Rina Hou Ms. Pickering MYP World Literature B1 16 February 2017 Varied Perceptions of Manliness: Nwoye Character Analysis The character Nwoye in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, is the representation of how young boys are pressured to be ¨manly¨, but by their father’s standards. His unhealthy relationship with his father, the demands of Igbo culture that he doesn´t necessarily agree with, and the death of Ikemefuna that was caused by his own father were all factors that led Nwoye to convert to the new religion presented. A religion that his father strongly disapproved of. To start with, Nwoye never had a positive relationship with his father. Okonkwo was very stern, and his family ¨lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper¨ (Achebe 13). Okonkwo disciplined his children harshly, and Nwoye never got any sympathy. One time, Nwoye and Ikemefuna were helping their father prepare yams. When …show more content…
Ikemefuna was not Nwoye’s biological brother but after [Ikemefuna] came into his life, he was no doubt the best role model that was around. They grew close, too close. After only a few years together, the Oracle wanted Ikemefuna to be killed. Okonkwo does not give a second thought to the fact that his flawed thinking of what a ¨man¨ should be has already come close to ruining his relationship with Nwoye forever. He kills Ikemefuna just because ¨[Okonkwo] was afraid of being thought weak¨ (Achebe 61). After Nwoye discovers what his father has done, he completely freezes him out. In fact, he finds comfort in the new religion presented by the Europeans. His father is beyond furious when he hears of this and beats Nwoye brutally. The violence does not change Nwoye’s mind however, ¨[Nwoye]…decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a church to teach young christians to read and write¨ (Achebe 152). At this point, Nwoye doesn't care about deliberately disobeying his