Okonkwo In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

In spite of having the same occupation, Okonkwo is wealthy and hard-working while Unoka was poor and lazy. Unoka visited the priestess looking for answers as to why his crops failed, the priestess said “ You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers…. You, Unoka, are known in all the clan for the weakness of your machete and your hoe. When your neighbors go out with their ax to cut down virgin forests, you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labor to clear” (Achebe 17). Unoka is too lazy to go plant his crops in fresh soil. Insead he chooses to plant his seeds in the same soil every year, preventing the soil from recovering lost nutrients. His actions cause the soil to lose enough nutrients to crops that it is unable to sustain growing crops. This resulted in Unoka having very little money due to few successful harvests. Okonkwo on the other hand, is described as “A wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and just married his third wife” (Achebe 8). Okonkwo works hard to provide for his family and it clearly pays off because Okonkwo is able to afford having three wives. He also has two barns that he can fill with yams proving he is a hard-worker as well as wealthy. …show more content…
Based on observations, “Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness” (Achebe 13). Nwoye displaying lazy habits which reminded Okonkwo of his father. When interacting with others, “Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength” (Achebe 28). Because Unoka showed emotions and appeared weak, Okonkwo views emotions other than anger as weak. If someone shows emotions like love or compassion, they show that they are weak, at least in Okonkwo’s