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Things Fall Apart A Bad Thing

725 Words3 Pages

Is the meeting between two cultures a good or bad thing? For Okonkwo in the novel Things Fall Apart, it is a bad thing. He becomes depressed and the arrival of the Christian missionaries brings out his bad qualities. Okonkwo's life changes a lot throughout the novel, as his violence and aggression jeopardizes his future, his fear of becoming his dad puts him on a bad path, and his bad qualities are brought out with the arrival of the Christian missionaries. Okonkwo's violence and aggression jeopardizes his successful future. Okonkwo was a very successful man at the beginning of the novel. Although, his aggression puts him down a bad path. At the beginning of the book, he was looked up to. He was a leader. At the end of the book, not only does he commit suicide, he also get exiled for …show more content…

Okonkwo expresses violence and aggression, and it leads to his own depression. At the beginning of the book, we saw flashes of his aggression when he beat his third wife (Achebe 29). In the middle of the book, he murdered a boy as a result of his aggression, leading him to seven years in exile. While in exile, he was informed that Nwoye was among the Christian’s. He couldn’t handle his aggression and expressed his violence, “suddenly overcome with fury, he sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck”(Achebe 151). This is one of many examples throughout the novel that Okonkwo expresses his hatred towards the Christian’s. In a conversation with Nwoye in the beginning of chapter two, Okonkwo immediately wants to kill the Christian’s. Okonkwo recalls that he is called the “Roaring Flame.” He then blames the effeminacy of his son on his wife (Achebe 152-153). This leads him to a bad place and after exile he isn’t the same. This event led to drama as Okonkwo doesn’t know how to react when his life turns into that of his father. His successful life was turned upside down with the help of the Christian’s

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In the story “Things Fall Apart”, Okonkwo is a character who is recognized as a successful wrestler, and a strong leader in the village Umuofia. Okonkwo is exiled to his mother’s village called Mbanta for seven years for killing Ezeudu’s sixteen-year-old son. Okonkwo finds out that his son Nwoye has joined Christianity and takes exception to it. Okonkwo beats Nwoye because he joins Christianity because he still hasn’t forgiven Okonkwo for killing Ikemefuna. Okonkwo has a response to the collision of his culture.

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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 Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) was established on 1st January 1978 under the principle of providing multilingual and multicultural radio and television services to Australians whose first language was not English. (Australia Government, 2015) It is a government owned, national broadcasting service that was founded at a time of changing Australia immigration policies. After World War II ended in 1945, the Australian government recognised the need for a bigger population and it implemented a large-scale immigration program. (ABC Splash, 2015)

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Okonkwo father was a coward and lazy and he did his best not to become that. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw is that he wants to be strong, all throughout the book he trying to strong leads him to sadness and overall suicided. A great example would be Ikemefuna, he basically became his second son and instead of showing emotion when Okonkwo participates in Ikemefuna’s murder he just shoves it inside causing guilt and regret All of it because he does not want to be like his father. Another great example is when he was all ready to go to war and at the meeting when a messenger from the missionaries arrive and says stop the meeting. Enraged he kills him before realizing that his clan will not go to war with the missionaries.

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At first, Okonkwo was very set in his ways, and determined to appear manly and powerful to his clansmen, and this came into play when the white people entered into Umuofia, as he tried to fight back. Finally, when he did not get the results he was hoping for, he resorted to killing himself, displaying that stubbornness towards colliding cultures leads to violence and destruction. Overall, when two cultures collide, they can either both accept each other, leading to peace and prosperity, or try to claim superiority over the other, which results, most commonly, in destruction. Unfortunately, Things fall apart ended in the latter, but the other is possible for those with an open mind and a flexible

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Okonwko justifies his violence with the notion that he has self made his success without the help of his father so he can be aggressive and militant. Okonkwo beats his wife on the most peaceful week of the year and is berated by the Priest. “Your wife was at fault, but even if you came into your obi and found her lover on top of her you would still

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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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Today, Christianity is one of the largest religions in Africa. In the past few decades, there has been a large growth of Christians in Africa - this is coupled with a steady decline in the more traditional African religions. The book, Things Fall Apart shows that a character that has a tragic flaw is one that constantly makes error in there actions that eventually cates us to them and leads them to there doom. Okonkwo, a perfect tragic character, is driven by his fear of being unmanly, this causes him to act very harsh toward his fellow tribesmen, his family and himself; he will judge all the people in the village. In the eyes of Okonkwo, a true man is wealthy, hard-working, and violent.

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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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1774 Words | 8 Pages

The hatred that he had for his father he carried with him throughout his whole life. That hatred turned into him killing Ikemefuna and the messenger. Ikemefuna was thought of as a son and he killed him in fear of being considered weak in front of his clan members. That weakness was thought of his weakness which was considered a failure. At the end of the story Okonkwo ends up being just like his father which is ironic because he strived to be nothing like him.

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1106 Words | 5 Pages

Due to having a difficult childhood, Okonkwo credits his fame to hard work, discipline and determination. To him, the gods did not play a large role in aiding him to become the stable man he is. This has a second-hand effect on his son because he does not embed the importance of making sacrifices or devotions to the gods as much as he does with Nwoye’s non-existent masculinity. Upon arriving in Umuofia, the missionaries waste no time preaching the concept of Christianity and the Holy Trinity. This creates a clash with the villagers who were already deep-rooted within their polytheistic faith.

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817 Words | 4 Pages

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?

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Being the only one left who wants to overthrow the missionaries, Okonkwo is driven to kill himself. Many of the things Okonkwo does in his life tend to make things worse for him. Okonkwo’s actions before and after the cultural collision he experiences when

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508 Words | 3 Pages

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”.

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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.

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