Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

The characters Ikemefuna and Nwoye significantly impacted the plot in the African novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. These two characters both show how young men in Africa can effectively affect their fathers. However, during his lifetime, Nwoye continuously disappointed Okonkwo, while Ikemefuna brought Okonkwo joy until his demise, making them quite important in this novel. Throughout his life, Nwoye worried his father by not being able to fulfill his expectations, which Okonkwo perceived as laziness. Furthermore, when Nwoye grew older he distressed and even separated from his father for another religion. As a result, Okonkwo became furious, yet somber as shown in the following excerpt: “Why, he cried in his heart, should he Okonkwo,

The Christian church had finally won him over with their answers to questions he had been asking his whole life. All that was left was to cut the ties with his old life, with his father. But his father was the one to make the first move. After learning of his sons visit to the church Okonkwo grabbed him by the throat in a misguided search for a reason why. “Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip” (page 151) Even when he has fully lost his son to the new religion, Okonkwo still tries to use violence to mold his son into what he perceives a man should be, which illustrates the nature of their relationship. It had always been fueled by anger on Okonkwo's part and fear on Nwoye's. It takes people screaming at him to let his son go for Okonkwo to finally give up, but this attack was the last straw and he was finally able to free himself of his father. "But he left hold of Nwoye, who walked away and never returned.” (page 152) Though Okonkwo did not learn from this experience, Nwoye did. He learned that his father's violence and anger could no longer control him, and that there was an escape available, though it was an escape to another culture that he most likely did not fully believe in either but at the very least, this one did not have Okonkwo. "Nwoye did not fully understand. But he was happy to leave his father."(page 152) Okonkwo's goal had always been to make Nwoye 'manlier' as he was afraid of the shame having a feminine son would

Can one benefit from the tearing apart of a culture? There are always those who benefit in the midst of negativity. The Ibo community is torn apart by the Westerners, dividing families and beliefs. Nwoye, a character in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, embraces the European culture, and his cultural identity changes, which conveys that one’s original culture does not determine one’s identity.

The relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye is very stressful and bitter as Okonkwo has very high expectation for his eldest son. Hence Okonkwo always “sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating” when he was irritated

Nwoye has an attraction to a new religion and culture. Okonkwo slowly and surely pushes Nwoye away. When the missionaries had arrived it rose curiosity in Nwoye. Nwoye reveals their ways and is attracted to their culture, their

18. Why is Okonkwo disappointed with his son Nwoye? What values does Okonkwo associate with manliness? How does Nwoye relate to these values? Compare Okonkwo’s attitude toward Nwoye to Okonkwo’s attitude toward his daughter Ezinma (presented in Ch. 8).

Nwoye was unsure and dubious of himself around his father, and when his father was exiled to Mbanta, when the white men came, he allowed himself to be true to who he was and no one else. Nwoye found himself through Christianity, which allowed him to become a strong, independent man. Achebe created Nwoye’s character to show the reader that you should be true to your natural and unperfected being, otherwise you will waste a large part of your life away, until you notice it. In some cases, things will fall apart, and others will come together, it is your decision on which will

Before the introduction of the Western ideas, Nwoye was a family man. He was focused on pleasing his father rather than being true to himself. Nwoye constantly tried to receive his father's approval. Whether or not Nwoye believed in the things his father did, his main goal was to prove to his father, Okonkwo, that he was not weak or not masculine.

As a result Okonkwo’s sense of identity was challenged with the introduction of Western ideas was because of his own blood son betraying him. Nwoye had felt some type of feeling inside of himself. The poetry of the new religion, he had found some kind of answer, a kind of comfort to help get rid of all the scars from Ikemefuna’s death and the sounds of twin children in the forest. He left the market very confused on what he is supposed to do.

Nwoye struggled with meeting the expectations of his father and clan. He was viewed as lazy by his father which was not an acceptable attribute for a man. Okonkwo, his father, believed he could beat his inadequacies out of him however it only made Nwoye more sad and troubled. He preferred listening to his mom’s bed time stories rather than his father’s war stories. He struggled becoming the man his father wished him to be. Then came along Imf, an older brother figure for him as well as motivator. Imf encouraged Nwoye to be more masculine and to work hard. They challenged one another. In the end, Imf was killed, a direct result of the clan’s

Nwoye becomes friends with Ikemefuna and starts to look upon what he does. Nwoye starts to go back to being lazy and forget all about being masculine and active after the death of Ikemefuna (his best friend).

The negative relationship with Nwoye and his father after Ikemefuna’s death caused Nwoye to stray. He was searching for something different, he didn’t think that what his father did was right. Nwoye never tried to appeal to his father’s values anymore, he didn’t value masculinity as his father did. This made him open-minded to

As a child, Nwoye is the frequent target of his father’s criticism and remains emotionally unfulfilled. After Ikemefuna’s unjust murder, Nwoye grows increasingly

An unwelcoming household makes you seek for a home in many different places where you can feel comfortable and like you belong there. Nwoye never felt like he was loved or cared for under the roof of Okonkwo and lead to the decisions he made later on. He grew tired of all the beating and punishments caused on him, and it made him build up all this hate, anger but boldness inside. All the fear came from being in that household, Nwoye wasn’t strong enough to leave until this new faith came in Umuofia and Nwoye knew it would be a way out. When the westerners introduced their ideas, Nwoye was intrigued by all the rules, grown tired of Okonkwo’s ways and took matters into his own hands even if it meant losing his father, it was better than being in a place where he couldn’t be free at all.

The new culture to which Nwoye was introduced to was completely different to what he had known all of his life, and he found beauty and peace, despite contradicting his father’s opinion. “But there was a young lad who had been captivated. His name was Nwoye, Okonkwo’s first son. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. He did not understand it. It was the poetry of the new religion, something felt in the marrow. The hymn about brothers who sat in the darkness and in fear seem to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul — the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed.” (Achebe 147, para. 5). In this new religion, Nwoye found a refuge from all of the questions that tormented him, ever since his father participated in the killing of Ikemefuna. “The white man was also their brother because they were all sons of God.” (Achebe 145, para.1). This new teaching from the missionaries caught Nwoye’s attention because he could not understand the reason why Ikemefuna had had to be executed, and now more than ever he was sure that Ikemefuna had been treated unfairly by the people from his village and Okonkwo.