Prompt 2 Okonkwo is driven by his hatred of his father and the fear he will become like him. Okonkwo saw his father, Unoka, as a coward and is ashamed to be his son. Everything that Okonkwo does is meant to set him apart from the legacy of his father. First, this is evident in his beating of his wives and even his aggression with his children. He is trying to show his strength and ensure he is not portrayed to be like his father: powerless and incapable.
Okonkwo tries to fight the changes made by the Western people. Okonkwo’s response to the Western people trying to bring Western ideas into the Ibo culture are simply trying to fight back at the Western people with violence. Okonkwo is a strong and fierce leader, but throughout the story, he is challenged by the Western people and the cultural collision because Okonkwo is supposed to be the leader of Umuofia. Okonkwo is supposed to fight back for his village and not stop until he gets it done. In the story Achebe quotes, “He was a man of action, a man of war.
A weak, lazy, and unsuccessful man. So he started to hate everything his father loved. “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(10).” As you can see, Okonkwo really never showed his kids and his children any kindness or gentleness.
In the book “Things Fall Apart“ Okonkwo is a very strong man and from time to time he starts showing his true self. He has a lot of responsibilities and other things he has to do around the living environment and interact with lots of people. Okonkwo changes from being that strong man, to a man who feels like his tribe is not with him when he wants to go to war with the missionaries. For someone like Okonkwo a lot of people looks up to him and while in the tribe Okonkwo beats his wives and children. Not good behavior for someone who is supposedly looked at as strong.
Okonkwo’s terrified of being feminine and commits to petty crimes. For example Okonkwo even joins in the group murder of his adoptive son, Ikemefuna, out of fear of seeming weak and cowardly. He tells the young boy he is going home to see his family. When the young boy is alone
John Rohn states, “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant.” In the book Things Fall Apart a character named Okonkwo who is seen as a leader or hero in his clan because he is a great wrestler, a fierce warrior, and a successful farmer of yams . He has three wives and many children who live in huts on his compound. Throughout his life, he wages a never ending battle for status; his life is dominated by the fear of weakness and failure. We can see two cultures collide and where Okonkwo is very hesitant in stepping down and leaving his culture to be changed by the colonizers, but as this conflict goes on we begin to question Okonkwo's identity as a leader based on the decisions he makes.
Okonkwo strives to be everything but his father. This is clear from the very beginning when it says, “He had no
Social Norms, Violence, and Wealth have a big influence throughout the book ”Things Fall Apart”. These topics demonstrated different ways. He showed his masculinity throughout the book. Okonkwo was a very successful man but believed strongly in gender roles and treated his wives unfairly. Although he was a successful man he was a very insecure man.
In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is portrayed as a strong and stubborn man who does not let up his ground. Throughout the novel Okonkwo is able to gain sympathy because of the actions he makes that lead to a troubled end for him. Okonkwo comes from a time where male dominance is how powerful one is as a person, and showing any weakness could lead to the end of his reign. When Okonkwo lets down his guard the author does a great job of showing how vulnerable Okonkwo can be in times of need. Chinua Achebe shows that characters who are portrayed as evil can gain sympathy from the readers by Okonkwo being exiled from his own village, the destruction of his culture, and loyalty to his village until the very end.
Okonkwo becomes like this because of his father. His father was lazy and dies a dishonorable death and leaves nothing for his family. Okonkwo fears becoming like his father, an agbala. The effect of this is beneficial for Okonkwo. The way he turns out makes him a great man and because of this, he obtains the third highest title in his tribe.
First, his relationship with his father Unoka. Who he did not have a great relationship with. And someone he did not specifically care for. Someone he knew who just so happen to be his father. In the book there is a quote “okonkwo was ruled by one passion- to hate everything his father had loved”.
“He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat”, Napoleon. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is a man with great success. However under the facade of a noble man lies an underlying fear of becoming his father. A failure. So, he will do anything to avoid that fate.
Okonkwo is a very well-respected and independent man in Umuofia due to his titles and hard work. Even though he seems put together and stern, his life is dictated by fear. His fear of becoming like his father led him to helping in the murder of Ikemefuna, beating his wives and children, and disowning his oldest son, Nwoye. As a main character, Okonkwo remains pretty much the same throughout the book, his biggest issue being his inability to have compassion. Who might he not have compassion for and why?
Propaganda has been an essential factor in politics. From bandwagon, testimonial, plain folks, transfer, fear, logical fallacies, glittering generalities, all the way to name calling, these methods have been used throughout the history of presidential advertisements and commercials. After researching presidential candidates’ commercials, it seemed as though the commercials that hit closer to home—more specifically family oriented—were the ones that gave the candidates more of an advantage as providers and homemakers leaned more towards someone who promised a greater future their children, or a better outlet in order to provide for themselves and their own household. I believe family oriented presidential campaigns were more favorable than
Okonkwo In literature, there are many characters that stand out and show that they have a variety of qualities about them. In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is one character that presents character traits from both the negative and positive sides of him. Okonkwo is portrayed to be a warrior who wanted to become somebody strong and looked up to, but also possesses less favorable qualities. He, however, does not let any one trait dictate his whole personality; he is written to be a well-rounded character.
