Father Son Relationships In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Valentina Quiceno
McGrover
English 1H: 2A
19 March 2018
Psychology and Effects of Father Son Relationships
Fathers like all compulsory aspects in life have an influence, Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart demonstrates the importance of a father and his role through leading characters. The leading character Okonkwo was affected by his father's non fulfilment in his tribe Umuofia, the absences and failure of his father Unoka caused a great hollowness in his life. Okonkwo and Unoka are portrayed as having an evidently strained relationship, one in fact that lead Okonkwo to consciously adopt opposite ideals from his father. The psychology behind this strained father son relationship fully answers the questions and unfolds the truth of Okonkwo's

Despite the fact that his status in the Umuofia tribe was high-ranked, his masculinity seems to bulldoze over the qualities that humanize him. In a section of Psychology & Behavioral Health Vol.2 about fear, the author states, “Fear is an unpleasant emotion that occurs in response to an immediate and identifiable threat, usually of an external nature ” (Moglia). While faced with conflict Okonkwo detects a threat and reacts. In several instances these reactions have caused him immense losses such as the death of his adopted son. Okonkwo's temper always manages to shine through, Things Fall Apart depicts this perfectly by stating, “It is not only Ikemefuna who feels fear… every nerve in Okonkwo tells him this is wrong, but when the moment comes, he kills his adopted son.” The inability for Okonkwo to be weak makes him solely cruel and with a weak father like Unoka he felt forced to adapt opposite ideals. Chinua Achebe shows how Okonkwo had to make a life for himself as his father had not allowed for many opportunities for him to come in play. Later the author of the article, Psychology & Behavioral Health Vol.2 the author talks about the motivation that it takes to overcome and cope with the fears that prohibit him from growing and being he optimal version of himself. Fight or flight is described as a physiological

The first is whether abuse has deleterious effects. “In earlier studies, in which samples were nonrepresentative and family ecological factors (such as poverty, marital violence, and family instability) and child biological variables (such as early health problems and temperament) were ignored, findings have been ambiguous. Results from a prospective study of a representative sample of 309 children indicated that physical abuse is indeed a risk factor for later aggressive behavior even when the other ecological and biological factors are known. The second question concerns the processes by which antisocial development occurs in abused children. Abused children tended to acquire deviant patterns of processing social information, and these may mediate the development of aggressive behavior” (Dodge 1990). These sudden behaviors against his son nwoye completely make him to adapt opposite ideals from his father Okonkwo just like okonkwo and his