ipl-logo

Things Fall Apart Research Paper

763 Words4 Pages

After reading this novel Things Fall Apart, I can truly comprehend how cultural conflict, peer pressure, and temptations can affect a person's life and state of mind. Watching a little child that was not alike his father and tended to behave like his mother or like a “female”, slowly but surely pushed to become an outsider in his own family. Also his father Okonkwo felt as if
Nwoye was going to become like his Grandfather Unoka. He did not want his son to become lazy, incompetent, or vulnerable to female traits. “Okonkwo’s first son Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness.” (Pg. 13).
Already starting out Okonkwo felt as if Nwoye was not going to be like him. “Nwoye knew that it was right to …show more content…

Here we see Nwoye going back to his feminine side and crying because he knows what is going to happen to his “brother”.
When Okonkwo and his family are exiled for seven years to his motherland Mbanta several years later the encounter a group with a new faith and one ultimate God of everything. Unlike the
Igbo culture where they have multiple Gods, the new religion was called Christianity brought by the white man to change the Ibo world forever. The new faith was taking control of some of the tribes most awarded men that held high titles, it even consumed Nwoye from beginning but he didn’t let anyone know of his interest in the church. “Although Nwoye has been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, he kept it secret” (pg. 149). He tried to stay away from the missionaries because he knew his father would not enjoy the thought of his son abandoning his cultural roots. “After passing and re-passing by the church, Nwoye returned home.” (Pg. 150).
Obviously he wanted to go into the church and not leave but he couldn’t muster up the courage to do so.
Okonkwo was furious. “... suddenly overcome with fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him

Show More
Related

Summary Of Under The Influence Scott Sanders

155 Words | 1 Pages

In the story “Under the Influence,” Scott Russell Sanders. He tell you in detail about his father’s excessive abuse of alcohol, and the transformation that transpired. However, as he grown older he realized his father didn’t only have impact his mother, his sister and his brother, but also how it is affected his own relationship with his own children as well. He describe his father’s alcoholism problem while growing up barbaric and dark. Since he realize the neglection he felt during those times of his childhood.

Read More

Okonkwo And Nwoye Quotes

802 Words | 4 Pages

Once again, Nwoye found peace away from his father when the Christian missionaries came to Mbanta, the motherland where Okonkwo and his family were exiled to. Nwoye converted to Christianity and escaped the force of his father in their household. Okonkwo, of course, didn’t support his son’s decision and was completely against Nwoye leaving behind the tradition the Okonkwo followed so deeply. A paragraph in chapter seventeen reflects on Okonkwo’s thoughts. “To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about

Read More

Imperialism In Igbo Society

880 Words | 4 Pages

Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, also becomes the first converts to Christianity (Achebe 107). He does it to show his protest for Igbo decision to sacrifice Ikemefuna, Okonkwo’s adopted son’. Nyowe decides to join church and choose to attend school. After knowing about it, Okonkwo gets furious and disowns Nwoye. The decision to abandon his son becomes another example of Igbo’s inability to deal with change.

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

Nwoye's Decisions In Things Fall Apart

905 Words | 4 Pages

He had always disappointed his father because of his lack of masculine qualities. When Achebe writes, “ These outcasts, or osu, seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations, thought that it was possible that they would also be received.” he is informing the reader that the missionaries are telling everyone that God looks at everyone as equal. The “osu” were considered downcasts and unaccomplished people who would never see a title or accomplishment but the Christian God they were hearing about loved them all. It means that Nwoye is also considered an equal among men.

Read More

Who Is Okonkwo In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

831 Words | 4 Pages

Achebe says, “That was the kind of story that Nwoye loved. But he now knew that they were for foolish women and children, and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man. And so he feigned that he no longer cared for women’s stories” (54). So he can be viewed as manly, Nwoye begins disguising his feelings he possesses for the women’s stories. Realizing this pleases Okonkwo and makes him cease the beatings temporarily, Nwoye continues to do this.

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 Quotes From Things Fall Apart

605 Words | 3 Pages

(p.143) Okonkwo most definitely did not accept Nwoye joining the missionaries. Okonkwo strangled his own son because he changed his beliefs. He could not be himself around his own family, he felt more comfortable around the missionaries; complete strangers. When Christian missionaries brought a new religion to the Ibo culture Nwoye changed his opinion about his cultures beliefs and religion. Nwoye was one of the best characters in this book because he had a conscious.

Read More

Okonkwo In Things Fall Apart

682 Words | 3 Pages

(61)” He would rather execute his own son than be seen as weak in front of the rest of the village. However, this doesn’t sit well with his other son, Nwoye. After he learns that his father murdered his brother, he slowly distances himself away from Okonkwo and ends up converting his faith because his own faith has failed him. It didn’t protect him from his father’s wrath nor protect Ikemefuna from death.

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

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

895 Words | 4 Pages

When the Christians arrive, Nwoye and Okonkwo react very differently. Okonkwo was afraid of change. He was afraid of becoming like his father, Unoku, who was gentle and lazy. For that reason,

Read More

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

362 Words | 2 Pages

Through Okonkwo’s anger for Nwoye changing beliefs, deep down he becomes frightened that the traditional Igbo religion will be no more because of people like his own son. The other members of the tribe, Uchendu for example, saw Okonkwo’s actions as extreme and uncalled for therefore showing Okonkwo's over-the-top attitude towards failing traditions compared to other Igbo

Read More

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

721 Words | 3 Pages

Okonkwo always wanted for Nwoye to faithfully be committed with the Ibo religion, and it came as a huge shock to him when Nwoye showed up to his house as a Christian. Achebe wrote, “Okonkwo had driven him away with the threat that if he came into his compound again, he would be carried out of it” (182). Okonkwo hates the Christian religion that he believes is ruining everything. With Okonkwo chasing his son away after his became Christian, it shows how he puts his own religious beliefs over his family which further isolates him from his family only because he doesn’t accept Christians. Okonkwo also doesn’t want to even bother with peaceful interactions with Christians.

Read More

Things Fall Apart Nwoye Essay

828 Words | 4 Pages

In Chinua Achebe novel, Things Fall Apart Nwoye a young man under Okonkwo’s responsibility is affected positively by the introduction of western ideas into the Ibo culture. This being said Nwoye has found a passion for being apart of a religion not known by any local in Igbo called Christianity, to some it was a blessing and to others a disgrace. To Okonkwo he feels that anybody who converts to Christianity is a disgrace to their village. And how surprising is it that his own son converts to a Christian. And in his conversion he tries to escape his strict culture and find out who he is as a person.

Read More

Compare And Contrast Okonkwo And Nwoye

1890 Words | 8 Pages

Similarly, Nwoye also resists the reputation of his own father by rejecting this masculine regime of Okonkwo and Igbo culture, showing feminine virtues instead. His intention to carry his beliefs on to his children is established when Okonkwo thinks to himself after he learns of Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity. Nwoye made the decision to leave Umofia after the realization that his views do not coincide with those of his society any longer due to the life time of exposure to the toxicity of Okonkwo’s masculine behavior. It is because he refuses to conform that Nwoye wishes to alter the reputation of himself and his family by joining a culture that he finds to reflect the values that he believes in, instead of those he was dejectedly forced into following by his

Read More

More about Things Fall Apart Research Paper

Related Topics

Open Document