However, throughout the story, the reader comes to realize that there is far more to this man than first appears. The best way to find out the true nature of Okonkwo is to examine his relationship with others; namely, his father, son, and daughter. Okonkwo’s relationship with his father is stressed, to say the least. Unoka is the opposite of his son; calm, musical, a soft man…
Okonkwo and his father Unoka have very little in common. Although both are tall men, Unoka walks with a stoop, burdened by the scorn of his tribe. The Igbo people value power and ferocity in their men, and Unoka is not like that. Sensitive by nature, he appreciates music, children, and the beauty of nature. Unoka is happiest when he is playing his flute and drinking palm wine, enjoying the company of his neighbors.…
The cause of Okonkwo’s fear of being feminine, lazy, and unable to provide for his family comes from his father Unoka.…
Okonkwo was a man who had many great achievements, his fellow clansmen respected him for the great man he was. Okonkwo felt he could use his influence to make his entire tribe accomplish as much as he could, however, his morale gets to his head, and he starts to feel invulnerable. Power is very important…
“Whenever the thought of his father’s weakness and failure troubled him he expelled it by thinking about his own strength and success.” (Achebe 66) Okonkwo’s father had a status that would equal a woman’s. Which in this culture is immensely looked down upon. His father’s weak status bothers him so much that the only way to make him feel satisfied is when he thinks of how much better he is than his father.…
Seeing someone rise from poverty to riches inspires others to do the same, and this is Okonkwo’s story. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka “was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow. If any money came his way, and it seldom did, he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine, called round his neighbors, and made merry” (page 4). Having such a poor role model for a father would usually lead a son to follow in their footsteps, but Okonkwo breaks this chain by becoming one of the most powerful members of his clan. Okonkwo is driven to show that he is not lazy like his father, and he “was ruled by one passion – to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved.…
His hard work brought him a good yam farm, three wives, and several children. Okonkwo then experiences a fall from grace, losing status and fortune, and is exiled from his tribe for several years. He triumphantly travels back to his home after seven years, only to find it completely changed. Okonkwo’s destiny is that of the protagonists of Elizabethan tragedy: he goes from good status and popularity into a steep nosedive of poverty and paranoia, and the story concludes with his own suicide. Okonkwo did not achieve his popularity without hard work.…
In terms of classical literature and theatre, dating back to Ancient Greece, a tragic hero is a man of great wealth or power who falls from grace. This fall happens at times because of external forces, but more often the man’s downfall is caused by none other than himself. At times, this curse belies the character by an action of choice, be it due to personal failings or because of a misunderstanding. The downfall of Okonkwo, in spite of seeming to be a far different story altogether, is not so different from. Okonkwo comes from humble beginnings.…
Okonkwo thought of himself as an independent leader of the Umuofia clan. He looks at his father to be lazy, not being able to support his family and a coward. The reason why Okonkwo acted the way he did is because he didn’t want to resemble anything his father did. Okonkwo…
Okonkwo’s sense of failure is evident in the fact, that work which in the past has given him focus, no longer holds any pleasure for him as his exile has destroyed this ambition. This further shakes his sense of stability as he now believes that his chi is not destined for greatness. Another factor in Okonkwo’s downfall is the loss of his son Nwoye to the missionaries. When Nwoye declares that Okonkwo “is not [his] father”(Achebe 144), it is seen by Okonkwo as a betrayal on a cultural and personal level. The separation of a father from son leads Okonkwo to lose control and become even more violent by lashing out at the missionaries.…
The text asserted, “And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion – to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved” (13). He made the gender roles impact him by making sure he was not seen as a weak person, but one full of masculinity. To be seen as the best in this village that focuses on hegemonic masculinity, Okonkwo wins a battle. Achebe stated, “Okonkwo was well-known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievement.…
He saw how nobody respected him and the way he died, so in a way that marked him and didn’t want to become like him, but on the contrary, he hated everything his father loved, and tried to be everything his father was not: “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a…
In “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is dominated by his fear of weakness and failure. In the tribe where Okonkwo and his family live, Umuofia, the amount of honor and respect depends on your strength. Since early childhood, Okonkwo’s embarrassment about his lazy, poor and neglectful father, Unoka, has led to his tragic flaw; being terrified of looking weak like his father. As a result, he behaves rashly, bringing a great deal of trouble and sorrow upon himself and his family. Okonkwo’s fear of weakness and failure, which stemmed from his father, leads to the horrid and unmerited treatment he gives to those around him and eventually prompted his downfall.…
Okonkwo lives his life with the fear of becoming just like his father. This fear encourages and promotes his activeness in the community and his puts pressure on him too be better. “His whole…
The title of Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart suggests tragedy which the novel clearly portrays in relation to what happens to Okonkwo, the main character. Okonkwo has ongoing issues coping with his life because of his father’s past, he experiences the pain of his Igbo tribe falling apart because of government and the coming of missionaries, and he suffers with guilt over the death of the son he took in and accepted as his own. Okonkwo faces many trials and tribulations throughout his life, and much of this is due to his father. He tries hard his entire life to be totally opposite of his father. He wants to be seen as strong, but his mind oftentimes tells him that he is weak.…