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Things Fall Apart Quote Analysis

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“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” (Lovecraft). H.P. Lovecraft’s words artfully describe fear of the unknown as a quality that everyone has. In the fictional text Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the main character, Okonkwo, is driven by his fear of the future to strive for full control over himself as well as partial control over fellow clan members. Okonkwo pushes himself to appear powerful in front of others so he can keep his control, since he knows that at any moment he could lose it, with a large clan with many high ranking leaders. He gains his control by becoming a leader of the clan, letting him make decisions for himself and the clan. An individual's fear of leaving decisions to the unknown …show more content…

Okonkwo loses his control when he was told of a decision made that he had no control in making or changing, the decision the Oracle made to kill Ikemefuna, Okonkwo’s son. Okonkwo decides to try to acquire control by coming with the group to kill Ikemefuna, because he wanted to show that he respects and agrees with the Oracle’s decision. To do this, he went with the group to kill Ikemefuna. Okonkwo was fearful “of being thought weak” (Achebe 17) by the clan. If he had control over himself, he would not have made the choice to kill Ikemefuna. A person with more power than him making decisions for him scares him and makes him overcompensate for his lack of power by coming along and dealing Ikemefuna the final blow. Okonkwo’s fear of a bad reputation controlled him and his choices, thus obscuring Okonkwo’s love for Ikemefuna, whom he never imagined killing. People have a fear of looking weak in front of their peers, thinking they will be judged for it The fear overwhelms and controls their lives, causing them to make choices they may come to later

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Everyone has a secret, a secret that is kept deep inside not wanting to be exposed. Fear in a way is, too, a secret but a secret that may change the person’s behaviour. In a book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is controlled by his fear; all of his decision is tied to fear of being seen as weak. The feeling of fearfulness is the certain factor that affects Okonkwo actions and personality because it changes the person’s behaviour, making Okonkwo himself. It also affects his interaction with other people and his status as a tribe member.

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537 Words | 3 Pages

Fear makes people do things that they would not normally do. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and “from When the Emperor Was Divine” by Julie Otsuka the theme of fear is revealed through the characters’ actions and the authors’ descriptions. Okonkwo reveals the theme through how hard he works and how he treats his family.

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1328 Words | 6 Pages

In Francoise Sagan’s novel, Bonjour Tristesse, Cecile, the 17-year-old narrator, is on vacation with her father, Raymond, and with all of these other women in Raymond’s love life. The specific physical settings of the novel play significant roles in the development of the story, especially in Cecile’s plan to reunite Elsa and Raymond. One place in the novel that plays a significant role in the plot is the terrace. The terrace is a central location in the novel, where there is an escalation in the emotions of each event that takes place there, as well as the development and revolution of characters.

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Okonkwo devotes his life to becoming the opposite of his unsuccessful father. This need to become masculine introduces his fear: “But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of

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Haven Montgomery Siver E block March 21 2023 The Reality of the Fear Swallowing Okonkwo In the classic "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, the main character Okonkwo experiences a great deal of suffering due to his inability to process and understand the root of his insecurities. Though Okonkwo is seen to be powerful, masculine, and numb, deep down he is plagued by anxiety and fear over his own insecurities.

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646 Words | 3 Pages

After Okonkwo murders Ikemefuna he has a bulk of feelings and becomes emotional which isn’t like him. The text says “ Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna. .. He did not sleep at night, he tried not to think about Ikemefuna but the more he tried, the more he thought about him”(Achebe 63). Okonkwo grown very fond of him, so his death made Okonkwo very dismal about his actions.

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1119 Words | 5 Pages

Okonkwo is the protagonist, so it makes sense for him to demonstrate a lot of pride which he undeniably does. Okonkwo is constantly bragging and boastful talking about how many men he or Umuofia has killed and is constantly scared to be perceived as weak. An early example of this is in chapter 7 when Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna. He is advised by his elders not to go and just stay at home. But Okonkwo goes anyway, which leads to him killing Ikemefuna because "He was afraid of being thought weak.

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1449 Words | 6 Pages

The reason why he was chosen to be killed was due to a respected lady gives a message to the village deciding to kill Ikemefuna due to Umuofia crime that was committed. However, because Okonkwo did not want to seem weak, he decided to go through will the killing of Ikemefuna. Even though he has the power and ability to stop this event, he didn't want to seem weak. I feel as, power and control over situations gets to people's heads, and while feeling powerful they lose themself. As, he loses the good in himself by be willing to kill Ikemefuna.

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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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847 Words | 4 Pages

When Ikemefuna was alive, Okonkwo saw him as a son and allowed the boy to call him “father”. The first sentence following Ikemefuna death is, “[Okonkwo] was afraid of being thought weak,”(61) This line demonstrates that Okonkwo is aware that killing Ikemefuna is wrong, but his excessive need to be a strong man forces him to kill the boy. Okonkwo could have grown up to be a wise and ethical man if it were not for the pressures society put on men to be the strongest in the village. This actions proves that the fear of not fitting in often forces you to become someone

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325 Words | 2 Pages

However, Okonkwo went against the elders; he came to Ikemefuna’s execution and did nothing to stop it. Achebe explains, “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe

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1330 Words | 6 Pages

Despite the fact that his status in the Umuofia tribe was high-ranked, his masculinity seems to bulldoze over the qualities that humanize him. In a section of Psychology & Behavioral Health Vol.2 about fear, the author states, “Fear is an unpleasant emotion that occurs in response to an immediate and identifiable threat, usually of an external nature ” (Moglia). While faced with conflict Okonkwo detects a threat and reacts. In several instances these reactions have caused him immense losses such as the death of his adopted son. Okonkwo's temper always manages to shine through, Things Fall Apart depicts this perfectly by stating, “It is not only Ikemefuna who feels fear… every nerve in Okonkwo tells him this is wrong, but when the moment comes, he kills his adopted son.”

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967 Words | 4 Pages

Okonkwo’s world is filled with downfalls flaws throughout his life as he is shown to be a man of strength. Indeed, Okonkwo is a man that is shown to fear failure and weakness, especially among him and others. Okonkwo’s hamartia is the dominance “by fear, the fear of failure and weakness” (13). In fact, Okonkwo’s fear of failure brought him to have little patience for others, and immediately take action if anything seemed out of the ordinary. As white men came to Umofia, Okonkwo realized that no one was going to stand up and go towar, unless Egonwanne changed the next day.

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315 Words | 2 Pages

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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1297 Words | 6 Pages

“He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat”, Napoleon. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is a man with great success. However under the facade of a noble man lies an underlying fear of becoming his father. A failure. So, he will do anything to avoid that fate.

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