Nwoye's Decisions In Things Fall Apart

The decisions we make in life can affect many parts of our lives and how we feel about ourselves and how others look at us. In Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, Nwoye decides to try to overcome his father’s negative opinion of him. In trying to emulate Ike, Nwoye tries to be the son his father wants which pleases Okonkwo who is a leader. Nwoye’s decision to convert to Christianity helps him answer questions he has been tortured with; in addition to helping answer questions it also helps him with his own self-esteem and ultimately enables him to forgive his father. TALK ABOUT HOW IT AFFECTS OTHERS but ultimately makes him a version of the son Okonkwo wanted all along which is that of a leader and enables Nwoye to forgive his father for

Ikemefuna was “like an elder brother to Nwoye, and from the very first it seemed to have kindled a new fire in the younger boy. He made him feel grown-up, and they no longer spent the evenings in his mother's hut” Achebe writes that Nwoye is pleased to be asked “to do one of those difficult and masculine tasks in the home, like splitting wood, or pounding food.” Nwoye’s decision to spend time with Ike makes him mature and changes him into the man his father wants him to be. He looks up to Ike and watches him and listens to his stories and the author shows how this “kindled a new fire” in Nwoye. The reader learns that Okonkwo is happy when he sees the changes in his son when Achebe writes “he knew it was due to Ikemefuna. He wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough young man capable of ruling his father's household when he was dead…He wanted him to be a prosperous man,” It was important for men to be able to be strong and support their

He had always disappointed his father because of his lack of masculine qualities. When Achebe writes, “ These outcasts, or osu, seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations, thought that it was possible that they would also be received.” he is informing the reader that the missionaries are telling everyone that God looks at everyone as equal. The “osu” were considered downcasts and unaccomplished people who would never see a title or accomplishment but the Christian God they were hearing about loved them all. It means that Nwoye is also considered an equal among men. Achebe later writes that the missionaries had sent “Nwoye, who was now called Isaac, to the new training college for teachers in Umuru.” In a bit of irony, this means that Nwoye would be a teacher. A leader. He would make changes in the village and help change other people’s lives as his had been