Okonkwo Essay

“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... It was not external but lay deep within himself” (Achebe pg. 12). Okonkwo’s fear of weakness shaped the way he showed his emotions. Okonkwo is a man of Umuofia. He is a great wrestler and is known to all surrounding villages and some others by defeating Amalinze the Cat. He has two titles, three wives, and is very wealthy with two barns full of yams, which is the

Western ideas into the Ibo culture. Okonkwo started out in the book as a mean and violent man, but the cultural collision of the British colonists and Ibo people affected Okonkwo to the point of him taking his own life. In the book Things Fall Apart, Okonkwos response to his cultural collision is that he feels his culture is responsible for the problems he has in his life, but doesn’t want to show his feelings because his culture represents who he is. Even though Okonkwo feels that he is a leader, and

Okonkwo is a rude, unforgivable and spiteful person. He beats his wives and even takes innocent girls and boys away from enemy tribes. In some way he may even resemble his father, Unoka. He was lazy and very much in debt. If Okonkwo continues what he does he will become him. Although Ekwefi and Ojiugo are both wives, they get beat for different reasons. .“Okonkwo’s second wife had merely cut a few off it to wrap some food and said so.” Okonkwo was frustrated because someone had cut into his banana

EA 3.2 Literary Analysis: character analysis When an invading religion comes to take over do you let nature take its course? Or do you fight back? Okonkwo the leader of his clan and warrior, which it says that he should never show weakness or never backing down in any certain time. Since the new religion has come to his village and has gain ground, he feels that the the new religion is taking away his family, by that i mean it took away his son nwoye who had converted. For that he abandoned his father

elements of greek tragedy, including the tragic hero of Okonkwo, to illustrate the tragic nature of the British colonization of Africa. Aristotle's poetics defines a tragic hero as “A man of high status who displays a tragic flaw and experiences a dramatic reversal as well as an intense moment of recognition”. Okonkwo is a high status and a well recognized clan leader of Umuofia, and his fall in the community and eventual suicide makes Okonkwo a tragic hero by Aristotle's definition.His hard work

of Western beliefs. In the beginning of the novel, he started out as manly, fearless, and proud. But the cultural collision between the British and the Ibo affected Okonkwo to the point of depression. The events that led to Okonkwo’s change in his sense of identity included Nwoye becoming a missionary, Okonkwo being arrested, and Okonkwo realizing that his clan isn’t as strong as they used to be. Ultimately, Okonkwo’s response to Western civilization was him killing himself. Nwoye becoming a missionary

Unfortunately for her, Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun, ra out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. He pressed the trigger and there was loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children. He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn, and there lay the women, very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. He heaved a heavy sigh and went away with the gun.”(Chapter 4,pg.28) Despite, the fact Okonkwo tried to kill his wife

Within Ibo culture, masculinity was highly praised whilst femininity was scorned, and being a feminine man was one of the worst things you could be, especially in the eyes of Okonkwo. He perceived his father to be weak and womanly so he modeled his life after being the opposite of his father. And he forced this mindset onto his son as well. These toxic ideas of masculinity ultimately backfired, forcing Nwoye away from his father's culture. Nwoye's response to the missionaries and decision to join

EA 3.2 Literary Analysis: character analysis 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

the epic, The Odyssey. The main character Odysseus goes on multiple adventures that test his character time after time. Okonkwo comes from the book, Things Fall Apart. Which is about how the protagonist, Okonkwo’s tragic fall of, and the destruction of the Igbo culture. Though knowing both characters and their hero types, Odysseus fits the mold of an epic hero better than Okonkwo fits a tragic hero. One reason that Odysseus fits his hero type beyond compare is, that he is courageous. For example