Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

Okonkwo life is “dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13). When Okonkwo was a boy, his playmates teased him calling, saying that his father was agbala. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was lazy. He did not work on his farm; he died in great debt. He did not acquire a single title. He did not have a barn to pass down to his son. Unoka is a type of man who is scorned in Umofia. He is seen as weak and effeminate. As Okonkwo grows older, he is determined not become a failure like his father. His father was weak; he will be strong. His father was lazy; he will be hard-working. Okonkwo earned his fame by defeating the reigning wrestling champion. Okonkwo diligently plants yam, building a successful farm. He builds himself an obi, has three wives and many children. His fame “rested on solid personal achievements” (Achebe 3). Okonkwo will not let one womanly trait sully his reputation. Therefore, he “hate[d] everything that his father Unoka had loved” (Achebe 13). One of these was gentleness. Okonkwo refuses to show any signs of emotion, except his temper. He

Imagine living in a world of perfect paradise, where no one disturbs you or takes away your freedom of thought. You’re living in pure harmony and feel as if your life is going to be peaceful forever. But what if one day someone comes along and changes your world, taking away your custom beliefs and changing your culture. What would you do? In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the character Okonkwo, an indigenous member of the Ibo tribe, comes in conflict with the European settlers as they try to convert his tribe to Christianity. Even though many people choose to convert to this new system, Okonkwo, along with a few friends, respond adversely to this foreign settlement as they attempt to restore order in their native village. As the Europeans bring their religion, messengers, and government into the tribe, the outcome of Okonkwo 's response, causes him to bring his identity into query when he realizes that things that were formerly common, will always collapse in the end.

After a village elder had found what crime Okonkwo committed, he told Okonkwo that, “you are not a stranger in Umuofia. You know as well as I that our forefathers ordained that before we plant any crops in the earth, we should observe a week of peace in which a man does not say a harsh word to his neighbor” (30). The elder proceeded to give Okonkwo instructions on how to attempt amends with the goddess. After a single action was taken, his proceeding efforts were nearly non-existent. Any attempt to fix the situation were minimal, as were efforts to learn from his mistakes. Furthermore, Okonkwo advances to partaking in the death of Ikemefuna. The relationship between the two is complicated, but is closest description is that of a boy and his step-father. Killing Ikemefuna is not an evil against the earth, as beating a wife during the week of peace was, but a crime against himself. He is unhappy with himself, and still does nothing to fix his ways, continuing on to single handedly killing a boy at a funeral. Although accidental, Okonkwo was still the man behind the gun. “It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land….he could return to the clan after seven years” (124). Okonkwo had no choice but to leave for the seven years, perhaps upon his return

Social rank and relative wealth play great roles in determining a person’s life in Umuofia society. Sometimes a man with sheer force of will cannot change his future through hard work. One of the main conflicts in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is the clash between Okonkwo’s determination to succeed, his free will, and fate – which seems to have less appealing things in mind. Okonkwo’s will plays a major factor in determining his future; he chooses to kill Ikemefuna with his own hands, he chooses to kill a government official, and in the end, he chooses to take his own life. However, the pre-destined conditions of his life, his father’s failures, and a series of unfortunate circumstances ultimately lead to Okonkwo’s downfall.

Okonkwo is initially introduced as a proud, hardworking, successful warrior. He is described as "clearly cut out for great things" (6). But he is the son of a ne'er-do-well father; though genial and inoffensive, Unoka must certainly have been considered a failure. He is lazy and does not provide for his family. Not only is this disgraceful, but life-threatening as well. He is dependent on other members of the clan and must have been considered unsuccessful. Okonkwo chafes under such disgrace and his success is a consequence of his desire to be everything his father is not; society's vision of an exemplar citizen. The fact that Okonkwo is able to rise above his poverty and disgraceful paternity illustrates the Igbo's acceptance of individual free will. But Okonkwo's fate and his disharmony with his chi, family and clan are shown to cause his ultimate disgrace and death.

