What To Do When ‘Things Fall Apart’ Just as the title of the novel suggests Okonkwo's downfall is caused by his inability to follow the morals of his culture and to adapt to colonization. Things Fall Apart , a historical fiction novel by Chinua Achebe, takes place in Nigeria around the turn of the 19th century which is extremely important; it means Okonkwo’s life is in both, the pre- and post-European era. This allows Achebe to give Okonkwo a more complex, old fashioned, and unique personality that the reader is typically not used to. Okonkwo has an excessive fear of being like his father, so as a result, he begins at an early age to prove to his tribe that he is strong and brave. This causes him to make many controversial, and in some cases,
…show more content…
Okonkwo’s strong reputation and respect in the community has made him a bit cocky. He has a feeling of arrogance and has little pity for those less fortunate or competent than himself. This is due to his pride and manly image. Okonkwo’s memory of his father ultimately shaped him into the man he was in the story. His father was unmotivated and a poor provider for his family. Okonkwo's determination to not be like his dad helps him succeed, but it also is responsible for his sad downfall. His anger and violence causes him to commit acts that hurt his reputation. The more he achieves, the less he enjoys it because his fear of failure always following him, causes Okonkwo to continually prove himself to be better than his father. He becomes so obsessed with outdoing his father that he does anything to prove he was more of a man; “With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. He neither inherited a barn nor a title, nor even a young wife. But in spite of these disadvantages, he had begun even in his father’s lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future. It was slow and painful. But he threw himself into it like one possessed. And indeed he was
Okonkwo’s strong reputation and respect in the community has made him a bit cocky. He has a feeling of arrogance and has little pity for those less fortunate or competent than himself. This is due to his pride and manly image. Okonkwo’s memory of his father ultimately shaped him into the man he was in the story. His father was unmotivated and a poor provider for his family. Okonkwo's determination to not be like his dad helps him succeed, but it also is responsible for his sad downfall. His anger and violence causes him to commit acts that hurt his reputation. The more he achieves, the less he enjoys it because his fear of failure always following him, causes Okonkwo to continually prove himself to be better than his father. He becomes so obsessed with outdoing his father that he does anything to prove he was more of a man; “With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. He neither inherited a barn nor a title, nor even a young wife. But in spite of these disadvantages, he had begun even in his father’s lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future. It was slow and painful. But he threw himself into it like one possessed. And indeed he was