Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian author, said "Art is a man 's constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him." In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Achebe opens up the window of African culture. He shows the importance of the character, the conflict, and the portrayed beings or things in a novel, knowing that they can be shaped by the creative intelligence and local vision to send a message. Okonkwo, the main character, father and husband to many, elicited the greatest emotion from me. My reaction towards him is negative because his actions and words are misunderstanding. Towards the beginning of the book, I was already establishing the feel that Okonkwo 's flaw would be his terrified
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As a result, he does behave rashly, bringing a great deal of trouble and sorrow upon himself and his family. As the narrator stated in the beginning, "He (Okonkwo) had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had had no patience with his father." Okonkwo 's father set in motion Okonkwo 's trepidation of weakness because his father couldn 't support his family, was lazy and cowardly. However, he let his father influence him too much. The feelings of surprise and disappointment were both illustrated through many scenes. His fear leads him to assist the murder of Ikemefuna, a boy he loved dearly, to be emotionally distant from his children, to beat his wives, and to disown his eldest son. I didn 't believe he would take it to such a severe and excessive punishment. Okonkwo beat his wife even when it was a sacred week, "But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody halfway through, not even for the fear of a goddess." His wife makes a little mistake, and he relentlessly beats her for it. I was surprised that somebody could even do that, but I was more disappointed when he couldn 't stop beating her "halfway" because he didn 't want to look weak. Okonkwo 's strength would probably be his consistency of behavior. There is no unexpected changes in …show more content…
However, I feel that the conflict between the traditional customs of Umuofia and the new customs brought by the Europeans is the main crisis. All the villages caused this because they easily let the European missionaries in, thinking that they were harmless. The effect of this is the villagers ' lost of their own culture. The missionary was "very clever...came quietly and peaceably with his religion...amused with his foolishness and allowed him to stay...won our brothers...no longer act like one." The crisis isn 't resolved. Many villagers who welcomed the Europeans were indifferent to what they were doing because they thought the Europeans had a good influence them. However, for those who wanted to keep their traditional culture, like Okonkwo, they hated the Europeans and wanted to push them away as quickly as possible. They knew it was already too late though, saying "Our own men and sons have joined the ranks of the stranger...joined his religion...help to uphold his government." Thus, this crisis isn 't resolved in the book. The long term result is the Europeans ruling their villages and a lost African culture. This shows how the Western countries conquered and colonized Africa during the late 1800s and early
As a result, he does behave rashly, bringing a great deal of trouble and sorrow upon himself and his family. As the narrator stated in the beginning, "He (Okonkwo) had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had had no patience with his father." Okonkwo 's father set in motion Okonkwo 's trepidation of weakness because his father couldn 't support his family, was lazy and cowardly. However, he let his father influence him too much. The feelings of surprise and disappointment were both illustrated through many scenes. His fear leads him to assist the murder of Ikemefuna, a boy he loved dearly, to be emotionally distant from his children, to beat his wives, and to disown his eldest son. I didn 't believe he would take it to such a severe and excessive punishment. Okonkwo beat his wife even when it was a sacred week, "But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody halfway through, not even for the fear of a goddess." His wife makes a little mistake, and he relentlessly beats her for it. I was surprised that somebody could even do that, but I was more disappointed when he couldn 't stop beating her "halfway" because he didn 't want to look weak. Okonkwo 's strength would probably be his consistency of behavior. There is no unexpected changes in …show more content…
However, I feel that the conflict between the traditional customs of Umuofia and the new customs brought by the Europeans is the main crisis. All the villages caused this because they easily let the European missionaries in, thinking that they were harmless. The effect of this is the villagers ' lost of their own culture. The missionary was "very clever...came quietly and peaceably with his religion...amused with his foolishness and allowed him to stay...won our brothers...no longer act like one." The crisis isn 't resolved. Many villagers who welcomed the Europeans were indifferent to what they were doing because they thought the Europeans had a good influence them. However, for those who wanted to keep their traditional culture, like Okonkwo, they hated the Europeans and wanted to push them away as quickly as possible. They knew it was already too late though, saying "Our own men and sons have joined the ranks of the stranger...joined his religion...help to uphold his government." Thus, this crisis isn 't resolved in the book. The long term result is the Europeans ruling their villages and a lost African culture. This shows how the Western countries conquered and colonized Africa during the late 1800s and early