Trevaris Belser
Rebecca Vance
HY-102
December 2, 2014
Things Fell Apart: An analysis In the Book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe the story is told surrounding the main character Okonkwo. A Nigerian man well respected in his village as a warrior and a wealthy hard working man. He has a large family and lots of wives and plenty of property. The story of Okonkwo’s life starts with a father that he himself does not identify with. His idea of a masculine man shows no emotion other than anger, and anything less than that is effeminate. Okonkwo is, by today’s standards a very confused man. He is very stuck in his ways, no matter how he truly feels about the situation.
Is he a likeable character? This purely depends on the question of perception of his actions and knowing the character on a deeper level. An external view of the character might lead on to feel as though he is a cold individual and someone that would be a horrible parent, but times were different then. As the story developed I began to understand that our main character is a fearful emotional man that believes in the traditions of his culture and while he may be a little stuck in his ways, he only wants to be “A lord of his village”. Okonkwo’s view of his wives is very European in the sense that women are less than the man in the household. The priestess cheilo from the story being an exemption, women are to bear the children and serve their husbands. Our main character has several wives and children by all of