ipl-logo

Things Fall Apart Nwoye Quotes

589 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theme of cultural conflict in Things Fall Apart

In Chapter 17 of Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, the character Nwoye gives off the personality of someone who wants to be different and not follow into someone else 's footsteps. Nwoye can’t seem to find his identity in the Ibo culture. So once he has introduced himself to this new culture that opposite from his, he starts to interest into it. Nwoye is Okonkwo’s eldest son and it seems that he turned out to be the least like him. Negative things have happened that drove Nwoye to seek out a new culture. Nwoye had first started to become scared of his father at a very young age. “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(9).” Okonkwo was a hard man, not cruel, but hard. He tried so hard to be the opposite of his father. 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. He was hard on them. “Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient …show more content…

He didn’t join the christians side to seek revenge on his father, but he connected with the way they handled things differently. He connected with the christians more than he connected with his own dad and clan . When Nwoye had came back home from being with the christians and Okonkwo had found out, Okonkwo started to beat Nwoye. When Nwoye didn’t break down that just made Okonkwo beat him more. Until someone had told Okonkwo to unhand Nwoye and to just let him go. Nwoye hadn’t looked back at his father nor tried to communicate with him

Show More
Related

Okonkwo And Nwoye Quotes

802 Words | 4 Pages

Okonkwo constantly struggled to create the same masculine character in Nwoye that he made for himself and constantly found a reflection of his effeminate father, Unoka, in Nwoye. Chapter two describes the relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye in Nwoye’s youth. “Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness... He sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating” (13-14). Okonkwo’s efforts to change Nwoye’s resemblance of Unoka were causing their relationship to be pushed apart because of Okonkwo’s violence and Nwoye’s resistance.

Read More

Cultural Collision In Things Fall Apart

904 Words | 4 Pages

“Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, he had kept it a secret. ”(112) He was afraid to be different and show who he really was. He was always around when they would preach and he even started to remember some of the stories they told. Eventually he was tired of hiding it and when he just couldn’t handle his father anymore he ran away.

Read More

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

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

How Is Okonkwo A Sympathetic Character

623 Words | 3 Pages

He showed his sympathy by providing for his family and Ikemefuna. Okonkwo showed that he was unsympathetic by having no patience and beating his wives and

Read More

Things Fall Apart Nwoye Identity Analysis

479 Words | 2 Pages

As a child, Nwoye is the frequent object of his father's criticism and remains emotionally unfulfilled. Okonkwo, “wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough man capable of ruling his father’s household when he was dead and gone to join the ancestors”(38). When Nwoye finds out that it is Okonkwo who killed a “brother” who he is extremely fond of, and grows very close with, he loses all appreciation for Okonkwo and decides to go against his father and his cultures.

Read More

Nwoye Transformation

1006 Words | 5 Pages

When Nwoye decides to leave his family to pursue his faith, Okonkwo realizes “But he left hold of Nwoye, who walked away and never returned.” Leaving his family and clans, Nwoye is confronting a huge change in his life. This change may be pretty hard to make because he has to discover a new world himself. Recalling at the very beginning, it is impossible for Nwoye to leave because he is not masculine enough to take his own adventure. However, now, he is no longer a boy relied on his family; rather, he becomes a mature man to decide his future path himself and accept his coming of age.

Read More

Okonkwo's Effects Of Colonization In Things Fall Apart

888 Words | 4 Pages

Colonization has an impact on an individual’s life and can either be positive or negative. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe uses Okonkwo, a tragic hero, to show loss of power and respect due to colonization and to exemplify change can be hard for people. Okonkwo’s identity is dependent on the Igbo Culture. At the beginning of the book, Okonkwo is seen as very strong. Also, Okonkwo only shows the emotion anger because he thinks that is the only emotion that men should show and every other emotion is feminine according to his standards.

Read More

Similarities And Similarities Between Okonkwo And Macbeth

946 Words | 4 Pages

His father was the exact opposite of what the Igbo people stand for. Unoka, Okonkwo’s father, is a “coward [who] could not bear the sight of blood” (Achebe 6). In turn, Okonkwo became a ruthless warrior who was known across the different tribes. The worst aspect of Unoka is that he was considered to be a failure. This caused Okonkwo “even as a little boy [to resent] his father’s failure” (13).

Read More

Okonkwo's Hatred In Things Fall Apart

1774 Words | 8 Pages

Unoka was described as lazy, improvident and not capable of thinking about tomorrow. From this Okonkwo was ashamed of his father and strives to be nothing like him. Okonkwo’s hatred towards his father has hardened his heart and has made him incapable of being a person of compassion and understanding throughout the novel. His hatred for his father has made him fear failure and weakness throughout the story. His fear of failure has brought him to his downfall.

Read More

Things Fall Apart Nwoye Essay

828 Words | 4 Pages

Nwoye as young man suffered under his father 's high standards and chooses to branch away from the Igbo cultures religion and go rogue as christian to seek who he really is. All throughout Nwoye 's childhood he was looked as the lazy one and was looked down upon by his own father and the community. Nwoye

Read More

Okonkwo's Relationship Essay

817 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More

Father Son Relationships In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

1330 Words | 6 Pages

These sudden behaviors against his son nwoye completely make him to adapt opposite ideals from his father Okonkwo just like okonkwo and his

Read More

Femininity In Things Fall Apart

895 Words | 4 Pages

His fear of weakness and failure is derived from his father, Unoka’s failures, which ignite Okonkwo’s misogynistic views. Throughout his lifetime, Okonkwo associates femininity with weakness because of Unoka, who was called an “agbala” or woman by the people of Umuofia. Since women have this reputation for weakness, Okonkwo lives with constant fear that he will be given the same title as his father. Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye’s effeminacy reminds Okonkwo of his own father. He says, "I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man, but there is much of his mother in him ."(Achebe, 66).

Read More

Compare And Contrast Okonkwo And Nwoye

1890 Words | 8 Pages

Fear is the core cause of the dramatic shift of lifestyle for both Okonkwo and Nwoye. Through the management of reputation and the avoidance of their father’s likeness, Okonkwo and Nwoye built new lives for themselves. Okonkwo sought power and authority to prove his masculinity and make up for Unoka’s reputation as a weak man. He did this to the point where manliness became his character. Fearlessness and violence were masculine qualities that in Igbo culture signifies strength and influence.

Read More

More about Things Fall Apart Nwoye Quotes

Related Topics

Open Document