Okonkwo Influence

In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe there is a man named Okonkwo lives in a Nigerian village called Umuofia. Okonkwo is highly respected in the village and has a place in the village as an Egwugwu . He is very successful and has multiple wives and children. Although he is a well rounded man he still is influenced by everything in his life. He is both influenced by the internal and external conflicts he faces in his complete life and is mostly impacted externally by his friends and the society he lives in. In Things Fall Apart Okonkwo is more influenced externally by his father's decisions, the relationship he has with his son Nwoye, and by the missionaries influences to the village. Okonkwo is conflicted with his father's bad decisions in life and this makes Okonkwo try to avoid being like his father. Okonkwo's father, Unoka, was a poor man who was in a lot of debt and this embarrassed Okonkwo so he decided to never be like his father. on page 5 it states “Unoka, the grown up, was a failure” (Achebe Pg. 5). This quote is proof that unoka is truly an embarrassment and it helps the reader realize that it is not just in Okonkwo's mind. This is a good example of external influence because it is a person …show more content…
he notices his son is being lazy and not cooperative like his father. An example of Nwoye not cooperating is when he converted to christianity and Okonkwo was very upset because he was being stubborn and was leaving the village traditions. This decision impacted the relationship between him and his son. Another example is when he said to his friend that he wished his daughter was a boy because she was the only loyal child in the family. This shows how his relationship with Nwoye is not strong and that he does not really like him. The relationship between Okonkwo and his son is another example of Person versus Person and is an exterior influence that has really impacted