The theme for “Things Fall Apart” is Respect and Reputation. I chose this theme because in Okonkwo’s point of view, you were either somebody or nobody. In the novel Okonkwo’s pride got in the way of him being the successful person he always wanted to be. Listening to the elders that gave Okonkwo advice throughout the story may have saved him from the accident that happened during the celebration of Ezeudu’s death and all of the other troubles he faced in the novel.
Okonkwo wasn’t known for thinking before taking things into his hands. He was always demanding, and he thought everything he said, thought, or did was right. Having to do with
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.
Okonkwo made a lot of mistakes that led to new weaknesses in his lifetime. A lot of those were things that he couldn’t exactly control. Such
Okonkwo’s response to my evidence is that he that he doesn’t want to show weakness, but his culture pressures him into it and basically forces him to kill a boy who he felt was a son to
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
In the book, Okonkwo was the tribe leader in Umuofia and wants to carry on the traditions that have been in his tribe for years. While he is known as being a leader, the character struggles daily with not wanting to be like his father who is lazy, and weak. Therefore he avoids everything possible to not be like him. Which leads into more of a bigger issue that is not being weak in front of anyone.
Okonkwo thought of himself as a strong and fierce man that could do whatever he set his mind to… that was before his 7 year exile. During his 7 year stay in Mbanta Okonkwo immediately didn’t like them and wanted to rid
Throughout Okonkwo’s youth, he had a very troubling life. His father, Unoka, was a failure in every sense of the word. Unoka was a drunk and had an enormous amount of debt to his name that he never paid back. The only things that Okonkwo's father had going for him was his music. He was a tremendous flute player and that's all he really was known for other than being a poor, cowardly
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
There are many different things in Things Fall Apart but some of those things are valued more than others by people. This is introduced in page 37 when Okonkwo decides to not assist the feast but decides to stay and work on his farm . In addition to prefering the farm over the festival Okonkwo values his reputation over his love for his foster child, Ikemefuna.
In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is portrayed as a respected and determined individual whose fatal flaw eventually works against him. Throughout the novel the readers are shown that Okonkwo has many of these Characteristics because he is obsessed with the idea of becoming just like his father. This becomes his flaw in the novel that puts him into exile and makes it hard for him to adjust to the changes that were made with in his village.
Okonkwo’s merciless violence gave him the appearance of being impenetrable. His brutality in the book categorized him as emotionless and callous. His drive to become greater than his father meant he cared only about himself and his own success. Okonkwo beat his own son, Nwoye, for fear he was growing lazy like
A normal person would try to change and adapt to conformity, but as he always did Okonkwo turned his fear into violence. Okonkwo has social intelligence, he knew what people thought of him was important. Unfortunately, Okonkwo cared way too much about what people thought of him. He was scared that others would see him as weak. He wants to be seen as a strong, successful man, anything else is not good enough.
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 lost himself after losing everything he had. He didn’t have a real enough sense of self to adapt to all the changes that hit him like a whirlwind.
As stated in Chapter Two on pages 13 to 14, Okonkwo ruled his household with a hand so heavy that his entire family lives in perpetual fear of his fiery temper and impatience. Okonkwo is a very rash person and, when in a fit of rage, does not think about the consequences of his actions, which inadvertently leads him to his own downfall. In committing these actions, it is not ludicrous to believe that Okonkwo will later receive consequences due to the immorality of these actions.