Things Fall Apart

In most fairy tales and novels a humble male role is used to dictate the normality of writing. In “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo, a strong male role is not only that, a lead character, but he is also cruel and prone to violent tendencies In the novel Okonkwo experiences harsh changes when the white men first came and at the beginning of colonialism. In “Things Fall Apart”, Achebe uses Okonkwo to display the negative change in everyday Igbo culture after colonialism. In this novel by Achebe, before colonialism was introduced, Okonkwo was a known masculine member of Umuofia.

The reasons for Nwoye’s change in their sense of identity included his relationship with his father and his acceptance of the Missionaries. Ultimately, their response to the introduction of Western ideas shaped the meaning of the work as a whole by showing the positive effects the new culture can have on someone. The first reason Nwoye’s sense of identity was challenged with the introduction of the Western ideas was because of his relationship with his father. In the beginning of Things Fall Apart, it tells us

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.

Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe Literary Analysis “Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was just not personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women,” (Achebe 183). This quote is referring to the immense disappointment the clan has caused Okonkwo to endure. When Okonkwo was first exiled for seven years, he expected to return himself to the same clan he had been forced to leave.

In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Nwoye’s sense of identity changed when the Western ideas appeared in the Ibo culture. Nwoye’s response was positive and courageous for going outside for what his father believed in and it shaped him as a young man that knows what he is striving for. To begin with, Nwoye is struggling arduously to find his identity. With his father trying to convince him into becoming like his self, Nwoye gets confused on what is best for him.

In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Nwoye battles an internal conflict of whether to stay on his tribe’s side, or to go against them. Nwoye ultimately resolves this conflict by choosing to follow the British instead of his father; however, this choice also illustrates his true character as both timid and bold. Nwoye’s decision to following the British also reveals the universal theme that you can settle on a path that you choose instead of following a path you were designated to follow. Nwoye struggles to choose which path to take, his father’s or the British.

At his early age, Nwoye is an effeminate boy who prefers a mild and easy lifestyle; however, with the influence of Ikemefuna, Nwoye gradually behaves like a man. When Okonkwo reads masculine and violent stories to Nwoye, “Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell.” Spending

Cultivating respect for the diversity of the people and their cultures plays an important role for a living. Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, implies the importance of respect in the Ibo tribe because it plays a key role in their society. As the European settlers invade the Ibo’s land, there is a question of the balance of respect within the Ibo culture and between the two diverse religions. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe portrays that the Ibo culture values dignity between individuals to prove that respect leads to harmony.

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.

Throughout the passage from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Achebe meticulously integrates diction that evokes both strength and vulnerability, repetition of questions that Okonkwo asks himself, and a depressed tone from his point of view following Ikemefuna’s death. These methods enable Achebe to not only emphasize the importance of masculinity and unfair gender roles to Okonkwo and in Igbo society, but also to illuminate how Okonkwo’s perception of fear being associated with weakness and femininity eventually drives him into disbelief and remorse as well as reveals his insecurities. One of Achebe’s most evident devices in the passage is his use of diction tied with masculinity to elucidate the male dominance and distinct gender roles that exist among the people of Igbo. Okonkwo justifies his own manhood by recalling how he was known for his “valor in war” and for being the “man who has killed five men in battle”(Achebe 65).

The foil of Nwoye and Okonkwo emphasizes the importance of masculinity in the Umuofian society. For example, Achebe initially states Nwoye's unwillingness to change and become like his father in Chapter Seven: "Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell..." (Achebe 53). This quote explains his hesitation to fully becoming a man and abandoning his child-like ways. Okonkwo wants his son to be masculine, because in Okonkwo's eyes, masculinity equals great success. In contrast, Nwoye wants to continue the rituals of his childhood.

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).

After Nwoye hears Okonkwo’s stories of war, Achebe writes “ Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell. “ (58). Nwoye acknowledges that masculinity is encouraged in his society. He knows that his father wants him to be masculine whenever Okonkwo invites his to his obi, or hut. Nwoye knows that a son of the greatest fighter in Umuofia should be manly.

When Nwoye was a child, he was always compared to his grandfather Unoka, who was seen as a failure throughout the village. His father constantly beat him because of his laziness. Okonkwo always pushed him to be someone he is not. Due to his constant beatings, Nwoye started developing a sad faced youth. He was educated by his parents and the missionaries.