This story maintained a constant theme of conflict. Nwoye, lives in perpetual fear of his father. Okonkwo constantly chastises his son and finds a fault with everything he

Change is a natural process that triggers the evolution of human societies; it is the continuous eradication of traditions that are replaced by the new. Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ (TFA), a novel written in 1958, explores the gradual transformation of the Ibo culture as a result of colonialism and also the attitudes the people of Umoufia developed when exposed to foreign ideologies; the change was either accepted or resisted. Peter Skrzynecki’s ‘Crossing The Red Sea’ (CRS) and ‘Feliks Skrzynecki’ (FS) from the Immigrant Chronicle, a poetry collection published in 1975 depicts the evolution of the Australian society due to factors including migration, assimilation and different perceptions. These forces of change contributed to the

Okonkwo loses his son, Nwoye, to the white men because he converts to Christianity. Okonkwo believes this to be an act of fate, he states, “Why…should he, Okonkwo…be cursed with such a son?” (Achebe 152). This shows that Okonkwo falls victim to his father’s actions, as he was not taught how to be a good father and for this reason Okonkwo is deemed as aggressive towards his children, especially Nwoye , who is quite similar to his grandfather. Consequently, Nwoye drifts apart from Okownkwo, further reinforcing the idea of cause and effect. Okonkwo despised his father, therefore his son Nwoye began to hate him. Furthermore, Okonkwo is “afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61), thus he kills Ikemefuna, despite the fact that he was warned by Ezeudu to not be a part of the killing. This results in Okonkwo “accidentally” killing Ezeudu’s son, hence he is banished for seven years. Okonkwo’s exile is a direct result of his fear of weakness and his need to portray loyalty and strength towards his clan. Ultimately, Okonkwo is portrayed as a victim of karma, as it was the clan who had brought Ikemefuna to Umuofia, and Okonkwo had been compelled to provide Ikemefuna with shelter, due to his prosperity. This prosperity was a direct repercussion of Okonkwo’s hatred towards his father and his fear of failure, because he had to prove himself as a non-failure to the clan. Both of these incidents depict Okonkwo’s victimization as a result of both his fathers, and the clan’s bad karma.

First, Okonkwo starts off as a poor child, as shown when the book states, “Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had, he did not inherit a barn from his father. There was no barn to inherit” showing that Okonkwo and his family were penurious, compared to others in the Igbo tribe (Achebe 16). Eventually, through his hard work and effort, he became a noble leader, which emphasizes his role as a tragic hero. Throughout the story Okonkwo goes through many challenges, but “In the face of futility, however, he maintains his nobility of character”(Gaydosik).

Okonkwo is the protagonist in the story “Things Fall Apart”. Okonkwo’s quest is to not be anything like his father, his father ‘Unoka’ was an embarrassment, lazy, squandering, and a effeminate father. Unoka, has driven Okonkwo to succeed. He wanted to be the family provider, hardworking, and proud. Okonkwo's hard work and prowess in war have earned him a position of high status in his clan.

Okonkwo is a revered and affluent warrior in the Umofia clan. Umofia is part of a lower Nigerian tribe that has an alliance with nine other villages. He is upset and reminded of his fathers actions so to counteract those fears he aims to be different than his father Unoka. He was a very wasteful and timid person. On the other hand Okonkwo is a hard working clansman who provides for his family. His son Nwoye is idle like Unoka and Okonkwo is fearful that his son might end up like his father. Okonkwo makes a deal with a neighboring village where he receives a boy named Ikemefuna. He is Okonkwo’s ideal son. Nwoye and Ikemefuna form a bond with each other. Okonkwo does not want to get to attached to Ikemefuna because he does not want to show affection which then would show weakness.

Okonkwo, as seen in Chapter One on pages 3 to 8, was a man born into the unlucky fate of having a father like Unoka. Unoka was a lazy and incompetent man who died an

The story opens with the main character, Okonkwo, a wealthy farmer, who is known for being a brave and honourable man. As well as one of the best and greatest wrestlers, that lives in Umuofia Village, Nigeria, around 1890.

Okonkwo is a man whose fame is spread throughout the nine villages as he wins a competition with ‘Amalinze the Cat’. Okonkwo is a man who fears weakness and failure. He hated everything his father, Unoka, did which by the way was being gentle and idle, so he tended to be harsh just to not appear like his father. He, on the other hand, is a very respected warrior and has a great family, but he tends to get too overconfident in his way of thinking and beliefs.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe teaches us that life is a struggle where you can feel both pain and happiness at the same time. No matter who you are you will have moments in your life where you life things are falling apart, where you feel like giving up because there is nothing more you can do. This is a natural part of life and eventually those moments are going to pass because they don’t last long. In those moments there are many factors that can help you move on such as religion, friends, family and many more. There is no such as thing as a perfect life. Everyone can’t have what they want, but when it seems like things aren’t going great that would be a good time to turn to family and friends. The villagers of Umofia value religion, culture, pride and family above all else. When there was a certain they would always come together as one and support each other. Okonkwo struggled as well. He was a man that feared weakness and failure more than anything else. He didn’t want to end up like his father, but he didn’t know himself. He didn’t understand the type of person that he was, but he knew for sure that the one person he would never be like was his father. In his eyes Okonkwo’s father is a weakling and a failure.