Okonkwo Character Analysis

Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Chinua Achebe about the tragic fall of Okonkwo, the protagonist, and the Igbo culture from the encounter with white missionaries. Okonkwo – a man of power and wealth – is a well respected and honoured leader of his clan, Umoufia of Ibo. As the novel progresses, Okonkwo accidently kills a man and he, with his family, are exiled from Umoufia for seven years. They settle in Okonkwo’s deceased mother’s village, Mbanta. During their years of exile, white missionaries who follow the Christian religion arrive and settle in Umoufia, changing the village drastically. When Okonkwo returns to Umoufia following the end of his exile, he is faced with the major transformations his village has undertaken over the years.

Change is a reoccurring theme throughout history. It destroys and creates. It displaces and introduces. It can cause death and life. The movement of imperialism in Africa brought great change to the native tribal life. Forcing the indigenous people to turn away from their century-old traditions caused violent rifts between the European settlers and the tribes, as well as internal problems between once amiable members of the Ibo culture. With the introduction of the foreign Western Society in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the tribe’s life and ideals are drastically altered as the new ethics and principles collide with the old traditions and laws, causing the members of the society to either adapt or be crushed underneath the foot of colonialism. Achebe’s character, Okonkwo, was impacted immensely by the cultural collision, as his previous way of life was pulverized before his eyes, and he found no reason to live any longer.

Preconceived ideas about one’s culture often arises from stereotypes passed down from generation to generation. It is those stereotypes which shape one’s way of thinking, without being educated properly. In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, misunderstood culture is what drives the story of a small African clan called the Umuofia and the life story of Okonkwo, a fearless warrior and farmer. An in-depth look into pre-colonial African culture helps the reader discover and understand an unbiased point of view of a world one may not understand. In doing so, Achebe uses imagery as well as strong narration to describe the cultural norms and activities that the Nigerian tribe undergoes in everyday life. Through this he offers a nonbiased point of view, and communicates and accurate picture of pre-colonial African culture to a western reader.

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, originally written in his native language Ibo, tells the tragic tale of an African pre-Christian tribe seen through the eyes of Okonkwo. Okonkwo became a very successful clan leader in his village, by working hard and refusing to be lazy like his father Unoka. Achebe uses irony to encourage character development, drive the contrast between Okonkwo’s dreams and his reality as others see him, and explain the culture’s beliefs in the way they treat women vs. the way women are revered.

Chinua Achebe depicts a head strong warrior, Okonkwo, who holds his beliefs to be self-evident despite the evolution taking place right in front of him in ‘Things Fall Apart’. Since Achebe never clearly paints Okonkwo as purely good or evil, Okonkwo can be viewed as morally ambiguous because his brutal actions come from a place of hurt and he is gung-ho on his culture’s traditions. Moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole because Achebe is communicating all people fight an internal battle between good and evil.

In the development of Okonkwo’s character, he a hard time coping with the fear of being a failure and weakness and knowing himself although he continue to make bad choices. “The wife who had been beaten murmured something something about guns that never shot. Unfortunately for her, Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun, ra out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. He pressed the trigger and there was loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children. He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn, and there lay the women, very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. He heaved a heavy sigh and went away with the gun.”(Chapter 4,pg.28) Despite, the fact Okonkwo tried to kill his wife at one smart remark, he was in a fury. However, Okonkwo says he doesn’t want to be like his father and have weakness, although beating your wife makes him lesser than a man; weak. I think that beating a woman is weak,especially over a weak point and during “The Week of Peace”. “But his whole life he was dominated by fear,the fear of failure and of weakness”-- “It was the fear of himself,lest he should be found to resemble a father. Even as a little boy he had resembled his father’s failure and weakness.”(Chapter 2,pg.10) When will Okonkwo stop letting his dad leave a mark in his life to bring back old memories and worries? It may hurt him in many ways where he can’t control what he do/say, but it’s time for him to

The novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe centers around a man named Okonkwo, and it explores Igbo culture through two tribes that Okonkwo is a part of, the Umuofia and the Mbanta. The novel demonstrates a number of core aspects of the Igbo culture which include religion, tradition, discipline, and unity. After exploring these aspects of Igbo culture, the novel shows how they are affected and changed by European colonialism. Achebe specifically uses interactions between Okonkwo, his tribes, and European missionaries to portray what happened to Igbo culture once European colonialism was introduced.

