Ikemefuna Quotes

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

Things Fall Apart is a story about personal beliefs and customs and also a story about conflict. There is struggle between family, culture, and religion of the Ibo people which is all brought on by a difference in personal beliefs and customs. There are the strong opinions of the main character, Okonkwo. We are also introduced to the views of his village, Umuofia. Finally, we see how things fall apart when these beliefs and customs are confronted by those of the white missionaries. Chinua Achebe is a product of both native and European cultures. This has a great effect on the telling of the story. When he tells the story with an understanding and personal experiences in both cultures. He does not portray the African culture and their

In the beginning, Okonkwo feared being like his father, he raised his family and built up his life by his self because he did not want to be like his father. “He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had had no patience with his father.” (pg. 1 TFA) the book said. He wasn’t very fond of his dad; his dad did not own much and had a lot of debt with everyone. Okonkwo did not want to grow up like his father; “In his

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

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.

He wanted to show that he was not like his father in any way. His father was a poor, lazy, man whom he didn't respect at all. Okonkwo gained respect through being a clansman. The clansmen were the law making body of the village, which everyone had obeyed. They enforced rules and laid down punishment.

This scene solidifies the reality that Okonkwo’s fear overrides any other emotions, at least in that moment. However, Ikemefuna causes a bit of conflict within Okonkwo as he is uneasy with the idea of Ikemefuna’s death both before and after it is carried out. It could also be argued that Okonkwo reacted to the new or unusual emotions he felt for Ikemefuna and that he ridded himself of these emotions, as he is uneasy towards change, by killing Ikemefuna. Lastly, it is evident that Okonkwo does feel regret after murdering Ikemefuna, as he does not eat for two days

Things Fall Apart a historical fiction novel written by Chinua Achebe, starts off with the main protagonist Okonkwo, who was one of the most respected people in the Umuofia village, defeating the seven-year wrestling champion. Okonkwo was never really a patient man especially with the ones that show no promise to him, the only emotion that he ever shows is his anger and that does not end well for people who are around him. Since Okonkwo is one of the most fearless people in the village and is the most respected there he believes that there is no one that can mess with him which means that he shows a lot of masculinity and pride in himself, but this could lead to the downfall of his fame. Okonkwo is going to be only reason for why his downfall is coming so soon. This is because he shows too much pride and masculinity in himself which affects him and others around him.

From his childhood on forward Okonkwo hated males that resemble his father, all cowardly and emotional. Chinua Achebe gave us another visual on how Okonkwo despises being weak. This visual is a bit brutal in a way, but it is considered one of the clan’s custom which can’t be denied otherwise you will suffer the consequences. “Dozed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down, he was afraid of being thought weak.” (Pg.61) What can we take out of this quote? The quote tells us that Okonkwo is afraid of being looked down and fragile. Okonkwo is in a way selfish over his reputation, he only thinks about himself and does not sees how it affect the people around him. From this quote Okonkwo was put in the situation where he himself sees people being cowards, he had to kill his own son. He didn't wanted to be like his dad so he tough it out and sadly his own

Okonkwo is not happy with himself and really beats himself up because he wanted to become one of the lords of the clan. Since he committed the “sin” his chance of becoming a lord of the clan are close to nothing now. Things are slowly starting to fall apart for Okonkwo because he feels defeated and now everything he did for himself is getting taken away from him and his family. What caused his downfall was actually the fact that he accidentally killed the son of Ogbuefi Ezeudu. Okonkwo was then sent over to his motherland for 7 years.

To start off, Okonkwo never wanted to show weakness, he hated the thought of being looked at like he is weak. As a matter of fact, Okonkwo's dad Unoka was quite the opposite since he was a coward. This gave Okonkwo motivation to be better than his father ever was. In the book it shows

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 the story of Thing’s Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo, the main protagonist, decides to participate in the killing of his adoptive son, Ikemefuma, who has been sentenced to death by the tribe’s oracle. He does this despite a respected elder warning him against doing so. The elder tells him that ‘“The boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in is death,’” which is saying that killing Ikemefuma would have the same effect as killing his own son (Achebe 57). The elder is correct and Okonkwo begins to feel uneasy and remorseful after the murder. He doesn’t eat or sleep well after the day of the murder and felt very weak. He wishes that “he could find some work to do he would be able to forget [about Ikemefuma]” and act if his murder never

The description given early in the novel clearly establishes his character as being a strong and wealthy man who is well respected among the rest of the tribe due to his superior fighting abilities and his influential personality. Having achieved such elite status within the Umuofia clan, Okonkwo appears to be old-fashioned as it is seen in his approach in raising his family and tribal people. However, Okonkwo’s character changes incrementally with the emergence of a boy, Ikemefuna, from a neighboring village, who was brought to him because of his brutal attack against his wife Ojiugo during the ‘week of peace’. Amongst the Umuofia clan, the ‘week of peace’ is a tribal ritual whose conditions are not to complete any evil sins in a certain week span. After having accepted Ikemefuna into the family, Okonkwo experiences a shift in his mental state. Shortly hereafter, he questions this change, which demonstrates his lack of willingness to change which is clearly demonstrated in the book in several different ways like in chapter Eight, Okonkwo proclaims to himself, “When did you become a shivering old woman, you, who are known in all nine villages for your valour in war” (Achebe 56). This represents that his character has become a weaker, less influential individual amongst the nine tribes where he is well known. Symbolically, this depicts a fragile reputation in Okonkwo’s status within the community to which he belongs.

Okonkwo attempts to work hard, provide for his family materially, be brave, and be masculine in every possible way. But he chooses to use emotions that are extreme, and his fear motivates him to take actions which are often unnecessary and ultimately destructive.