The story “Things Fall Apart” tells about a young man named Okonkwo who had personal achievements. Okonkwo was a young man of his village and brought great honor to his village by throwing Amalize the great cat, which was a great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten , from Umuofia to Mbaino. Amalinze was called the “cat” because his back never touched the grown. Unoka which is Okonkwo’s father died ten years ago page 4 says that in his day he was lazy and improvident. Unoka was a debtor he owed all of his neighbors money but he never paid them back. Unoka was an active man in his younger days he enjoyed doing things,
The novel “things fall apart” is about the fatal demise of Okonkwo and the igbo culture of Umuofia. Okonkwo is well known and respected leader in his community, who is successful in everything he does, such as wrestling and farming. He is quick with his hands and takes pride in his accomplishments. Okonkwo’s family relationship makes him a sympathetic character because of his support and an unsympathetic character because of his cruelty. In many ways Okonkwo showed that he had no sympathy for others , However at times he could be sympathetic.
Okonkwo tries to fight the changes made by the Western people. Okonkwo’s response to the Western people trying to bring Western ideas into the Ibo culture are simply trying to fight back at the Western people with violence. Okonkwo is a strong and fierce leader, but throughout the story, he is challenged by the Western people and the cultural collision because Okonkwo is supposed to be the leader of Umuofia. Okonkwo is supposed to fight back for his village and not stop until he gets it done. In the story Achebe quotes, “He was a man of action, a man of war.
Okonkwo falls under the hero archetype present in many works of literature throughout history. A few of the qualities and actions that are cause for his inclusion into this category include his reputation as a great wrestler, saying “he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat,” (Achebe 1) a great warrior, “[Okonkwo] had shown incredible prowess in two inter-tribal wars,” (Achebe 8) and his willing to act upon his duties such as receiving Ikemefuna in chapter four and travelling to the village to acquire Ikemefuna in chapter two. This idea of Okonkwo, a prime example of manliness, being a hero expresses that Umuofian culture views masculinity as synonymous with many traits of characters who fall under the hero archetype. In conclusion, Chinua Achebe, in his novel Things Fall Apart, uses both indirect and direct characterization, anecdotes, and foils, as well as archetypes to express the strict views Okonkwo and Umuofian culture possess regarding masculinity and femininity.
Chapter 10: In chapter 10 of Things Fall Apart, the author had purpose in all text. The text supported the author’s purpose of being a female is difficult. Females had to deal with having their thoughts or opinions not important. “There were many women, but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders” (Achebe 87).
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.
For Okonkwo, being truly successful means becoming a better man than his father. Throughout Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is afraid that he will become like his father, who was both lazy and cowardly. Okonkwo, determined to emerge from his father’s shadow, lives his life in order to gain the respect of the other villagers. As a young man, he defeats Amalinze, a great wrestler who had gone undefeated for seven years (Achebe 1). As he grows older, he becomes a wealthy farmer, with two barns full of yams (Achebe 8).
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.
However, Unoka the grown-up was a failure. He was very poor and was constantly in debt, which means that his wife and children (including Okonkwo) didn’t have much to eat. Unoka was very feminine, having a love for music and a hate for wars and blood. He died ten years ago, still a failure who had no titles and was still in debt. Ashamed of his deceased father, Okonkwo has become the complete opposite of his father.
" Unoka, the grown-up, was failure. He was poor, and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. People laughed at him because he was a loafer, and they swore never to lend him money because he never paid back." (Achebe, 4).
From being nothing in his village he rises to be a great, honorable, successful leader of umuofia. He also has a tragic flaw of being weak, failure and having fear that leads him to fail at things several times because of his fears. All of these failures then lead him to his suicide. Finally, he finds his own tragic fate because of his murder of the missionaries court messenger during his villages meeting. Though Okonkwo's life started out as one of the most successful and leading men of Umuofia but because of his violent and impulsive characteristics, even the most successful and well-respected man can fall from his
In the essay I created about Umuofia having both civilized and uncivilized attributes, my strength, includes a complex thesis, and my weakness, includes use of passive voice, illustrated my various developments in essay writing. The strength that I exhibited in my essay was a complex thesis. The improvement in my theses can be seen in my most recent thesis from the essay about Umuofia. The thesis was filled with rich vocabulary and strong language in order to convey my opinion with correct examples.
Eventually, after numerous hardships, Okonkwo earns his success and obtains several barns and wives. This symbolizes wealth and power which were what Okonkwo had been working for all his life. Moreover, Achebe portrays Okonkwo as a fierce warrior and is also represents him as a model clansman in the society:
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.
1. I read Things Fall Apart by famous Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe when I was 8 years old. 2. By the time I was halfway through elementary school, I had read approximately 300 novels.
Thousand’s of people go through life changing events everyday, these events can cause people to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Having to make a decision to do what you know is right or do something that is frowned upon by others just to get at a better state in life. In the novel “Things Fall Apart”, Chinua Achebe displays fear, fate, and religion through conflict and tragedy. In the novel “Things Fall Apart” the author shows tragedy by putting the characters in certain devastating situations.