Examples Of Oppression In 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

First, he does not want to be like his father, Unoka because he was peaceful and effeminate according to the Ibo culture. This causes his anger and short temper. “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.” (p. 28)

In Okonkwo’s early years he was disadvantages compared to other boys in his village. His father was a lethargic man who held no titles. He died of an evil disease and was henceforth an abomination in the eyes of the village. Okonkwo was scared by this as a child, Achebe writes “he was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death” (Achebe 18). The reader will see later that this creates a quandary for Okonkwo.

Every action Okonkwo carries out is “dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13). This fear stems from his hatred towards every one of his father's attributes. Thus, his character depends so much on comparing himself to someone else's identity, that Okonkwo cannot verily become aware of his own inner qualities. Speaking to Okonkwo, Unoka, his father, says “‘a proud heart can

This is an example of the difference in personal beliefs among family. Some may say that the book is about the differences in beliefs between the Africans and the colonizers, but it is more than that. It is clear that it was Okonkwo's personal beliefs and not necessarily the views of the people of Umuofia which guided him in what he did. One of these is his reliance in the strength of anger. Although he felt strongly in the beliefs and customs of the Ibo people, there are several occasions in which Okonkwo made a decision to disobey the customs in order to live out his own personal beliefs. For example, in chapter four, Okonkwo is yelled at by Ezeani, the priest of the earth goddess, for beating his wife during the sacred week of peace. Okonkwo did not feel remorse for his actions and probably thought of it as a sign of strength and manhood. Okonkwo was always worried about being seen as weak. One good

“Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure” (Achebe 4). As Okonkwo grows up, he realized his biggest fear and fatal flaw is the fact that he desperately did not want to end up like his father, disrespected and very emotional. Therefore, Okonkwo fears weakness and open shows of emotions, so he contains himself and only shows anger, as he associates it with manliness. He is so scared of becoming his father and changing his ways that he resorts to beating people to show his dominance. “And when she returned he beat her very heavily” (Achebe 19). In this quote, Okonkwo beats his youngest wife, Ojiugo, for not returning soon enough to cook the afternoon meal. Since he decided to act without thought, he beat his wife in the Week of Peace, where no one is to be harmed. This causes a great unrest between Okonkwo and his chi, or his inner spirit, and gradually leads to his downfall of luck and

In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo’s shame for his father, Unoka, motivates him to be everything his father wasn’t. As a result, Okonkwo hides behind masculinity and conceals his emotions, in hope of escaping weakness. Stubborn and impulsive, Okonkwo makes rash decisions to uphold his reputation, which affects his tribe and his family. Okonkwo’s constant fear of resembling his father takes over his ability compromise and causes him to suffer from depression, the “loss” of his son, the loss of

For all of his desire to be strong, Okonkwo is caught up by the constant fear of being perceived as weak. He is afraid of failure and afraid of being considered weak. This fear drives him to do whatever he can to not become a failure like his father which ironically contributes to his death. While Okonkwo was a strong and important figure in his tribe, he had to keep his reputation that way by making some hard decisions. One of them was when he had to kill Ikemefuna, a young boy from the neighboring tribe. Okonkwo started accepting the decision to kill Ikemefuna because he started to call Okonkwo father. He had to keep his own valor intact and kill the boy to prevent himself from showing any weakness, but deep down, Okonkwo was really upset because of what he did which was ironic, “’When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'" (Achebe 65). He continued to roll downhill when the white man comes to try and convert Okonkwo’s tribe. Okonkwo responds by killing one of the messengers that were sent. This cause Okonkwo's own tribe to question his actions. “"Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape.

Throughout the book Chinua Achebe illustrates Okonkwo’s relationship with his father, Unoka, to be a negative, tenuous, and non-existent. At the beginning of the novel the reader can already start to tell the opposition of the two characters when Achebe introduces them. Unoka is portrayed to be, “tall but very thin and [have] a slight stoop. He [wears] a haggard and mournful look except when he was drinking or playing on his flute” (3). Unlike his drunken and lazy father, Okonkwo, “was tall and huge, and his bushy eyebrows and nose gave him a very severe look” (1). Okonkwo was fierce and strong while on the other hand is father was lazy, weak, and feminine. The reader can tell that Unoka and Okonkwo were extremely different which plays a

The fear of blood that Unoka had is what separated him from Okonkwo because of this Okonkwo made sure he would bathe in the blood of his enemies, rather than avoid conflicts like his father. This statement can be further strengthened when Okonkwo collected heads. Okonkwo stormed into battle for his tribe and decapitated his enemies. These heads showed that he was a warrior and not the woman his father was. The killing of Ikemefuna further displayed how ruthless Okonkwo was.

He has always wanted to look total opposite of his father, who was a weaker, more peaceful type of man. Okonkwo tries to steer away from this style of life as much as he can, and is afraid to live like his father, because his father wasn't a strong warrior like him. The first piece of evidence I have that shows how fear really does control this whole novel is on page 13. This quote literally says what my point is. " Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man.

Okonkwo had a fear of being weak; he abused his family as a coward. Okonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his youngest wife, who went to plait her hair at a friend’s house and did not return early enough to make the afternoon meal (Achebe 29). Okonkwo's fear of being weak, drove him to beating his youngest wife. He beats her for negligence, and shamefully breaking the week of peace. Okonkwo’s second wife, Ekwefi, was preparing food and cut some leaves off of a banana tree.

He reveals the root of Okonkwo’s fear directly as Achebe states, “It was fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father,” which gives insight into not only Okonkwo’s childhood, but also his aggression as an adult (Achebe 13). Out of concern of becoming a failure like his emotional and weak father, Okonkwo exemplifies the ideal stoic and masculine Ibo man. A manifestation of this constant anxiety provided by the author is when Ikemfuma is sentenced to death and Okonkwo “was afraid of being thought weak,” so he killed the boy he loved like a son (Achebe 61). This is significant because Achebe is

Achebe introduces Okonkwo as a strong and humbled leader of the Igbo clan, but his own power destroys him. In the novel, “Okonkwo was well-known throughout the nine villages and even beyond” (Achebe 1) and his popularity increases his fear of being viewed as weak, which is one of his tragic flaws that drives him to his own downfall. Achebe adds that Okonkwo’s “fame rested on solid personal achievements”(3) and he had no help from a parent figure to get a start in his road to fame, this leads to the start of his hate against his dad. Finally,

Throughout history, specifically African heritage, wife beating and other forms of abuse are acceptable. Power and strength are pillars of African culture and can not be jeopardized by women and femininity. Many of the men in Umuofia, the main setting of Things Fall Apart, look up to Okonkwo and his actions. In order to demonstrate his strength (or lack thereof), he continually berates his wives. Along with his wives, he also abuses his children hoping that someday they will be as successful as him. Throughout Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo victimizes his family.