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Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

688 Words3 Pages

Okonkwo may not be seen as a kindhearted person to the people of Umuofia, however Ezinma and Ikemefuna say otherwise. “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, represents a story about the Igbo tribe, focusing mostly on the protagonist Okonkwo who is one of the well-respected people in the village of Umuofia. Throughout the story, Okonkwo has made many mistakes because he has too much pride on himself. Though the people in Umuofia judge him by his actions and what he says, Ezinma and Ikemefuna are eased off from him, although they don’t know. Ezinma, daughter of Okonkwo and Ekwefi, is the most adored child by Okonkwo.The reader can see love Okonkwo has for his daughter. He treats Ezinma differently from his other children in a way that she …show more content…

He had to live with Okonkwo for three years. During those three years, Okonkwo and Ikemefuna’s relationship became a father and son relationship. Okonkwo’s wish for a boy to be just like him besides Ezinma. “He therefore treated Ikemefuna like everybody else- with a heavy hand. But there is was no doubt that he liked the boy. Sometimes when he went to big village meetings or communal ancestral feasts, he allowed Ikemefuna to accompany him, like a son, carrying his stool and his goatskin bag. And, indeed, Ikemefuna called him father” (Achebe-4.28). Okonkwo became fond of Ikemefuna, though he does not show it, because showing emotions is a sign of weakness to him. Ikemefuna is the young man, that he wish Nwoye was. He has the masculine traits that OKonkwo was trying to teach Nwoye, which failed of course. He appreciates the way Ikemefuna influences Nwoye to be a man, such as farming and hunting. The relationship between Okonkwo and Ikemefuna began to be a father- son relationship. The fact that they both were fond of each other, the oldest man of the village, Ezedu tells Okonkwo not to participate in the killing of Ikemefuna, because “that boy calls you father” (57). This is where Okonkwo's fear of weakness just like his father shows the most, because instead of listening to Ezedu, Okonkwo decides to kill Ikemefuna. After the killing, Okonkwo did not eat for two days, because

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But the villagers said that he needed to be killed and Okonkwo insisted on taking his life even though you can see their relationship was very good on pg 28 ikemefuna called him father. He kills him out of fear of being weak and making relationships in the story start to “fall apart “. Chapter 4 pg 28 quotes that Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly unless it was the emotion of anger. To show such emotion as affection was weak. This tragic event causes a relationship with his son Nwoye causes

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The hatred that he had for his father he carried with him throughout his whole life. That hatred turned into him killing Ikemefuna and the messenger. Ikemefuna was thought of as a son and he killed him in fear of being considered weak in front of his clan members. That weakness was thought of his weakness which was considered a failure. At the end of the story Okonkwo ends up being just like his father which is ironic because he strived to be nothing like him.

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Although he attempted to remain harsh and unfeeling throughout the process of Ikemefuna’s death, after the fact, he “tried not to think about Ikemefuna, but the more he tried the more he thought about him,” and because of that he was, “so weak that his legs could hardly carry him” (62). Here, there is evidence of a rare show of emotion from the otherwise steely Okonkwo, although he quickly returns from mourning to his old, remorseless, self. However, at this point one of the first times where Okonkwo actually doubts the society which crafted his very existence is evident. When the respected elder recommends that Okonkwo have no part in Ikemefuna’s death, Okonkwo promptly disregards his advice and goes along with it for fear of appearing less than a man to those whom he feels he needs to impress, as is shown by the fact that when he killed him he did it only because “he was afraid of being thought weak” (61). But when, in the end, Okonkwo regrets his actions, at least for a time, as is shown through physical signs such as “a cold shiver” which “descended on his head and spread down his body” (63), he began to doubt the necessity of that which he has built his life around, and it is this doubt which ends up being the driving force in his decision to end his

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Killing Ikemefuna shows that Okonkwo does not have absolute control over his emotions. As he sits in his obi afterward he is sad and defeated: “Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna” (Achebe 63). Killing someone close to him causes Okonkwo to fall into a deep state of depression. Starving himself because of his grief reveals that he has succumbed to his fear. Okonkwo has committed his life to avoid a situation that causes him to appear weak, but refusing to eat outwardly demonstrates his pain and sorrow of killing the boy that called him father.

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Nonetheless, he repeatedly wishes she was a boy (Achebe 56) in order to fit their patriarchy gender role. Men in the Igbo tribe role are scrutinize by their masculinity, and if you do not exhibit a barbaric persona, you are categorized weak like a girl. For instance, after Okonkwo had murdered Ikemefuna, he was going through a period of depression, asking himself "When did I become a shivering old women" (Achebe 56) This demonstrates the gender stereotype in the Igbo society as if women were the only one allowed to empathize or have feelings. Also, gender roles in the Igbo tribe hinders men from having their own identity.

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Achebe's Things Fall Apart

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Okonkwo saw himself as a child in Ike, he was strong and hardworking. With Ike’s presence around Nwoye started to act more and more like a man each day and this made Okonkwo proud. For once in his life Okonkwo saw his son acting like a man, doing what he was supposed to do as a young man. It was all thanks to Ike acting almost like a big brother, showing Nwoye what to do and how to act. Until one day the tribe came to Okonkwo to inform him that they were going to kill Ike for his fathers actions.

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During those three years, Okonkwo and the tribute, Ikemefuna, become like father and son, but after the three years are over, the oracle proclaims that Ikemefuna must die. As Ikemefuna unknowingly walks to his old village with Okonkwo and some other men, they start to close in on him and when Ikemefuna runs to Okonkwo, “Okonkwo drew

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His fear of weakness and failure is derived from his father, Unoka’s failures, which ignite Okonkwo’s misogynistic views. Throughout his lifetime, Okonkwo associates femininity with weakness because of Unoka, who was called an “agbala” or woman by the people of Umuofia. Since women have this reputation for weakness, Okonkwo lives with constant fear that he will be given the same title as his father. Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye’s effeminacy reminds Okonkwo of his own father. He says, "I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man, but there is much of his mother in him ."(Achebe, 66).

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“Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy--inwardly of course” (Achebe 28). Okonkwo never outwardly expressed his emotion towards Ikemefuna for fear of losing his masculinity. After living in Umuofia for three years, the elders of the clan decided it was time to execute Ikemefuna. Elders warned Okonkwo, “That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death” (Achebe 57).

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