ipl-logo

Okonkwo Cultural Change Analysis

938 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Cultural disintegration in Things fall apart

Nwoye’s Response To Cultural Change
A sense of identity is often acquired and developed by everyone as they mature, but it is always changing as the culture changes. The novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, follows the development of several characters in response to a cultural shock caused by the Westernization of the Ibo tribe in Nigeria. The protagonist of the book, Okonkwo, is a strong leader and warrior of the tribe who was obsessed with his masculine image. However, Okonkwo’s eldest son, Nwoye, tries to shadow and please his father, but ultimately fails for he has a soft side. Especially when it comes to religion, Nwoye’s believes, morals, and interests often diverse from his fathers. The introduction of Christianity to the Ibo …show more content…

Christianity turned Nwoye’s life around. He broke apart from the Ibo cultural norms, and became a part of a religion with morals and believes he agreed with. Furthermore, Nwoye was sent to a college to get educated. When Obierika confronted Nwoye about why he was with the missionaries, Nwoye replied: "I am one of them" (), showing that his perspective on religion has changed for the better, based on his own morals, and not the clan’s or his fathers. Okonkwo, however, didn’t approve of Nwoye’s religion change. Everything Nwoye thought was morally right contradicted his fathers believes, so Okonkwo completely disowned his son and cut all ties after attempting to kill him. As a result, Nwoye moved in with the Christians and was able to escape his father 's abuse and controlling attitude. He was also able to escape from a faith that didn’t support his morals.

Conclusion: How did the character develop
Although much of the Ibo population reacted negatively to the forced Westernization of Nigeria, a number of people, such as Nwoye, accepted and benefited from the new religion. Nwoye’s development throughout Things Fall Apart in response to the cultural collision and the introduction of a new religion contribute to the profound theme of change.
As culture changes, things fall apart for some individuals who are not willing to accept change. However, sometimes a change in culture can provide

Show More
Related
802 Words | 4 Pages

Once again, Nwoye found peace away from his father when the Christian missionaries came to Mbanta, the motherland where Okonkwo and his family were exiled to. Nwoye converted to Christianity and escaped the force of his father in their household. Okonkwo, of course, didn’t support his son’s decision and was completely against Nwoye leaving behind the tradition the Okonkwo followed so deeply. A paragraph in chapter seventeen reflects on Okonkwo’s thoughts. “To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about

Read More
1698 Words | 7 Pages

In her memoir, “In the dream house”, Carmen Maria Machado argues that domestic abuse in queer relationships is overlooked and disregarded. Society has set up what the “ideal” relationship is. A straight man and woman. There is a stereotype that if there is abuse in a relationship, the man is the perpetrator and the woman is the victim. This has been the “typical” outlook on domestic abuse in relationships for centuries.

Read More
904 Words | 4 Pages

In Things Fall Apart it tells us “He (Nwoye) went back to the church and told Mr. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up school to teach young Christians to read and write.” Nwoye was so excited to leave his father but would eventually come back to visit his mother, brothers, and sisters of course! This evidence supports my claim because this chapter explains Nwoye’s journey of converting to

Read More
408 Words | 2 Pages

Frankenstein is a classic novel written by Mary Shelley that has been a part of the Western canon for over 200 years. While some people believe that it should be removed, there are many reasons why it remains an important work of literature that should continue to be studied and appreciated. One of the main reasons why Frankenstein should remain a part of the Western canon is its views of the dangers of scientific advancement. Shelley's novel warns against the unchecked pursuit of knowledge and the dangers of playing God.

Read More
889 Words | 4 Pages

The novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, defines an important literary example of the historical conflict of European colonialism in Nigeria during the

Read More
479 Words | 2 Pages

As a child, Nwoye is the frequent object of his father's criticism and remains emotionally unfulfilled. Okonkwo, “wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough man capable of ruling his father’s household when he was dead and gone to join the ancestors”(38). When Nwoye finds out that it is Okonkwo who killed a “brother” who he is extremely fond of, and grows very close with, he loses all appreciation for Okonkwo and decides to go against his father and his cultures.

Read More
1006 Words | 5 Pages

When Nwoye decides to leave his family to pursue his faith, Okonkwo realizes “But he left hold of Nwoye, who walked away and never returned.” Leaving his family and clans, Nwoye is confronting a huge change in his life. This change may be pretty hard to make because he has to discover a new world himself. Recalling at the very beginning, it is impossible for Nwoye to leave because he is not masculine enough to take his own adventure. However, now, he is no longer a boy relied on his family; rather, he becomes a mature man to decide his future path himself and accept his coming of age.

