Foil Characters In Things Fall Apart

Following Nwoye’s departure from Okonkwo’s Mbanta compound to become a Christian, Okonkwo sits in his hut and ponders the state of himself and the state of his son, where he has a temporary reminiscence of an old powerful nickname. Achebe tells us,

In Things Fall Apart, when the missionaries first come to Umuofia, Okonkwo is very adamant in resisting their ways. He refuses to conform to them and holds fast to his traditional beliefs. He believes that Christianity is “womanly” and his own practices

The evangelists are very accepting, as they take in the osu, outcasts from the clan. They offer salvation along with freedom, which Nwoye has been searching for for a long time. However, because of Nwoye’s action, Okonkwo disowns him. Later, when Obierika goes to visit Okonkwo, he finds that “Okonkwo [does] not wish to speak about Nwoye.” Moreover, Okonkwo tells his other children that “if any one of [them] prefers to be a woman, let him follow Nwoye” (Achebe, 172). Okonkwo then asks himself how he could have “begotten a woman for a son” (Achebe, 153). According to Okonkwo, Nwoye has become weak because he has joined another religion. Since Okonkwo believes he is the most masculine man in Umuofia, it is unbearable that his child turned out to be such a failure. This unbearable change in his family creates a ripple effect of events that become worse and worse for Okonkwo.

The Christian church had finally won him over with their answers to questions he had been asking his whole life. All that was left was to cut the ties with his old life, with his father. But his father was the one to make the first move. After learning of his sons visit to the church Okonkwo grabbed him by the throat in a misguided search for a reason why. “Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip” (page 151) Even when he has fully lost his son to the new religion, Okonkwo still tries to use violence to mold his son into what he perceives a man should be, which illustrates the nature of their relationship. It had always been fueled by anger on Okonkwo's part and fear on Nwoye's. It takes people screaming at him to let his son go for Okonkwo to finally give up, but this attack was the last straw and he was finally able to free himself of his father. "But he left hold of Nwoye, who walked away and never returned.” (page 152) Though Okonkwo did not learn from this experience, Nwoye did. He learned that his father's violence and anger could no longer control him, and that there was an escape available, though it was an escape to another culture that he most likely did not fully believe in either but at the very least, this one did not have Okonkwo. "Nwoye did not fully understand. But he was happy to leave his father."(page 152) Okonkwo's goal had always been to make Nwoye 'manlier' as he was afraid of the shame having a feminine son would

Nwoye first begins to undergo changes when the missionaries set up a church.Okonkwo is very against the churches due to his religious beliefs, and would be enraged

Nwoye has an attraction to a new religion and culture. Okonkwo slowly and surely pushes Nwoye away. When the missionaries had arrived it rose curiosity in Nwoye. Nwoye reveals their ways and is attracted to their culture, their

Initially, Nwoye is attracted to the idea of Christianity, but is hesitant to convert for fear that his father will hate him even more. Nwoye does not know why yet, but there is something about this new religion that he likes. “But there was a young lad who had been captivated. His name was Nwoye, Okonkwo's first son.” He, along with many others in the tribe were drawn towards this new religion. The preachings of the missionaries cause Nwoye to start thinking about his situation, and he begins to realize that the Ibo culture is not for him. Although he his drawn to Christianity, he is scared to be seen with the missionaries. He knows that his father is very proud of his culture, and that he will be furious if he sees Nwoye with them. “Although Nwoye had been attracted

Nwoye’s sense of identity was challenged with the introduction of western ideas because, Nwoye wanted to convert to Christianity. “Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day,he kept it a secret. He dared not to go near the missionaries for the fear of his father.” (112) His father, Okonkwo, was already known for his fiery temper, knowingly, Nwoye knew that him wanting to become a Christian would cause a massive conflict between the two.

However in chapter 16 on page forty seven, it was just poetry with a new religion in it to Nwoye something that he felt within him. It opened his eyes realizing that his own father did so many injustice making him hate and lose respect for him. He also appeared to be relieved about the twins crying in the bush and Ikemefuna death after he heard the christians preach. It made him have peace for his own soul. Later on in the novel in the beginning of chapter seventeen when it says “Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, he kept it secret. He dared not to go too near the missionaries for fear of his father,” he was in fear to show others in the village and his father that the western culture had an effect on him. Although Nwoye kept on going to the church secretly, it was not long that his father knew about it. Okonkwo was furious to find out and disowned him by saying that he is no longer a son to him and to leave the village because he is a great disappointed to their society. He left, but was glad to do it in the thought of returning soon for his mother, brothers, and sisters to introduce them to this new faith, christianity.

Nwoye’s resentment of his father stems from multiple issues, but Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity was symbolically his separation from his father. Okonkwo was also the embodiment of their Ibo culture, which Nwoye found morally questionable after the deaths of the twins and Ikemefuna. Ezinma – “‘You have not eaten for two days,’ said his daughter Ezinma when she brought food to him. ‘So you must finish this’” (63). Ezinma and her father, Okonkwo, have a very close relationship.

“A sudden fury rose within him and he felt a strong desire to take up his machete, go to the church and wipe out the entire vile and miscreant gang... Why, he cried in his heart, should he, Okonkwo, of all people, be cursed with such a son?" (Pg. 152). Nwoye had shamed Okonkwo and his family because he accepted Christianity and the foreign missionaries, the very people that Okonkwo wanted gone and out of his life. It made Okonkwo furious because Nwoye’s betrayal was absolutely unspeakable in his mind.

The metaphor exemplifies a comparison between Okonkwo and a flame. The flame wholly serves a symbol of masculinity, which are a furious temper, destruction, and vigor. Okonkwo ponders about why Nwoye became an utter failure, which is an effeminate man. Okonkwo is severely displeased as he dreads the potential of Nwoye portraying similarities with his father, Unoka. Any display of femininity to Okonkwo is a lack of vigor within a man. He yearns for his sons to become blistering flames, exhibiting traits similar to himself. Essentially, Okonkwo embodying a scorching flame is the utmost demonstration of masculinity, which utterly causes him to scorn the possibility of his son becoming a feminine man.

Culture collisions can have many different effects. It can lead to one's ruination or it could can lead one to do great things in the future. In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, The character Nwoye the son of Okonkwo is dramatically changed by the culture collision; the Ibo versus the Western Culture. He goes through a series of events that changed his life and his ways. Ultimately Nwoye's character ends up different then he started before.

He expects his children to be hard workers and earn their title when they’re a grown up. Okonkwo demands a lot of things from his family especially from his son. Nwoye faced a difficult challenge and that challenge was converting to Christianity even though his father doesn’t allow him to do that. Nwoye is Okonkwo’s oldest son who Okonkwo considers effeminate and very much like Nwoye’s grandfather, Unoka. Unoka was a failure, he was known as the guy who doesn’t have any titles and was in debt.

In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the setting is in Umofia, a lower Nigerian Clan and Mbanta, Okonkwo's mom's family. The novel starts with a man, whose name is Okonkwo, a respectable warrior, who dwells in Umofia, with his three spouses and nine kids. Okonkwo is spooked by his dad, Unoka's dishonorable past. Okonkwo wants his child to be an extreme, capable warrior. Hence, this being said causes devastation upon Okonkwo's families, destroying Nwoye and Okonkwo. Then, evangelists visit the nine towns persuading the villagers to trust their religion and relinquish their own particular convictions and conventions. After numerous occasions happen, the novel arrives at a sudden end with catastrophe and vulnerability. The