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Okonkwo's Fear

650 Words3 Pages

In Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, the protagonist Okonkwo is portrayed as a strong, proud, and ambitious man who is driven by fear rather than malice. Throughout the novel, Okonkwo's actions and thoughts reveal that his fear of failure, rejection, and weakness motivates him to become a successful leader in his community. However, some may argue that Okonkwo's actions are motivated by malice, as he is often violent and harsh towards those around him. One example of Okonkwo's fear-driven behavior is his constant need to prove himself as a successful and powerful leader in his community. He gained much respect for his tribe and himself for wrestlng. Okonkwo has also gained respect by working hard to become a very successful yam farmer. …show more content…

Okonkwo's violence is a physical manifestation of his fear of being seen as weak and inadequate, and he uses it as a way to assert his power and authority over others. Okonkwo's violence is not a desire to harm or hurt others, but rather a way to assert his power and authority. In addition, Okonkwo's fear of failure and rejection also drives his violent behavior. He is constantly worried about losing his status and prestige in the community, and this fear motivates him to be a strong leader. The narrator says, "He had a great burning ambition to be one of the lords of the clan" (Achebe, 12). This quote highlights Okonkwo's fear of failure and rejection, which motivates him to be a strong leader and assert his power and authority over others. In conclusion, Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart is driven more by fear than malice. His fear of failure, rejection, and weakness motivates him to become a successful leader in his community. His actions and thoughts reveal that his fear of being seen as weak and inadequate, and of losing his status and prestige in the community, motivates him to be a strong leader. While some may argue that Okonkwo's actions are motivated by malice, it is important to note that his violence is not a desire to harm or hurt others, but rather to protect himself from his

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Okonkwo's Father Quotes

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Having the reputation of being “poor and his wife and children barely ate”. Okonkwo feels that anything that reminded him of his father was weak and unnecessary. Another example would be beating his wife during peace week because she didn’t cook but got her hair done during peace.

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Is Okonkwo Sympathetic Or Sympathetic

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Okonkwo is known throughout all nine villages for his self-wealth, strength but most of all his anger and temper. He is irrational and does not think logically, but thinks through his fists. He is incapable of showing remorse or emotion, and due to this lack of emotion, when someone starts to agitate him he immediately fights. Whether it be domestic violence towards his wife and children or picking fights with neighbors challenging him. Okonkwo’s family relationships make him a sympathetic character because he provides for his family which is what his father could not do and an unsympathetic character because of the constant domestic violence when something is not done to his expectations.

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Okonkwo Dialectical Journal

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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.

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The Fall of Okonkwo The author C. Lewis adeptly states: “For pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.” Hubris is described as excessive pride or self-confidence. Okonkwo plunges himself toward tragedy because of his hubris; with his tragic flaw present, Okonkwo experiences an evident downfall. In Chinua Achebe’s fiction novel Things Fall Apart (1959), the main character Okonkwo embodies an abundant number of flaws, including his obsession with masculinity and desire to avert his father’s legacy.

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Cultural Collision In Things Fall Apart Essay

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In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo reacts to cultural collision in his society by having a closed mind and attempting to retaliate, which ultimately leads to his suicide, contributing to the novel’s theme that one

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People looked to him as a leader and others feared him. He earned honor from his village “as a young man of eighteen he throw Amanlinee the Cat” (1). Okonkwo did everything in his power to maintain that high position in his village. He was a person who cared about personal achievements and wanted to take the position of the next man up the ladder. His physical looks were a plus

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When Okonkwo was “angry and could not get his words quickly out enough, he would use his fists” (Achebe 2). Okonkwo’s violent personality traits cause him to make very irrational decisions that would later have future consequences. Despite that, his less than perfect tendencies did help him to achieve many goals throughout his life. However, the instances where they worked against him outweigh all other factors. Okonkwo is seen as a very painfully structured man and when something doesn't go according to his structure, it causes him to make irrational decisions.

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He was too proud to let his tribe give up their warlike history. He was to proud and self-assured to accept his son's choices. Okonkwo is a sad character whose pride has constantly led him down the crooked path. Achebe shows that being proud isn't a constructive thing for the future. That development can only occur when pride is put aside, and people think logically instead of

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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.

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Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Chinua Achebe. In the novel there is a main character called Okonkwo. He lived in Umuofia where he was also known throughout many of the nine villages around Umuofia. In the beginning of the story we see his overwhelming hatred towards his father Unoka. His father died about ten years ago and had not taken any title and was very much in debt.

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Okonkwo's Relationship Essay

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In the book are several quotes to support this, but one seems to be the more straightforward quote. “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness….. It was fear of himself lest he should be

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Father Son Relationships In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

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The inability for Okonkwo to be weak makes him solely cruel and with a weak father like Unoka he felt forced to adapt opposite ideals. Chinua Achebe shows how Okonkwo had to make a life for himself as his father had not allowed for many opportunities for him to come in play. Later the author of the article, Psychology & Behavioral Health Vol.2 the author talks about the motivation that it takes to overcome and cope with the fears that prohibit him from growing and being he optimal version of himself. Fight or flight is described as a physiological

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Theme Of Fear In Things Fall Apart

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In the story, Things Fall Apart, there is a strong theme that stood out to me, and that theme is fear. Throughout this story, many characters have experienced fear, like how Okonkwo fears of becoming lazy like his father, Ekwefi fear of losing her daughter, and how Nwoye fears his father’s wrath. Most of the characters have an ‘external’ fear, but Okonkwo has an ‘internal’ fear that has him worrying about himself and who he is. Instead of trying to go above his fear and get rid of it, he lets it consume him.

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Out of all of his children, at least he takes much pride in one of them; that’s something that he never gets himself from his father while he grows up. In contrast to this softer behavior, Okonkwo is also a strong man. He is one of the greatest wrestlers in all of the villages when it comes to his physical strength. Not only that, he is mentally strong as well. He is able to do things that most men believe to be unthinkable; he displays all of the characteristics needed in an ideal warrior.

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Okonkwo's Fear Of Failure In Things Fall Apart

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Okonkwo doesn’t want to be a failure like his father so he makes sure that he is the opposite of him. This means being strict and mean even toward his family. For example, “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children'' (pg 13). Okonkwo felt that he needed to control his household with abuse and terrified his family.

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