Things Fall Apart Quote Analysis

" Okonkwo was too proud to have stayed home and done the ethical thing. Okonkwo's pride is displayed throughout the entire book with his constant focus on strength and his fear of being thought of as a coward. Going from the beginning to the end, in chapter 24 Okonkwo kills a head messenger during a meeting. " He knew that Umuofia would not got to war.

Instead they let them stay. Because of this, Okonkwo wound up getting arrested with 6 other men by the missionaries. They were released once a fine was paid but this increased tensions. Umufoia had a meeting about going to war with the missionaries when they were interrupted by a court messenger.

This quote shows Okonkwo thinks of himself very highly and thinks that he should never fail or show weakness. In addition, “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog.” (Achebe 188). This quote further shows that the colonist that came led to

Okonkwo experienced change because of the actions that lead to his banishment and this made some of his fears come true. Even after these parts of his life have occurred, Okonkwo would have still been able to recover from his incident. However, because of colonialism, this idea of returning to his old life was shot down by the new ideas and changes within the people of Umoufia. This negative change was caused directly by colonialism. In “Things Fall Apart” the Igbo have been shown to have a large amount of culture that was effected by western beliefs.

Okonkwo embraced the ideals of masculinity championed by his tribe in Umuofia, but he eventually took it too far. When the community around Okonkwo changes because of the arrival of Christianity and Europeans, he struggles to accommodate himself with different

Prompt 2 Okonkwo is driven by his hatred of his father and the fear he will become like him. Okonkwo saw his father, Unoka, as a coward and is ashamed to be his son. Everything that Okonkwo does is meant to set him apart from the legacy of his father. First, this is evident in his beating of his wives and even his aggression with his children. He is trying to show his strength and ensure he is not portrayed to be like his father: powerless and incapable.

Okonkwo's toxic masculine creates conflict with his father, his wife and children, and his religion/beliefs determining his death Okonkwo's persona is mostly dominated by fear of becoming just like his father as we see in the first chapters that were seen as soft and weak with the name Unoka. Okonkwo set his goal to become a strong man and wealthy warrior the opposite of his father. His fear led to cruel crimes for him, his family, and his clan example being- his controllable anger, causing people to fear him in a negative way such as the clan and his own family. Pg. 5 quotes “ Okonkwo's father was a very lazy and carefree man.

Among those of the same culture, individuals who are adaptive and open-minded can be successful when there is cultural collision. When the Igbo and European cultures collide, Okonkwo gradually spirals out of control, losing everything he values and his own sense of self. From the beginning of the novel, Achebe depicts Okonkwo as a virile warrior and a successful farmer within the Igbo tribe. Reacting with violence to anything he considers “womanly” or “weak”, “He was a man of action and man of war” (10). Because of his reputation as a warrior he is highly respected by his community.

Analysis of Okonkwo and Unoka in Things Fall Apart Do you know who Okonkwo and Unoka are? In the novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, he introduces two unlike characters, Okonkwo and Unoka, who live in the village called Umuofia. Okonkwo is Unoka’s son and Unoka, is Okonkwo’s father. Although, they have many differences in terms of their strength and success; they are similar through their common interest in farming. As explained,the characters Okonkwo and Unoka are particularly different.

To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.” (pg 28 Achebe) Anything related to emotion was perceived to be “soft” in Okonkwo’s eyes. Knowing that he holds in his “woman-like” emotions, it can be inferred that he is mentally unstable because of his toxic ideals. Ultimately, his instability led to his

When Okonkwo first returns back from his exile and hears the news of the white man in Umuofia, his anger increases that no one is trying to fight them. Even after his friend Obierika tells him about how the village Abame was destroyed by similar white missionaries Okonkwo simply thinks “Abame people were weak and foolish. Why did they not fight back... We would be cowards to compare ourselves to the men of Abame” (175). Okonkwo 's aggression blinds him to the dangers of rebelling against the white man, that he is willing to risk the destruction of his whole village just to satisfy his ideology of respecting his religion.

This idea that he feels that he has become a woman for feeling emotions and not covering them up with strength but also the stubbornness he has adopted throughout the years. With Okonkwo being in exile for a significant amount of time he has grown to become weak not physically but mentally as the book moved forward he could be related to a flame burning out and turning into a pile of ashes (Achebe 153). How it shows he is burning out and this gift of strength he had is now dying out due to him being sent to exile, also having no titles to his name. He had nothing to live for nor feel confident in, especially with part of his family now

He was afraid of being thought as weak. Okonkwo realize that he is having trouble functioning with his culture being changed and his village with his old religion he was seen as a leader and he felt like one he had to follow does rules. He was just afraid his culture was going to be taking away from him everything he had learned and all the he knows. “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.”

First, his relationship with his father Unoka. Who he did not have a great relationship with. And someone he did not specifically care for. Someone he knew who just so happen to be his father. In the book there is a quote “okonkwo was ruled by one passion- to hate everything his father had loved”.

To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength” (Achebe 24). Okonkwo had this mindset so set in his mind; he would not even care to show emotions to those he loved or was fond of. This of course, was an effect of how his father was always seen as weak, and even for a second, Okonkwo could not stand the thought of being seen as