Things Fall Apart Okonkwo uses strength and manliness to show dominance and manipulate people's views. Okonkwo uses his strength to fight, and show dominance over other people in his clan. Secondly, he maintains a constant image of manliness. Therefore, Okonkwo cannot show affection towards his daughters, cannot constantly treat his family with respect, and lastly, cannot associate with feminine men. This constant use of strength and lack of affection brings Okowkno to his demise. America still has many similar issues. Examples include, dominance over other powerful nations, using force to gain wealth or power, and maintaining a constant image of strength, even when it is not acceptable. Firstly, Okonkwo uses strength to display dominance. For example, “Without further …show more content…
For example, “Okonkwo was specially fond of Ezinma. She looked very much like her mother, who was once the village beauty. But his fondness only showed on very rare occasions” (Achebe, Pg. 37). Okonkwo maintained his image and ego. He was hesitant to show affection towards any family members, including his own children. Another example of Okonkwo’s ego is his constant ignorance of his son Nwoye. Nwoye was feminine male, like his grandfather Unoka. Okonkwo couldn’t associate with him because of his masculine ego. Lastly, Okonkwo sacrificed his adopted son Ikemefuna (Achebe, Pg.50.) This action is a prime example of a social acceptance, as the author described this as, “He was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe, Pg.50). Okonkwo maintained his image, and went as far as killing his own son. This action slowly ruined Okonkwo image in the clan, as it was viewed as inhumane, but Okonkwo did not know this. America has similar issues. The U.S. has branded itself as a strong, masculine nation. Therefore, the U.S. must appear strong at all times, whether it is acceptable or
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!”
Patriarchy in this society also seems to cause dehumanization. One instance is seen through Ikemefuna who is given up to Umuofia as a sacrifice for killing one of the women of Umuofia. Ikemefuna was given to Okonkwo without his agreement. However, he became close to Okonkwo and his family and soon even became a role model to Nwoye. Okonkwo began considering him his son and Ikemefuna “could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father” (7.59). Nwoye seems to be becoming more masculine and, “Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna” (7.52). Yet the rules of the tribe are that you must listen to the elders and the spirit. This rule was probably made by the first great tribes and now it
Okonkwo’s fear of unmanliness is kindled by his father, who was a lazy, unaccomplished man. Okonkwo strives to have a high status from a young age and eventually achieves it. He has a large family, many yams and is well known throughout the village for his valor. He
We take a look at his personality and see that he had a warrior complex and machismo. For example in the novel on page 158 paragraph six it says “let us not reason like cowards.” His warrior complex turns everything he does like a battle plan. He wants there to be a fight or else they are not doing it right. Okonkwo’s machismo makes everyone else who is not like him not a man. In the book we see this on page 26 paragraph two “this meeting is for men.” He did not want to listen to the man because he was not well known like him and he did not have as many titles as okonkwo did. Both of these traits aided in the way he responded to the new culture.
First, Okonkwo is a controlling gentlemen. He wants to be nothing like his father, him and his father are very different. During the week of peace Okonkwo beats his wife. He beats his wife up because she was braiding her hair instead of
Okonkwo's first and most prominent flaw is his fear of becoming a failure. It is greatly influenced by his father, but Okonkwo takes his fear to the extreme. Okonkwo's father was a very lazy and carefree man. He had a reputation of being "poor and his wife and children had just barely enough to eat... they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back." (Achebe Page: 5) In Umuofia, a father is supposed to teach the children right and wrong, and in this case, the lessons were not taught, but self-learned. Okonkwo had to rely on his own interpretations of what defined a "good man" and to him that was someone that was the exact opposite of his father. As a result of his own self-taught conclusions, Okonkwo feels that anything resembling his father or anything that his father enjoyed was weak and unnecessary. Because of his fear to be seen as weak, Okonkwo even strikes down a child that calls him father: "(and as the machete came down] Okonkwo looked away. He heard the blow... He heard Ikemefuna cry 'My father, they have killed me!'... Okonkwo draws his machete and cuts him down, he does not want to be thought weak." (Achebe page:61) The fact that he kills the child shows that the way that he thinks is wrong, that reputation is more important than the life of a child. Although it is a shame to be
Okonkwo thinks he is the owner of his household and he shows no mercy to anyone who angers him. “He ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives…lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness.” (Achebe, Chapter 2, p.8). Okonkwo beats his children and wives because of his temper which is influenced by the Igbo society; he puts on a hard exterior because he is afraid of being weak and unsuccessful. At one point, he attempts to kill his second wife with a gun because he thinks she is the cause of a tree’s death. In order to prove his power and strength, without thinking of the consequences, Okonkwo beats his youngest wife during the week of peace - a week when the village celebrates peace and who ever disrupts the peace will be punished by Ala, the earth goddess (Lycos, online). “His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for the fear of a goddess.” (Achebe, Chapter 4, p.21). Okonkwo lives in a male dominant society where men are pressured to be strong and successful; because of these influences, Okonkwo develops an inner
