout the book he tends to see certain things from a cynical point of view, and ultimately is blinded by constant moral conflict. Acting on his reflexes, he find himself in many situations in which he believes something that the majority of the culture does not. He sees everything from an angle that is secluded from almost everyone, yet he does not seem to realize that. Okonkwo acts off of his raw emotion, which is greatly seen in the later chapters. He is not helping or saving the culture from the white colonizers, and he in fact is only fueling the fire of division between the two parties. He never accomplished anything to ‘save’

Okonkwo abides by the rules of masculinity long after it suits his life. Okonkwo thought women we inferior to men. During the Week of Peace, Ojiugo lied to her husband; in the novel it states, “And when she returned he beat her very heavily” (Achebe 29). Okonkwo’s anger took over him. His vision of himself was so great that he thought he could beat his own wife, even during the Week of Peace. Okonkwo’s favorite child would be Ezinma, but she cannot be as great as he would want her to be because she is a female. Okonkwo openly said, “She should have been a boy” (Achebe 64). Okonkwo thinks that his daughter is great, but because she is not a boy he can not admire her. He thinks she would have been better a boy because, in his mind, he thinks men are greater beings than women. Okonkwo cannot wait for his son Nwoye to grow up and be as great of a man as he was. The novel states, “He wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough young man capable of ruling his father’s household when he was dead and gone to join the ancestor” (Achebe 53). Even though Okonkwo likes Ezinma, he thinks Nwoye will keep his legacy going after he is dead. Ironically, Nwoye leaves his father’s side and joins the missionaries, while Ezinma stood by Okonkwo’s side. The reasoning for Okonkwo’s exile was due to Okonkwo shooting a young boy

What effects can fear have on a person? And how can these effects influence that person? Fear is defined in the Oxford dictionary as ‘an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm’. The tragic novel “Things Fall Apart”, written by the renowned Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe, is an incredibly influential text. The novel is also an example of how fear can be utilised as an approach to characterisation. Achebe composed his novel in a manner, which portrays a complex and dynamic community to represent Nigerian cultures to a western audience. Achebe was able to attain this through the Ibo communities and the main character Okonkwo. In the beginning of the novel, Okonkwo is represented as a man of pride, success, and hard

People change, places change, and things sometimes fall apart. Okonkwo, from Things fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, is one of those people. Okonkwo can’t handle the fact that his clan from the Igbo society are changing in ways he is not used too. In Chinua Achebe’s Thing Fall Apart, Okonkwo’s uncompromising pride to his culture and his fear of femininity adds to the theme that there

Throughout Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, it is made very apparent how much the main character, Okonkwo, values manliness. Despite the fact that Okonkwo lived quite a few centuries ago, his story still shares some similarities with the way men today are pressured to be masculine. Okonkwo’s desire to be masculine affects him by causing him to be violent towards his family, view women as lesser than him, and produce a view that men shouldn’t have emotions. In the end, this desire causes his downfall, eventually causing him to take his own life.

Women played a large roll in things fall apart. His daughter, Ezinma, his second wife, Ekwefi, and his first wife all have played a lard role in Okonkwo’s life in different ways. Though he does love all of the women in his life, he loved them all in different ways. Between Ezinma, Ekwefi, his first wife, and others, you can observe the differences in respect that he gives to different women.

In the novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe demonstrates how the integration of two different cultures can result in the destruction of one entirely. The story is centered around Umuofia, one of the 9 Ibo villages in Nigeria, Africa. It is a confined, well-structured society that is commonly viewed as a Utopia, or an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. It is a tight-knit community with little to no conflict. All inhabitants share the same cultural beliefs, the village has a well-developed justice system to keep things in order, and they even have traditions that bring them all closer together. However, it doesn't take too long for things to completely fall apart. Sooner rather than later, the village

Okonkwo, as presented by Chinua Achebe in the novel Things Fall Apart, wished to be revered by all as a man of great wealth, power and control--the antithesis of his father. Okonkwo was driven by the need to exhibit utmost control over himself and others; he was an obsessive and insecure man.

Okonkwo victimizes his family due to his sexism. Okonkwo’s actions and thoughts signifies his idea that men and women are not equal. Throughout the plot he berates his daughter, Ezinma, concerning her gender. Since she is not the son he wishes for he continually abuses her into acting more feminine. When Okonkwo summons Ezinma to his hut and as she sits down “‘Sit like a woman!’ Okonkwo [shouts] at her,” (Achebe 44). Okonkwo forces Ezinma to cook and care for him and usually shows no affection towards her. Okonkwo’s victimization causes Ezinma to feel unwanted and unable to make Okonkwo happy. Yelling to Ezinma and trying to teach her what he wants from her conflicts what she hears her father tell Nwoye. Okonkwo tells Nwoye to become stronger and focus on