Okonkwo's Fear

But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.” Many people believed that Okonkwo was such a cruel man because of the wall that he put up. This affected his family because he still continued to act tough with his wives and most of his kids, there was only one of his children that saw his soft side and that was Emzina, his daughter. He also thought a lot about one of the people he killed, which showed that he wasn’t the tough guy that everybody thought he was, but no matter what he refused to show any signs of weakness to avoid being like his

When Okonkwo was young, he declared that his father was not able to feed adequately of his family and he was abashed by his father’s strength. He didn’t receive enough food and he was insisted to dislike his father, Unoka. While he went out in Umuofia, he expressed his embarrassment against his father and consequently he discovered that villagers of Umuofia had similar dislikes against his father. The hatred feelings against his father

I can relate this selection to not only myself, but to today’s youth in general. Because many teenagers are forced into doing things that they don’t want to do, (but their parents want for them,) they begin to spite what they are being forced to do. In this quote however, Okonkwo HATED his father, where as the people that I am referring to simply despise the fact that they are unable to make their own decisions or feel that they have a lack of freedom.

In things fall apart Okonkwo had the fear of becoming his father who was lazy and unsuccessful. Okonkwo didn’t give up when he didn’t inherit seeds from his father to start his farm. Instead, he begged Nwakibie for seeds and started his own farm from the ground up. Okonkwo could have let his fear turn him into a lazy unsuccessful person but in lieu of his fear he didn’t let it impact his working life in a negative way. He decided to be proactive and to get things done on his own, further proving that he was determined to be a great farmer, unlike his father.

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 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

In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo’s shame for his father, Unoka, motivates him to be everything his father wasn’t. As a result, Okonkwo hides behind masculinity and conceals his emotions, in hope of escaping weakness. Stubborn and impulsive, Okonkwo makes rash decisions to uphold his reputation, which affects his tribe and his family. Okonkwo’s constant fear of resembling his father takes over his ability compromise and causes him to suffer from depression, the “loss” of his son, the loss of

The fear of their loved ones failure and Normality is very present in Okonkwo and Brother’s minds. When Okonkwo was old enough to run his own family and farm he had

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

In the novel Things Fall Apart, strength and pride are very important aspects of the main character, Okonkwo, however, these traits may sound like excellent traits to possess but because of the way he was raised, Okonkwo harbours many of his emotions under an outer shell of violence, strength and pride. His traits can be shown by looking at where he has come from in his life, for example, Okonkwo has acquired a large amount of wealth in his life because of his hard work and dedication which he also puts towards his family, unfortunately, his family also suffers greatly because of this due to Okonkwo’s high expectations of his children and his violent ways when they do not live up to them. Secondly, Okonkwo possesses hidden emotions that

Okonkwo strives all of his life to become a stronger, more powerful, and a successful individual. He wants to do this because his father was a slack and lazy person who lived most of his life in debt and had no titles to his name. People often looked at his father as a women figure for the few achievements he redeemed. Okonkwo never wanted to be like his father and it eventually got to the point where he became fearful of becoming like him. Achebe uses the power of fear as a theme of to show how much it can devastate one’s

Determination is one of Okonkwo's most outstanding characteristics. Because of his undying obsession to be unlike his father, Okonkwo is determined to be exactly what is father is not. Since childhood, Okonkwo has been ashamed of his father, because according to the clansmen Okonkwo's father did not meet the standards that the men of that time should have met. Unoka, Okonkwo's father, never had a real job/title. He didn't become a warrior because he hated the sight of blood, which according to their society made him a coward. He often borrowed money from the clan, and hardly repaid them the loan. However, he was not a complete waste of a person, he was talented in music and conversation, and was also thought to be a gentle person. As we see in the novel, Okonkwo was very much the opposite of his father. He had a job/title, he had a large family, he was a warrior, and he never needed to borrow excessive amounts of money from the clan. All of Unoka's Characteristics, even the good ones, Okonkwo didn't want to possess them. It was his ignorance along with his flaw that led him to his ultimate fall.

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

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

One of the main causes of Okonkwo’s downfall is his fear of being like his father, who was weak and considered a failure. Okonkwo is told that Ikemefuna,