Read More
1750 Words | 7 Pages

Nwoye, although he is a male, is viewed as a very feminine character. Okonkwo’s dislike of “a woman for a son” (153) pushes Nwoye to the Christian Church and Okonkwo’s actions show the imbalance of respect and the dislike of women in a patriarchy. Although he is viewed as “womanly” and weak, Nwoye gains power through the Christian Church, joining “effeminate men clucking like old hens” (153). Indeed, the white religion is viewed as womanly also; however, the Christian religion proves to be a powerful force in changing the masculine ways of the Ibo tribe. This change symbolizes the influence and powerful impact women can have on traditional and masculine thinking.

Read More
855 Words | 4 Pages

Okonkwo’s values are restricted to physical strength, power, and prosperity, and when the Europeans suddenly arrive, the cultural convergence prompts Okonkwo to respond with even more violence. While the majority of his tribe, including his son Nwoye, is open to considering

Read More
828 Words | 4 Pages

In Chinua Achebe novel, Things Fall Apart Nwoye a young man under Okonkwo’s responsibility is affected positively by the introduction of western ideas into the Ibo culture. This being said Nwoye has found a passion for being apart of a religion not known by any local in Igbo called Christianity, to some it was a blessing and to others a disgrace. To Okonkwo he feels that anybody who converts to Christianity is a disgrace to their village. And how surprising is it that his own son converts to a Christian. And in his conversion he tries to escape his strict culture and find out who he is as a person.

Read More
1330 Words | 6 Pages

These sudden behaviors against his son nwoye completely make him to adapt opposite ideals from his father Okonkwo just like okonkwo and his

Read More
784 Words | 4 Pages

Have you ever read a novel about African cultures and traditions from African point of view? The novel Things Fall Apart, a tragedy by Chinua Achebe, centers on one tragic hero in Igbo village of Umuofia in Nigeria and the effects of European arrival on his life and Igbo clan. Throughout the novel, Achebe introduces Igbo customs to the reader by creating several occurrences and how they react on them to claim that the Igbo is civilized before the Europeans arrive. The significant difference between Igbo and Western cultures is the way wisdom is passed on: Igbo oral traditions transmit values and knowledge orally by allegorical tales, while Western literary traditions educate people through generations by written texts, just like the novel itself.

Read More
889 Words | 4 Pages

Everyone as a human being has experienced some form of change in our life, big or small, and it has a lasting effect on who they are and how they act. In Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’, change is a forward facing theme of the whole story, we see change in all forms occur throughout the book; the arrival of the white men and their changing of the igbo culture, the tearing apart of Okonkwo’s family by religion and traditions, and the change that occurs within Okonkwo himself when he realizes he cannot prevent change from happening in the community and culture he loved. Change is destructive in ‘Things Fall Apart’, especially to such a magnitude as we see in the story, it is destructive to communities, to families, and especially to individuals.

Read More
1890 Words | 8 Pages

Similarly, Nwoye also resists the reputation of his own father by rejecting this masculine regime of Okonkwo and Igbo culture, showing feminine virtues instead. His intention to carry his beliefs on to his children is established when Okonkwo thinks to himself after he learns of Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity. Nwoye made the decision to leave Umofia after the realization that his views do not coincide with those of his society any longer due to the life time of exposure to the toxicity of Okonkwo’s masculine behavior. It is because he refuses to conform that Nwoye wishes to alter the reputation of himself and his family by joining a culture that he finds to reflect the values that he believes in, instead of those he was dejectedly forced into following by his

Read More
1837 Words | 8 Pages

S. Naipaul and J. M. Coetzee these Post-colonial writers have all dealt with Africa in their own individual and unique ways. Achebe does not treat the African culture and ways of life as something hybrid, complex, dependant for its significance on the Western style of perceiving things or neither has he shown Africa to be existing only in relation to its difference from or consonance with the Western form of religion, culture, identity, and discourse. The major theme of the novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ centers around the destruction of Africa’s intricate, almost incomprehensible but unique way of life and culture in the wake of British colonization and forced or maneuvered conversion to Christianity. The administrative as well as religious changes that the British tries to impose upon the native Africans has the disastrous effects of uprooting the indigenous people from their original root and tradition and can be seen as some instruments of subjugation, subordination and subservience which starts with creating distrust, doubts and insecurity in the minds of people for their Igbo tradition, and its cultural and religious practices and ends with making them internalize the Christian way of life and British administrative apparatuses. Another theme that is explored in this novel is the inherent fault of the central character Okonkwo, who is ambitious, industrious, honest, masculine but is rash, and unthinking and his sense of self and identity is wholly dependent on the approval of others in his community and he thinks of anything that intrudes into it as a threat and he tries hard to be a man though in a flawed manner.

Read More

More about Okonkwo Cultural Change Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document