Okonkwo's Flaws

In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, he was already a great man for his age. Unoka, his father, had died ten years ago, was lazy and improvident and was in alot of debt and was a failure. Nwoye, Okonkwo’s first son, was twelve years old and was lazy, he starting to be like his grandfather. Okonkwo’s biggest flaw is the fear of becoming like his father and to becoming unsuccessful and less of a man.

In chapter four, the whole village was preparing for The Feast of the New Yam celebration, it was an occasion to give thanks to Ani, the earth goddess. Men, women, children and the elders looked forward to this because it was the new beginning, the new year. But Okonkwo on the other hand was never enthusiastic over feasts as the

Okonkwo’s biggest fear was to become like his father but his own son was beginning to look like him for the simple fact that he was lazy, all of that bothered him so he would correct him by beating and nagging him. As he grew older and started becoming more masculine, his father was more happy for having him until he did a huge unexpected change. A group of christians came into the village and influenced some of the people to become christians and start believing in their god. “ I am one of them,” Nwoye turned into a christian because he felt a relief from the crime that his father had did but still felt like he couldn’t forgive him for the way that his religion was. “He is not my father,” Nwoye himself was a very sensitive boy and he felt some type of way when he found out that his father did not wish to speak about him. Okonkwo was pretty upset that once again his son was showing the same character traits as his father, Nwoye was very sensitive and weak just like Okonkwo’s father and that bothered Okonkwo because he feared to become like his father or for his son to resemble