Okonkwo is also incredibly aggressive. He regularly physically abuses his nuclear family and does so to make himself seem more masculine. His violence in order to protect his fragile masculinity goes to the extent that “his wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper.” (2.12) After the missionaries arrive in Umuofia and Okonkwo’s
In Things Fall Apart Okonkwo’s Dad, Unoka, “In his day was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow”. “Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure”, and Okonkwo wanted no part of him, for, “He (Okonkwo) had no patience with his father”. Unoka’s laziness and improvidence had an effect on many others. For example, Okonkwo lived in fear of resembling his father, so he took the extra step to live a very “honorable” life. Furthermore, when trying to live his “honorable” life, Okonkwo would affect the lives of many others. For example Okonkwo was a father, and he had no idea how to be a good father because his father, Unoka, wasn’t a good father. In turn “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand.” His youngest wife and his kids, especially, lived in fear. Okonkwo trying his best to show that he wasn’t weak, like his father, and ended up murdering Ikemefuna, a young boy that was like a son to him and like a brother to his son, Nwoye. Later in
Okonkwo had a lot of flaws. He was stuck on having a good reputation and raising the best family he could. He feared for his children to become like his father and his wives to become lazy. He got mad frequently and took it out on his family if they did anything wrong. But one of his flaws were involved with the killing of his adopted son Ikemefuna. A group of elders had gone with Okonkwo and Ikemefuna to a forest, where one of them swung their machete at the poor boy and destroyed. Ikemefuna ran to Okonkwo for help, but “dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down” (61). The man was afraid of being thought of as weak. Then again, he had always had a tough image around others. Of course, accidents happened quite a lot for Okonkwo because he accidentally killed a higher up in the village during Ezeudu’s funeral and “he could not return to the clan after seven years” (124). He had to start all over with his family and return to his motherland. Life was never fun for Okonkwo. Hard work and strict punishment was basically what he was known for. So when Okonkwo and men from Umuofia went to visit the District Commissioner, they were taken as prisoners and whipped along with being shaven until a certain price was paid. Once they were released and they went home, people in the village were accepting until “nobody else spoke but they noticed the long stripes on Okonkwo’s
“Things Fall Apart” is a good book, however it is one with a slow beginning. The book's introduction is not necessarily interesting until chapter four where he beats his wife during the week of peace. I think there was a certain culture shock that the only thing wrong with this beating was the time he decided to do it. It says “Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating someone half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess.”(21) He beat his wife even though he knew he would later be punished by the goddess. After that incident their culture became so evident and so particular that the story was highly alluring.
Okonkwo has a tragic flaw, dark downfall, but does not recognize his flaw as the cause of his downfall. This conveys the theme that one’s insecurity will lead to their demise, regardless of their intent. First, Okonkwo’s flaw is his insecurity rooted in his need for masculinity. Okonkwo fears the idea that “he should be found to resemble his father” and was a “man of action, a man of war. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood” (13, 10). Given how Okonkwo’s father was a man of no wealth or status, he was seen as feminine. Refusing to resemble his father, Okonkwo becomes a strong, masculine man. Additionally, Okonkwo’s downfall was the result of multiple events that threaten his masculinity. Okonkwo’s first major offense was killing Ikemefuna out of fear of weakness despite being told to “not bear a hand in his death” (57). Additionally, the crime that forced Okonkwo into exile is when his “gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy’s heart” (124). Furthermore, Okonkwo’s need for power causes him to kill a messenger as his “machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body” (204). As a result of his need to appear masculine, Okonkwo makes one foolish decision after another that culminate to his downfall. His refusal to not kill Ikemefuna was done out of fear of seeming weak, his crime that sent him to exile was deemed
Okonkwo's irrationality has lead him to such rash reactions to a changing culture. Okonkwo's personality has caused him to have such a irrational and and rash reaction. He wanted to use violence to get things back to the way they were and and had use violence in hopes to start a war. Strong men were humiliated and one of them was bullied into killing themselves, due to the sense of weakness and the feeling of failure. Experiencing new cultures might be what we need to change our ways, but for some it can be too
Okonkwo was known for his valor in war and his victory against Amalinze the Cat, Okonkwo believed that masculinity can only be shown through his violent action, in order to express his power, he often hit his wives and children, even during the Week of Peace. Nothing seemed to be able to stop him from being violent, because nice or caring personality is considered as weak or feminine. First case was when Ojiugo left without feeding her kid, and such action to Okonkwo was Ojiugo not doing her duty as stated “‘Did she ask you to feed then before she went?’ ‘Yes,’ lied Nwoye’s mother, trying to minimize Ojiugo’s thoughtlessness. Okonkwo knew she was not speaking the truth. He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo’s return. And when she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace” (Achebe 29). The word “beat heavily” implies that Okonkwo did not just beat Ojiugo, instead, it is in the form of domestic violence, the