List Of Major Characters In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

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 big thing that Achebe utilizes is the use of major themes."Nwoye did not fully understand. But he was happy to leave his father." (Page 152) Nwoye decides that leaving his father is him growing up and finally having his life. In his eyes, he has become a man and he finally is free of his demanding, terrorizing father. "Okonkwo was very lucky in his daughters. He never stopped regreting that Ezinma was a girl." Throughout the book, Okonkwo makes sure the line between men and women is clear. He, like the rest in his culture believe that a woman is nothing compared to the males. There is a lot of gender inequality in the text. Even though he is proud of his daughter he would never dream of treating her as an equal or he would never leave her anything as he would with the his male sons. It's sad to hear that regretted his daughter.

This novel is the definitive tragic model about the dissolution of the African Ibo culture by Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo, a great and heroic leader, is doomed by his inflexibility and hubris. He is driven by fear of failure.

For Nwoye, after Ikemefuna's murder Nwoye seems to have finally given up on his father and loses reverence towards him. When Nwoye was at the stage of confusion he experiences an epiphany after being drawn to the new religion that made him “feel a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul” following his exposure to Christianity (147). This was an escape for Nwoye to finally find meaning in his life and ultimately make the decision to start a new life and leave the past behind. Compared to Nwoye, after Okonkwo’s time of crisis, he is faced with a transformed village and culture seeing that at the time of Okonkwo’s life many things were changing. This causes Okonkwo to experience denial and “mourn for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart” (183). Drowned with memories of the past, Okonkwo misses the time at which he knew and was comfortable with. Ultimately, Okonkwo chooses to end his own life in fear that no longer exists in his clan and feels he is no match against the white men, as compared to Nwoye who chooses to live life

Furthermore, Okonkwo’s fear of being weak and resembling his father, forces him to act without compassion, and he suffers the “loss” of his son, Nwoye. Like Unoka, Nwoye is effeminate and sensitive. After Ikemefuna dies, Nwoye notices that he feels the same as when he saw twin babies left to die in the Evil Forest, “Then something had given way inside him [Nwoye]” (62). Nwoye is an innocent child who is baffled by the cruel rituals of his clan. He loses respect for Okonkwo and the traditions of his clan. He is unable to forgive his father for killing his adopted brother and unable to forgive his clan for allowing Okonkwo to do so. When the missionaries come to Umuofia Nwoye is intrigued by Christianity, a better way of life, where he feels relief. Strict and inflexible, Okonkwo is angered by Nwoye when he finds out that he converted to Christianity, because Nwoye abandoned their ancestors and he thinks the missionaries are effeminate. Later, Okonkwo tells his five other sons of Nwoye: “You have all seen the great abomination of your brother. Now he is no longer my son or your brother. I will only have a son who is a man, who will hold his head up among my people” (172). Okonkwo disowns his eldest son, Nwoye, because he betrays the clan. Okonkwo’s inability to be compassionate and understanding, drives Nwoye away, and he loses his eldest son.

After shooting Ogbuefi’s son, which is a crime against the earth goddess, Okwonko is sent to Mbanta for seven years. When Okwonko returns to Umuofia after seven years, he notices many changes within the Igbo community. Just like Okwonko, Kumalo goes to Johannesburg and experiences a whole new society. When Okwonko comes back, he discovers that many men renounced their titles and has converted to Christianity. Kumalo keeps seeing evidence that Johannesburg destroys traditional values and social relations. After the influence of the white men’s church, Okwonko’s tribe has also fallen under their oppressive government. Kumalo isn’t fond of Johannesburg because he sees how people have to work so that they could get a title for their own selfish reasons, and speak in English, which destroys his traditional values. The missionaries go to Umuofia to start a school, and Nwoye leaves Okwonko’s hut to attend the school. Kumalo finds out his daughter Gertrude is in a horrible situation, and that his son Absalom has murdered someone. Okwonko is unhappy about the changes in Umuofia, and things start to fall apart for him. On the other hand, Kumalo stays strong is eager to find his son and help him. After Mr. Brown, the missionary, becomes ill, a new missionary named Reverand Smith comes and things start to really fall apart for Okwonko. The major experience of Johannesburg and all that is happening to

Okonkwo considers Nwoke to be weak, lazy and is more feminine than masculine. He feared that Nwoke will turn out to be like Unoka so, “he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating” (11). Achebe shows that Okonkwo wants his son to be strong and fierce like him, but when this was not the case he feels that harming Nwoke will teach him. Though instead of the punishment helping Nwoke become manly, it had a negative effect on Nwoke leading him to fear and resents his father. In addition, the small relationship they had was completely broken when Nwoke finds an interest for the Christian religion. When Okonkwo hears that Nwoke is among the Christians, he gets furious and disowns his son because he does not want Nwoke to join the church . Likewise, when Obierika ask Nwoke how his father is he answers saying, “I don’t know. He is not my father” (124). This shows that instead of working out their different opinions they fought and in the end tore their relationship apart. One can not miss the reality that if Okonkwo was kind and not hurtful towards Nwoke tun he would have stayed with the Ibo culture. If this was the cause then the father and son would have had a better relationship. In the end the reader can conclude that Nwoke and Okonkwo’s relationship failed because of the actions and feelings they had for each