Things Fall Apart is a literary novel written and published by Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, or Chinua Achebe, in the 1959. Chinua was born on November 16, 1930 into a Nigerian village named Ogidi. Things Fall Apart is based in Nigeria around the year 1890. The book addresses topics including, “Nigeria’s white colonial government and the traditional culture of the indigenous Igbo people” (SparkNotes Editors). The book also contains several controversial topics involving, Christian missionaries being labeled, “foolish”, the subject matter of death and suicide, and the physical and verbal abuse that the women received. Chinua well portrays the “macho” and chiefly attitude of the African men in the Ibo society. But the question is, how exactly are women treated within the society? The well respected Okonkwo is a prime example on exactly how men treated women during this time period.

To show affection was a sign of weakness. He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else-with a heavy hand” (page 28). In this part of the book the author describes how well Ikemefuna is fitting into the Igbo culture. Okonkwo is very fond of Ikemefuna, but refuses to display his feelings. In this quote characterizes Okonkwo as an angry and cruel

Thesis: In In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo and Nwoye both depict characters experiencing cultural collision, inherent to their individual responses namely, Okonkwo's aggressive and rebellious response versus Nwoye's accepting and neutral reaction. Although both are experiencing their identities being questioned, their diverse responses are apparent through this work. Claim #1 – Okonkwo's aggressive and rebellious response to these cultural collisions was sparked by his close minded outlook of other cultures, leaving him to feel responsible for is clans unfortunate state. Data - “ 'It is not our custom to fight for our gods,' said one of them. '

103082 Introduction: "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe is a masterpiece and a good representation of Africa. It shows Africans conflict with white colonizers through Okonkwo's eyes who is the protagonist of the narration that represents resistance. The novel, also, shows the nature of Igbo culture as the reader gets an insight of religious values, Justice system, tradition and customs. In addition, Gender plays a significant role in "things fall apart as everything appears to be gendered such as yam seeds which is associated with masculinity. Also, there are gender stereotypes that men and women are expected to fit in.

Throughout the nine villages and beyond, Okonkwo was known to be one of the fiercest, toughest warriors. He was a man people came to fear, Okonkwo enforced his beliefs onto all who would listen, willingly or not. In the end, Okonkwo showed to be a man who was involved in one thing, demonstrating what he called his ‘manliness’. Though this show of manliness is a clear façade, used only to hide the failures of his father, who Okonkwo grew to hate. He used violence as a solution to all problems and thought with his fights rather than his heart. All the while ignoring other people’s beliefs and enforcing his own. Okonkwo is narrow-minded because he refuses to be anything like his father, he believes that war and violence is a solution to everything, and he only sticks to his beliefs, pushing them onto his children.

Ikemefuna is very well-liked by Okonkwo and his family, and becomes a mentor and best friend to Nwoye. Okonkwo feels dismay that Nwoye is taking on the torpid characteristics of his grandfather, Unoka, and is quite pleased that Nwoye is thriving and maturing under Ikemefuna’s guidance. “Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son’s development, and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna” (Achebe, 1958, p. 52, para. 2). Okonkwo’s pride, and fear of demonstrating any perceived sign of weakness, does not allow him to show any favorable emotion to Ikemefuna; he treats him with the same severity he does the rest of his family. “Even Okonkwo himself

In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart Okonkwo’s identity of being a respected clansman is challenged, after the arrival of the missionaries, Achebe utilizes this to bring out the theme “a man’s violence will be his

“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