ipl-logo

Okonkwo's Fear In Things Fall Apart

643 Words3 Pages

In the book “Things Fall Apart” the author chinua Achebe, explains the life of the main character “Okonkwo”. Okonkwo has many fears but, his greatest fears are failure and weakness. Okonkwo fears on being like his father. Okonkwo may have many conflicts with his tribe, but he still represents them as powerful warriors. His fear of weakness comes from his tribe. Many of his other problems come from his children and wives. The changes of the missionaries brought okonkwo great anger.
Okonkwo's feared becoming like his father. Unoka Okonkwo's father was lazy, improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow (Achebe, pg #4). Unoka was a very irresponsible man he owed every neighbor some money, from a few cowries to a massive amount. …show more content…

Okonkwo's three wives and ten children are the greatest things in his life, but yet it has caused his trouble. Okonkwo would beat his wives and children. Okonkwo would constantly beat Nwoye hoping to correct his faults (Achebe pg 36). Okonkwo believed Nwoye was weak and lazy like his grandfather Unoka. Okonkwo influenced him to be like ikemefuna a hardworking young man. Ezinma is Okonkwo's favorite child from his second wife. He wished she would have been a boy, she would have been the perfect son (Achebe pg57). Okonkwo had threatened one of his wifes during the week of peace and he also killed a boy from a clan so he was exiled for seven years (Achebe pg 68). Okonkwo powerful warriors were no longer …show more content…

The missionaries had just moved into the village. They asked for a piece of land to build their church so they gave then a part of the evil forest (Achebe pg 75 ). All the villagers disliked the missionaries because they were christians, they believed that they only wanted to come into the village to take everyone. Nwoye Okonkwo's youngest son had been sneaking out into the evil forest to join the missionaries. When Okonkwo found out he beat Nwoye (Achebe pg 72 ). Okonkwo wanted to get rid of all the missionaries but the district commissary did not want to start war. So Okonkwo decided to burn down their church. Okonkwo was arrested by the district commissary and had to pay a

Show More
Related

Okonkwo Dialectical Journal

387 Words | 2 Pages

The author, Chinua Achebe, used Okonkwo as an example of the father/son conflict and how the conflict affects a man’s life. Just because one does not always act like the typical strong, almost emotionless man, that does not mean one is coward. Okonkwo’s thought process leads to his demise because he cannot bear to see the strong willed tribe and culture he has known his whole life fail him: just

Read More

Okonkwo's Father Quotes

511 Words | 3 Pages

But the villagers said that he needed to be killed and Okonkwo insisted on taking his life even though you can see their relationship was very good on pg 28 ikemefuna called him father. He kills him out of fear of being weak and making relationships in the story start to “fall apart “. Chapter 4 pg 28 quotes that Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly unless it was the emotion of anger. To show such emotion as affection was weak. This tragic event causes a relationship with his son Nwoye causes

Read More

Woodrow Wilson Argumentative Essay

1294 Words | 6 Pages

The fateful years of 1914 to 1918 was a crucial time not only for the world, also for the United States of America. In the year of 1912, Woodrow Wilson was elected as the twenty-eighth president, and soon many new responsibilities and forks in the road would arise during his reign. After the fateful World War I started, President Wilson put all his efforts to stay neutral between the two rivaled powers; the Allies or Triple Entente and the Central Powers. That was until the year of 1917, when America made its way into the war siding with the Allied powers. With stronger ties with Great Britain and France, the American troops greatly benefitted and aided the Allied powers in battle.

Read More

Things Fall Apart Nwoye Quotes

589 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

How Does Okonkwo View His Father

558 Words | 3 Pages

Okonkwo tries to be the exact opposite of his father Unoka because of his hatred, and as a result, he ends up being very critical of his sons. While they are planting yams in preparation for the Week of Peace, Nwoye works slowly, and so Okonkwo tells him and Ikemefuna, “I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands.” (pg. 33)

Read More

Uncivilized In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

551 Words | 3 Pages

According to “Things Fall Apart”, “One day as Ezinma was eating an egg Okonkwo had come in unexpectedly from his hut. He was greatly shocked and swore to beat Ekwefi is she dared to give the child eggs again”(Achebe,1959,p.76). This is considered uncivilized because Okonkwo does not care if he hurts his wives physically he will just beat them if they do something he does not like or say something he does not like.

Read More

Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Analysis

755 Words | 4 Pages

Okonkwo was a big supporter of physical and verbal abuse in his home, especially towards his wives and Nwoye. To Okonkwo, physical abuse was another language. This is how he spoke, and punished, on the occasion of the abuse, and how he had handled the situation. Women was treated poorly in Umuofia because men believe that they were weak and in inadequate. “ Even as a little boy Okonkwo had represented his father 's failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was Agbala.

Read More

Okonkwo's Change In Things Fall Apart

1163 Words | 5 Pages

In “Things Fall Apart” Achebe gives background information on Okonkwo saying “He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife.” (5). This quotation from chapter one demonstrates that Okonkwo’s nobility of prosperity is revealed by his success’ from his early years and forward. The villagers within Okonkwo’s clan love and honor him for his personal achievements, and he

Read More

Okonkwo In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

1187 Words | 5 Pages

His violent temper made him commit bad actions that ruin his position in society. Okonkwo’s impulsive personality was a great contribution in his downfalls. Okonkwo first downfall was when he beat one of his wives Ojiugo during the Week of Peace. “And when she returned he beat her heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace” (25).

Read More

How Was Okonkwo Different From His Father

578 Words | 3 Pages

From the very beginning of his life, Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart was different from his other tribesmen. His father was seen as a failure to the tribe. He was a poor man and was in heavy debt (Achebe 5). Due to the way his father lived his life “Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had. He did not inherit a barn from his father.

Read More

Masculinity In Okonkwo's Igbo Culture: Things Fall Apart

705 Words | 3 Pages

He has a large number of kids, (eight minimum) and three wives, From the text, we know he has at least four sons and two daughters. He has three wives; Nwoye 's mother, Ekwefi, and Ojiugo. Their jobs are to prepare his food, take care of his home, and raise the children. If they disobey or step out of line, they 're beaten. Okonkwo sees the women as his property.

Read More

Okonkwo In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

420 Words | 2 Pages

Achebe shows how determined Okonkwo was to be more of a man than his father when he says, “And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion- to hate everything his father had loved”. (Achebe 5). From this we can see how scared Okonkwo is of

Read More

Okonkwo's Fear Of Failure In Things Fall Apart

1297 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More

Things Fall Apart Essay

526 Words | 3 Pages

According to Stogdill theory (1948-1970) Okonkwo was a masculine. He was aggressive, directive and task oriented. He did not give any direction to the task when giving the tasks to his wives and children. He did not have a good behavior with his wives.

Read More

Essay On Okonkwo

769 Words | 4 Pages

He shows that he was extremely pleased with his daughter, Ezinma, several times throughout the novel. He thinks a lot of the young lady… much more than he does his sons, which he labels as disappointments. Sometimes a rare, affectionate side of him even shines through when he is addressing Ezinma. Okonkwo is proud of his daughter and who she is becoming, for he even says, “If Ezinma had been a boy I would have been happier. She has the right spirit”(50).

Read More

More about Okonkwo's Fear In Things Fall Apart

Related Topics

Open Document