Things Fall Apart And Okonkwo Analysis

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 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.

Desire to accumulate respect and power has been Okonkwo’s life-long goal, but it appears that he is making all the wrong decisions. Okonkwo puts forth the work to gain power and prestige in the tribe. After starting growing yams, and marrying three wives Okonkwo was now “going to take the Idemili title, the third highest in the land”(Achebe 6). Okonkwo has the inclination to gain this honored position as validation that he is not the person his dad was. The tribe values a person's actual strength, not only their material wealth.

In all English literature their are elements for example, Conflict, Theme, Dynamic Character, Static Character, Climax and the list goes on. At the beginning of the story Okonkwo was a strong brave warrior who feared no one. However when the story gets into more depth and the characters faces struggles Okonkwo tend to change in the story. From one strong warrior to someone who killed a child. From someone who never used to listen or respect his wife to a husband who shows a little change in him.

Things Fall Apart tells the story of Okonkwo, a tribal African yam farmer, through trials and tribulations that change both him and his tribe. The Umuofia clan values traits such as strength, confidence, crop success, and honor. Okonkwo exemplifies everything that the clan wants in a man, and he was well aware of it. He thrives on being the antithesis of the image of his father, Unoka, who was viewed as considerably more feminine and generally a failure because of his failed harvests and love of the flute. Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, is also considerably more feminine, and therefore lesser, in the eyes of his father. Okonkwo compensated for the failure in his blood line by putting on a front of hyper-masculine fervor; something that leads him down many troublesome roads. While Things Fall Apart is a tale of many things, Okonkwo’s struggle with femininity causes many of the major conflicts the story. Okonkwo’s learned opposition to feminine traits causes him to project machismo in order to cover up for the underlying feminine qualities that he has and is fearful of.

Similarly, Okonkwo works to lavish his prestige, but in doing so, his weakness and failure become his greatest fears causing him to abandon his other responsibilities to achieve this dominance. Through this fictional character, readers are presented with the human condition of letting fear control dictate actions, which results with the failure in other responsibilities. Throughout his life, Okonkwo sees himself as a strong, powerful man by through his aggression, which is why he abuses his power over his household to achieve his own selfish self-interest:“His [Okonkwo’s] wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children;” however the narrator also directly states that, “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 10).

Fear could appeal to many aspects such as fear of one’s self, fear of another being, or fear of failure. Even the most ruthless and short-tempered characters contain a fear. Okonkwo’s fear, though he may seem unbreakable, is losing the opportunity to become leader of his tribe by being seen as weak or unmasculine. Okonkwo’s tribe is sent a boy, Ikemefuna, as redemption after a woman from Okonkwo’s tribe is killed in Ikemefuna’s village. Ikemefuna is given to Okonkwo to live so the elders of the tribe determine what to do with their new addition to the tribe. Okonkwo takes Ikemefuna in and trains him like he would his own son, harshly and unsympathetic. Gradually, Okonkwo begins to like Ikemefuna and grow fond of him once Ikemefuna becomes closer to Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye, while exploiting a masculine effect on his adoptive brother. It comes time for Ikemefuna’s fate to unravel and Okonkwo learns that the boy will be killed. Fear of showing emotion, Okonkwo, while disobeying a friend, follows the tribe into the forest and kills Ikemefuna. Okonkwo is shattered on the inside, yet chooses to hide these emotions for fear of showing weakness. When Okonkwo hides these emotions, “he would use his fists” to relinquish his anger (Achebe 4). The resentment and grief of killing Ikemefuna drives Okonkwo to do inhumane things like killing a clansman which results in Okonkwo’s exile from the

Okonkwo feels as though his seven year exile was a waste of time, so he plans on

Igbo land, the land that’s known as Nigeria now. Okonkwo struggles with his masculinity and his strong ties to his culture that’s been destroyed by the british and their goal to convert everyone into christians. The missionaries make things hard for Okonkwo as he tries desperately to hold on to his traditions as his whole town that he once knew, is changing. In this analysis you will know the themes and the literary devices that contributed to the perfecting of the book.

Throughout the book “Things Fall Apart”, Okonkwo has always been an issue. He has made many mistakes using violence before and has had consequences for all of them. Some of them were worse than others. The violent actions that Okonkwo has done like when he killed the clansman’s son or when he killed Ikemefuna, has developed the theme of respect and reputation. Killing Ikemefuna was definitely one of the biggest moments of violence that Okonkwo has made.

From Progression to Failure Western ideas changed the perspectives of many people in Africa, but in the book Things Fall Apart it grasps an image of how their identities are altered. Robust, sedulous, and stern was the definition of Okonkwo a man who strived to become the strongest and highest man of his clan. Okonkwo had many setbacks, but always kept pushing forward even when he had to reinstate his life all over again to become the strongest again. But when the Western ideas had arrived in Africa he had slowly fallen succumbed to it and had perished. Yet those ideas had left a mark in his life, even though he had rebuked them, Okonkwo had diminished from taking any action in those ideas, but he had ended his life because of it.

Toil has a negative connotation as it refers to hard work without cessation. While Okonkwo was serving his punishment in exile, Obierika brought word to Mbanta about the government the white men had brought with them. In this government, the District Commissioner oversees the judging of “men who had offended against the white man’s law” (174). The court messengers were the ones who had to do hard work: they, nicknames “Ashy Buttocks,” were responsible for fetching the defendant and forcing prisoners to work (175). When Okonkwo finally returns to Umuofia, the District Commissioner continues to do his facile task of judging the Ibo people and dishing out punishments. To describe the District Commissioner’s work as a toil is an overstatement.

People say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, centers around a man named Okonkwo who despises his late father. The story takes place in an African village during the 1800s. Okonkwo strives to be everything his father, Unoka, wasn’t. The entire village saw Unoka as a man who was lazy and unsuccessful. Okonkwo grew up with the mentality that his father had no redeeming qualities. Now a grown man, Okonkwo hates everything his father was and strives to be everything he wasn’t. However, while they are essentially polar opposites, Okonkwo and Unoka’s lives have a few parallels. Both Okonkwo and Unoka are stubborn in their own ways, are well known throughout the village, and have dysfunctional relationships with their sons.

In Things Fall Apart, the main protagonist, Okonkwo and Macbeth share many similarities in their journey as their lives, quite frankly, fall apart. Both of them are lead by their ambition and desire to be seen as powerful. In their stories, they lose themselves and the respect of their people as they try to maintain their status. Macbeth and Okonkwo differ in that Macbeth is driven by his greed, whereas Okonkwo is standing up for his traditions and values. Both of these tragic heroes actions are greatly influenced by other people and things that lead them down dark paths.

Okonkwo is a strong and confident man who has vowed to never be like his father Unoka. His father was lazy, unsuccessful and carried no titles. The relationship between Okonkwo and his father motivated Okonkwo to gain titles and become successful inside the clan. In this sense, Okonkwo has gained many titles, has three wives, and respected by the clan. Okonkwo chose to feel that identity in the clan was most important, and through this he had become a presence in the clan, noticed by the elders. However after the arrival of missionaries, who had come to convert the clans to Christianity, Okonkwo’s view is completely contradicted by the missionaries. Okonkwo had grown accustomed to members of the clan being ranked by certain tiers, while the