Succesful Men In Things Fall Apart

Okonkwo achieves respect and high social status through his own heroic efforts despite being left with nothing but the dishonorable reputation of his “lazy and improvident” father. Toiling in the fields, enduring droughts, exhibiting fearless on the battlefield, and fueled by a burning desire to succeed, Okonkwo becomes a hero in Umuofia. Okonkwo’s success stems from his hard-work and perseverance, which he achieves in spite of his father’s shortcomings. He “lay[s] the foundations of a prosperous future” by slowly and painfully working like “one possessed” in order to escape “his father’s contemptible life and shameful death.” Okonkwo, so “possessed” with escaping the lingering reputation of his father, does anything in his power to earn

Okonkwo continually rejected the ways of his father, who was deeply indebted to other members of Umuofia, holding no titles, to the point where Okonkwo’s “whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (16). He transferred his fears into the context of Umuofia and the traits that society valued, but what was really the driving force in his decisions “was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father” (17). The values of Umuofia resembled the polar opposite of what Unoka was and Okonkwo twisted his motivations around in his mind and presented them to himself and the community as derived from Umuofia’s traditions. From this delusion, Okonkwo established his ultimate goal of becoming a revered member of the village, possessing many titles, and achieving anything necessary displaying his prominence in the community.

The first two aspects of a tragic template, nobility and flaw, are seen in the powerful character, Okonkwo. The stage of nobility identifies a character as someone of importance. This is important in Umuofia, because, as is stated in Things Fall Apart, “Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered.”(8).Okonkwo fits the role of a person of nobility because, despite his young age, he has accumulated a great amount of titles and prestige. The means of measuring prestige differ in Umuofia from in the Western hemisphere, but Okonkwo’s level of accomplishment is still evident, “[H]e had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third

In the beginning, we are told that Umuofia is considered one of the strongest tribes in the lower Niger. However by the end of the novel, it is suggested that the villages are broken internally.

The fact that these missionaries have started to really make an impact was unprecedented by the Ibo people; their continuous misunderstandings of one another contribute to make this situation frustrating to both the Ibo clansmen and the Christians that view their religion as superior. Okonkwo returns back to his home village of Umuofia after his exile to Mbanta, and he arrives to see missionaries have overtaken the village, created a government, and many Umuofians have joined the church. As Okonkwo and his friend Obierika are talking, Obierika says of the missionaries and their impact, “He says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us?...He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (176). The white men and missionaries have been successful in coming in and gaining power. They believe the customs to be “bad”, showing their disregard of Ibo culture, and how their motives for infiltrating Ibo life is based off of selfish ideas- only to gain more followers to their religion. Furthermore, by actually being successful in drawing Umuofians into their religion, they have turned

“Things Fall Apart,” by Chinua Achebe, is a story that takes place during the colonization of africa by European powers, and follows the adult life of Okonkwo. The village that Okonkwo calls home, Umofia, has a rich history and culture. A large part of their culture is how the two sexes are treated differently. Men are much more revered than women. The roles assigned to men and women greatly impacted Umofia’s society because of women’s required subservience, the treatment of women, and the unchangeable tasks assigned to each gender.

Throughout the book Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe challenges the typical stereotypes of colonial Africa. The story follows the lives of the Ibo people, and explains the culture and traditions of African tribes in Nigeria before and after being colonized by the Europeans.

The book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is about the lifestyle and the effects of colonization on the Igbo people in Nigeria, Africa. It shows the challenges they faced and what these people went through that led the civilization to their downfall. It also shows how much of an impact the white Europeans had on them. This story is told by a man named Okonkwo. He greatly expresses his opinions about the Igbo civilization but also reflects on his own life while apart of the Igbo people. Okonkwo gives good insight on how things were for him and others in the community.

Things Fall Apart by Teo Hui Yee How has the growing European presence in Africa changed the lives of Africans like Okonkwo? The author of this novel, Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist and poet, his other works include No Longer at Ease and Arrow of God. This book is the most widely read in modern African literature.

