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Positive character traits of okonkwo
Okonkwo's character analysis
The character of okonkwo
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Positive character traits of okonkwo
Okonkwo's character analysis
The character of okonkwo
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Okonkwo never truly like laziness so he’d always beat Nwoye or nagg at him due to his laziness in hopes he wouldn’t be lazy anymore. He took a liking to Ikemefuna because he was a hardworking kid,later on Nwoye started to not be lazy and actually like hardwork due to Ikemefuna being an older brother to him. Okonkwo saw this and was inwardly pleased with both boys but very pleased due to his son’s development. I feel Okonkwo is a good man at heart, he just has a very, very tough shell, beating is bad yes, but he just doesn’t want his kid to be a lazy non-hardworking man, so i could get the understanding of that from
And with that remorse of doing so he begins his journey of self destruction. This is all he knows, to shut down and behave in such a manner where refusal to show grief is necessary for his growth. As mentioned earlier Okonkwo also beats his wives and children. Okonkwo was a damaged man who for fear of being seen to resemble any aspect of his father lived in anger; something Unoka seldom showed. This damage carried through into his emotional ties like his wives and children and frequently beat his family to show masculinity.
He rules his household with a heavy hand and resents Nwoye’s, his sons, laziness. His moodiness and bipolar problems are shown through the interactions between Okonkwo and his son, Nwoye. Okonkwo is an outspoken person who does not think before he speaks. Okonkwo Represents a byronic hero by letting his anger and hypersensitivity control
Okonkwo from the novel “Things Fall Apart” is a complex character with complex interactions with other characters, especially with his family. In the novel, he shows a very tough and hard to most of his family members. This tough and hard characteristic is more evident in his interactions with his second wife, Ekwefi and his third wife, Ojiugo were in both cases, his motivations seemed driven by anger and abuse rather than discipline. Based on text form the novel, he seems to be an abusive and violent husband to his wives; giving us readers an unsympathetic feeling towards him.
Although unoka and ojiugo are his relatives, he’s never hit his father. A similarity between the feelings he has for unoka and ojiugo is anger, at one point in the story. This tells me that okonkwo is aggressive and impatient. In the story, Okwonkwo is unsympathetic. Okwonkwo is unsympathetic because i can’t understand his reasoning for beating ojiugo.
In the Ibo’s culture, we see that Okonkwo is conveyed as a strong and violent person. Okonkwo mainly focuses on the idea of not losing his sense of manliness to not be seen as a weak person. This allows us to view Okonkwo’s growth that has expanded throughout the story, “Things Fall Apart.” Okonkwo is responsible for destroying the Ibo’s culture based on the action he commit which gives him courage to have more power in himself. Just like Okonkwo’s pride allowed him to disrespect his cultural surroundings.
Okonkwo fears being seen as a weak man, by Nwoye proving he is weak, Okonkwo begins to fear his son will destroy the image he has worked to create for himself. Thereby causing others to perceive him as weak. The author wants the audience to draw comparisons between Nwoye and Okonkwo. Nwoye is a direct contradiction to Okonkwo’s visual of what a man should act like. When Nwoye struggles to control his emotions, he resorts to crying, a harmless act, while Okonkwo resorts to violence to
One of the main factors is his past. Okonkwo 's motivation to be a better man than his dad is what truly shapes him to be who he really is. Okonkwo has a love for his village like the love they have for him. But out of fear that he would be like his father, he started becoming very irresponsible and did things without thinking. He was feared by many and loved by many as well which made him become a very respected member in his tribe.
Okonkwo’s actions sometime make him sympathetic. They make him sympathetic because his father and one of his wives and sometimes other characters in the story. They usually make him lose his temper and I understand why he loses his temper. The reason why Okonkwo’s family relationships make him sympathetic is because they usually give him a reason to lose his temper. A character in the story that he can not stand is his father Unoka.”
Okonkwo is a very well respected man within his society. He is a well known wrestler, has three wives, many children, titles within his society, multiple barns, and is well respected. Achebe describes him as very hardworking, never lazy, he does not tolerate weakness and gets angry and violent very quickly. When the white men come he wants fight, others do not jump to violence this quickly. “Okonkwo warned the others to be fully armed.
First of all, 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” (Achebe 16) showing that Okonkwo and his family were very penurious compared to others in the Igbo tribe. Eventually, through his hard work and effort, he became a noble leader, which is part of being a tragic hero. Throughout the story Okonkwo goes through many challenges, but “In the face of futility, however, he maintains his
Due to fear of being related to feminine and weakness, Okonkwo was always filled with anger which was
This quote shows that Okonkwo is violent due to having no patience. Since he did not have patience with his father, he now does not have time for useless men. Because of this, impatience is a known characteristic of Okonkwo. Another example that shows how Okonkwo’s complicated relationship with his father influences his relationships is illustrated in the text when the author writes, “Okonkwo was ruled by one passion - to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness" (13).
He is described as a hardworking, strict and serious man who fears to become anything like his father, Unoka - who is described as a lazy and a coward, yet a gentle person ("And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion - to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.", Achebe, page 10). Okonkwo is also described as hot tempered man, as his three wives and eight children fears his temper. When Okonkwo commits the crime of accidentally killing a boy (he had already committed the crime of beating one his wives on Week of Peace), he is exiled from his tribe for seven years. He and his family then leave to his motherland, Mbanta.
Okonkwo uses these traits to differentiate from Unoka and he even feels most like himself when he exhibits violent behavior in order to assert his power and authority over others. Literary critic Christopher Ouma affirmed Okonkwo’s genuine intention to change how he is regarded in society.