The world is full of cultural collisions. Every day people meet other with different worldviews. This concept of cultural collision, is shown perfectly though Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. In the story it is the cultural collision, of the introduction of Western Ideas into the ibo society, that causes Achebe’s characters to grow and change. One character in particular is forced to reevaluate his sense of identity because of the cultural collision. This is the character of Okonkwo. The collision challenges Okonkwo’s sense of self, as a religious leader or an Egwugwu, as a leader of his people, and as a man. It is Okonkwo’s response to these challenges, that shapes the meaning of the book of that as your world changes so must you or you

An interesting character in Achebe’s Novel is Mr. Brown who symbolizes the productivity and prosperity of the colonial works. However Rev. Smith (Mr. Brown’s successor) is jealous, small minded and manipulative. He stands a contrast to Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown listens to the people in the

Chinua Achebe shows the reader the change of Africa as seen by the main character of the novel, Okonkwo. Okonkwo has the hardship of living in an ever-changing society. It is thru Okonkwo that the reader is able to visualize a society of immense cultural standing, and not as European colonizers would say, a society of savages. The main theme of culture is present in all areas of the novel, which helps to show to the reader all of its underlying themes, themes of tradition and themes of religion. Achebe sees the themes of culture, tradition, and religion in one bright light and European colonizers see those same themes in a totally different, somewhat snobbish dim light. However these themes are viewed, one thing is certain, change is on the horizon.

Even though the novel depicts a societal conflict between colonizers who attempt to impose change and tribesmen who reject that change, Achebe avoids stereotyping the colonizers as “bad” and the tribesmen as “good.” The protagonist, Okonkwo, is portrayed with little sympathy. An angry, callous man, he is shown to act outwardly only in violence. Growing up, his father was a weak, effeminate man, and Okonkwo aspired to be everything his father was not: “He was ruled by one passion—to hate everything his father had loved, one of these was gentleness” (13). Even though his motives are established, Achebe does not attempt to justify the selfish and detrimental actions of Okonkwo. On the contrary, Okonkwo’s uncle Uchendu is rendered as a selfless, compassionate, and wise old man. When Okonkwo is banished from his tribe, Uchendu receives his nephew with open arms and helps him re-establish his life. “As soon as Uchendu saw him with his sad and weary company, he guessed what had happened, and asked no questions” (129). By showing both undesirable and appealing characters, Achebe offers a reputable and non-biased portrayal of his native people to unfamiliar American audiences.

Achebe’s essay “An Image of Africa” analyzes the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. He dissects the false representation of the african people and the bias in his book. In “Heart Of Darkness,” Conrad feels that the people of Africa are undeveloped and they are savages; he looks at all their culture and tradition and only sees it as uncivilized, he has no appreciation for their beliefs. This relates to Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, because Conrad’s views represents the white colonist and their feelings towards the africans. The colonists did not respect their culture or their gods. Okonkwo is well-respected by his tribe, he is extremely traditional and values his culture. The colonists are a threat to that because they do not understand or respect the African ways, they want to change it and convert them to Christianity. Okonkwo has a need to stand up for his culture and his beliefs, he feels he has to be able to prove that he is a strong and powerful man. Okonkwo worries that if he does not protect his customs, he will be seen like his father: cowardly and feminine. He has been haunted by that fear his whole life, “It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. 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”(Achebe 12). His need to distinguish himself from his father and protect his people are what drive him to make do things like kill Ikemefuna and the messenger. Things fall apart for Okonkwo because the other villagers do not have the same passion and drive as him. The

Lastly, the author had a purpose for making the characters act they way that they did. He chose everything with care for his novel. “How is your father? Oberika asked, not knowing what else to say. I don’t know. He is not my father, said Nwoye, unhappily.” (151/4) With this quote, it shows the reader how Nwoye came to hate his father. Okonkwo pushed him so hard that Nwoye became independent. He had completed his goal but not how he wanted it to happen. “Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father, suddenly overcome with fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck.” (151/4) Okonkwo was still violent with his son because he had converted into a Christian. Which is something that he did not agree with. The author’s purpose for this part in the novel

Okonkwo’s culture tells him to beat what he cannot fix, this idea evolved from his father, his mother culture and the lazy ways that came with it. The major factors that shape Nwoye’s view on a culture are his father, his mother culture and the white man. Along with Christianity he completely destroys the values of Okonkwo’s culture. “ Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, but he kept it a secret”(Achebe 149). Nwoye is too afraid of his father, as is, symbolically the clashing culture afraid of the mother culture and the outcome of the clash. The notion of the white man, along with Christianity assimilates Nwoye and his culture. And the factors above shape the view of what he wants a culture to be.

“In response to Conrad's stereotypical depiction of Africans, Chinua Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart through the point of view of the natives to show Africans, not as primitives, but as members of a thriving society. Things Fall Apart follows Okonkwo's life as he strives for prestige in his community. When European missionaries come to Umuofia, Okonkwo's clan, Okonkwo tries to protect the culture that the missionaries would destroy in the name of "civilizing" the natives. However his rigid mentality and violent behavior has the opposite of its intended effect, perpetuating the stereotype of the wild African in the eyes of the