There are many misconceptions about the country of Africa, from Africans not having a civilized society, to them being poor and unhealthy. In the book, Things Fall Apart, award winning author, Chinua Achebe takes readers into the world of the Igbo tribe in Nigeria and how they live in a pre- and post- colonial society. He writes to target a westernized society, in an effort to break the stereotypes that Africans are not civilized. In order to inform people on African culture, and to show that they are educated people, Chinua Achebe writes about the religion and government of Africans.

Their efforts to divide the natives and make them more reluctant to resist become increasingly more apparent as the book goes on. Specifically, when the church is first getting established, Mr. Kiaga demands the osu, or outcasts of the clan “... shave off the mark of [their] heathen belief” before he admits them into the church. By disproving the clans belief that the osu will die if they shave their heads, Mr. Kiaga helps to start whittling away at the clan’s unity. These strategies are highly effective, so that even when the clan is deciding to go to war, Okika mentions “If we fight the stranger we shall hit our brothers and perhaps shed the blood of a clansman.” The idea of fighting their own clansmen is so unappealing to the clan that many of the clan's members become ambivalent to the colonizer's cultural imperialism. This is evidenced when the narrator says after Okonkwo kills the kotma, “[Okonkwo] knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape,” which is significant because Umuofia is known for being very aggressive and warlike, so letting these messengers escape is very uncharacteristic of

In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow.”(Pg. 4) ”He [Okonkwo] did not inherit a barn from his father.” (Pg. 16) Unoka was a very lazy man that set a bad example for Okonkwo. Despite this, Unoka being lazy helped Okonkwo. It gave Okonkwo the fear of being like him. Okonkwo always tried to be a hard worker so that he could avoid being lazy and improvident like his father. Additionally, unlike many men in the village, Okonkwo did not have a barn inherited to him by his father. He had to go through the trouble and stress of attaining a farm and sharecropping, unlike many young men in his clan. Despite all the negative, Okonkwo working for his things made him the man that he was. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat.” (Pg. 1) Okonkwo has himself to thank for all of his great achievements. He is afraid to fail thanks to his father. Okonkwo developed to be a very successful person thanks to the situation he was placed in and the work ethic that came from it. In the Ibo society, you are supposed to be raised in a strict, hard working household. Okonkwo did not have these things, so it affected how he was developed both positively and negatively. It affected him negatively because things were made

Things Fall Apart was written in 1958 by the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart follows the life of Okonkwo and his village of Umuofia and how everything changes as Christian missionaries come to spread the word of God. Chinua Achebe wrote this novel using stories and tales he heard growing up that were based on true events. Chinua Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart because he wanted to people to understand and see what indigenous Africa was like before the missionaries came. He wanted to capture what is like for the people in these villages as these outsiders changed their whole world. He also wrote this novel to critique and praise the Igbo culture. He acknowledges that there are many downfalls in the society and he displays them through Okonkwo and his beliefs and how they lead to his tragic end. He also recognizes the many positive things about the culture such as community, the values and their responsibility of themselves. Achebe wanted the world to see that Africa wasn’t the uncivilized place that many writers make it out to be, he recognizes that it has its downfalls and that things needed to change but he also represents the good things about the culture.

This novel opens by describing Okonkwo as strong, powerful, and successful. These characteristics help to identify what his culture considers to be masculine. He constantly acts out in anger but never with other emotions as he tries to keep up an appearance of masculinity. This trait is due to hatred for his father who he considers to be lazy and to lack ambition. Within the community of Umuofia, the ideal image of masculinity can be defined as having a large farm and housing complex with enough food to feed one’s family, having many respectable titles, and being a successful warrior or strong athlete, therefore, the idea of masculinity impacts Okonkwo’s life in many ways, not only by his father’s influence directly shaping him into the man that he grows to be, but also by consistently manipulating his everyday actions.

comes on two levels. The first of which is his fetish with war, fighting, and