How Is Okonkwo Alike

Unoka was a man that can be labeled as idle, feminine, and poor. Unoka was also the man who raised Okonkwo. Because of his fathers’ way of life, Okonkwo rejects anything that resembles his father. Okonkwo grew up to be a productive, masculine, and wealthy man. It is also because of his father that his strength of being so masculine and tough becomes his weakness. Okonkwo also married three women and had multiple children. The eldest is Nwoye. With his second wife, he had a daughter named Ezinma. Although Okonkwo has raised both, Nwoye and Ezinma, his relationships with the two are very diverse. It is clear that Okonkwo gears towards the opposite of anything that would be considered similar to his father. Okonkwo attempts to extend his feelings of hatred for his father to his son, Nwoye as well. In reality, his son is everything he isn’t thus reminding him of his own father. Okonkwo once verbalized his anger about the comparison of the two when he said, “I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands.” (Achebe 4.33). Okonkwo would prefer no son rather than a feminine one. To Okonkwo, having such of a son would resemble everything he is not and he will not accept it. In an attempt to …show more content…
Unoka’s effeminate way of life is what motivated Okonkwo to be everything his father was not. Okonkwo was able to become a wealthy wrestler and was able to provide for his family. Okonkwo wanted his children to be just like him and not his father so he pushed them very hard. For his son, Nwoye it only made him rebel more. Okonkwo saw the features in his father he did not like within his son, only making him push Nwoye harder. On the contrary, his daughter was everything he would want in a son. It then made their relationship much stronger. The two different relationships with Okonkwo affected their lives