Examples Of Masculinity In Things Fall Apart

Okonkwo’s main characteristics as he is depicted in the first few chapters are he is a well respected warrior and determined individual of the Umuofia clan throughout the nine villages and beyond. Okonkwo is a well

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's fear of being perceived as weak tragically leads to him to be unnecessarily violent and excessively prideful. These two fatal flaws lead to Okonkwo’s own emotional isolation, and his inevitable downfall. Driven by the fear of being seen as weak and emasculated, Okonkwo exhibits hyper masculinity and rage. Although this behavior initially leads to success in the patriarchal society of Umofia, rage is his greatest bane: it masks his compassion and pusillanimity. Onkonkwo’s obsession to never appear feminine is driven to the extreme. He denies affection even to his own family, “never show[ing] any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To [Okonkwo] show[ing] affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.” (pg. 28). Okonkwo whose “whole life [is] dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.” (pg. 13) suppress his compassion in order to appear important and manly. Ironically this creates a stark juxtaposition between his own fear and his position as an alpha male. Rather than being masculine and courageous, Okonkwo just creates tension within his family and within himself. The pinnacle of this extreme hypermasculinity is when Okonkwo ignores the wisdom of the elder Ezeudu, and violently kills his “son” Ikamafuna: “As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete, Okonkwo looked away. He had heard Ikamafuna cry “My father, they have killed me!”

Masculinity has become a vague term, but when people think of the word they think of the qualities generally associated with men. Well so did Ernest Hemingway back in 1962 when he wrote The Sun Also Rises. Ernest Hemingway was an amazing writer and he was one of the people who believed that guys should be masculine and girls should be feminine. His novel The Sun Also rises is a good example of this. In The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway shows us what he thought the definition of masculinity was by having his characters show us the many things that would make you masculine in his eyes, such as being in a war, getting really drunk, and bullfighting. This was his way of showing us through his characters how he believed men and women should

He has a total of ten children where the boys are more valued than the women because they can work in the fields and provide for the families. While the girls are seen as lesser and work in the house. With Okonkwo’s son Nwoye, it is difficult for him to tell whether or not Nwoye is going to grow and be as powerful as Okonkwo is. Nwoye falls short of masculinity which is valued to Okonkwo. One of his daughters though does have the spirit and motivation to take after her father, yet Okonkwo will not teach her because she is not a boy. It is shown that boys are better valued in the community when he states “If Ezinma had been a boy I would have been happier. She has the right spirit” (Achebe 17). Okonkwo and his wives have a multitude of children so that he can keep the family going. Having an abundance of children is a tradition of the tribe so that they can take after the farm and houses while carrying out the family name. Okonkwo wishes to teach his sons about his strength and how to fight for their society, however he does not find the same work ethics throughout his sons.Okonkwo's strength lead him to have power over the Idgo tribe. With many people looking up to him, he sets the standards high for not only his family but the

Okonkwo was a very hard working high status man. He is very strict. In this quote Okonkwo explains how an Umuofia man should answer a call or question, “An Umuofia man does not refuse a call,” he said. “He may refuse to do what he is asked; he does not refuse to be asked” (Achebe 193). This quote explains what an Umuofia man must do when being asked. He is very strict and important because he follows tradition. Okonkwo also liked a boy

1.) Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart centers around an Igbo tribe member named Okonkwo. The novel is divided into three parts, each showing a stage of life of the protagonist. Part one is the rise, and eventual downfall, of Okonkwo. Most of his character is built here; how he carries himself, how he interacts with his family and fellow tribe members, and how his pernicious masculinity is his ultimate downfall. “He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists” (Achebe 4). Okonkwo is quick to jump on people, which leads to his own demise. This section is also used to give background information on the culture before it is tarnished by the white man. Part two is Okonkwo’s banishment, which he

In the village of Umuofia, they believe different gods and spirits, but mostly they believed that the men were the ultimate/stronger gender. In this village, if a man were too soft, lazy, or had sympathy, they were seen as weak and useless to the world. I think that Oknonwo fits his culture perfectly. Okonkwo is a very hard-hearted man that does his best every day to not become his father. His father, Unoka, was seen as a very weak man. His father never worked for what he wanted, he always took the lazy way and expected it to work. He also liked music and showed compassion. All these things were seen as an abomination to their culture. Okonkwo never wanted to be like his father, so at a young age, he became cold and only cared about himself. He became so cold that he even killed Ikemefuna, someone he became fond of

As mentioned before, Okonkwo despises the concept of sharing a similar personality with his father, Unoka. Achebe describes Unoka as a man that lives for entertainment, doesn’t work to support his family, and is “[a] failure” (5). Achebe also claims that due to Unoka’s financial status, his wife and children have “[b]arely enough to eat” (5). As shown, this impacts Okonkwo because he doesn’t want to live his life in an unsuccessful manner the way his father carries out his life. Readers can recognize Okonkwo values power as well as strength which signifies that he does not want to be perceived as a weak leader. As Okonkwo becomes independent and gains intelligence,

In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart,the audience is introduced to the Ibo people of Africa with the goal of better understanding their culture, so that the audience is more likely to accept them and their culture. One important factor in understanding this culture is how they defined femininity and masculinity. Throughout the novel, Chinua Achebe uses characterization, symbolism, and a character foil help demonstrate how Okonkwo and traditional Umuofian culture define masculinity as being strong, showing no emotions, and being superior to women,and femininity as being weak, inferior, and being histrionic.

Okonkwo’s fear of weakness is greatly influenced by his father Unoka. Unoka is a lazy man who did not portray the “manly” figure in which other father embodies. Unoka did not attain any title, nor did he own a yam barn like other men. Unoka is described as “a failure, he was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. People laughed at him because he was a loafer, and never paid back. But Unoka was

Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was viewed as a disappointment and failure: “Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure. He was poor, and his wife and children had barely enough to eat” (5 Achebe). Okonkwo feels deep shame in this perception of his father, and he makes the promise to himself not to repeat his father’s mistakes: “He was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death” (18). This “possessed” feeling Okonkwo harbors leads to him becoming obsessed with the idea of weakness. Okonkwo devotes his life to not being seen as weak; instead, he wants to be seen as a strong, successful man. Okonkwo goes far beyond his father’s legacy and becomes extremely aggressive and savage. His new uncontrollable nature causes him trouble in Umuofia, and he ends up killing his son.

This novel opens by describing Okonkwo as strong, powerful, and successful. These characteristics help to identify what his culture considers to be masculine. He constantly acts out in anger but never with other emotions as he tries to keep up an appearance of masculinity. This trait is due to hatred for his father who he considers to be lazy and to lack ambition. Within the community of Umuofia, the ideal image of masculinity can be defined as having a large farm and housing complex with enough food to feed one’s family, having many respectable titles, and being a successful warrior or strong athlete, therefore, the idea of masculinity impacts Okonkwo’s life in many ways, not only by his father’s influence directly shaping him into the man that he grows to be, but also by consistently manipulating his everyday actions.

Character traits/personality Okonkwo had no patience with unsuccessful man. The has ni patience with his father? This was the belief of their tribe and was unphel. 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.” 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

In Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, gender role is very relevant. Okonkwo portrays an alpha male for whom masculinity is a very important part of his life; he considers being gentle or somewhat humanly as a sign of weakness. During Okonkwo’s time, masculinity was the