Emotional Power played an impactful role in Things Fall Apart, as Okonkwo's issues with himself, first derived from his angst against becoming similar to his father. In the novel, it describes Okonkwo as not a cruel man but to consider that “his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness” (Achebe 10). Since childhood, humiliation plagued him, therefore, he channeled his resentment towards succeeding. Particularly, the man to the far left of my graphic illustration…
Fear As a Theme Fear is a popular theme that is used in all forms of literature. In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart he uses fear as a recurring theme. This theme appears throughout the book in several different situations and for several different reasons, which demonstrates that fear has more than one form and more than one cause. Fear is a very important aspect of Things Fall Apart and of life. Two instances in which Chinua Achebe develops fear as a theme are when he establishes…
The novel, “Things Fall Apart”, by Chinua Achebe, tells the tragic yet heroic story of the demise of a legendary man called Okonkwo. Okonkwo, the son of Unoka, whose reputation of discontentment preceded him, also condemned his father, seeing him as weak and soft. Ashamed of his father’s inability to demonstrate, what he believed to be the strength, wealth and overall dignity of a man, Okonkwo was determined and therefore destined to live a life furthest from the complacent nature of his father…
“He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” ( Achebe, pg 176 ). From the start of trade and technological inventions, cultures have collided and clash with one another. In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo, a warrior who is highly respected in his society, struggles to keep up with the constant changes in his tribe and instead of going along with it, he responds by resisting it. Not wanting to be anything like his father, Okonkwo grows…
The book “Things Fall Apart” tells a story of a man, Okonkwo who was very well respected in his clan called the Umuofia clan from an Ibo village in Nigeria. Okonkwo comes from a father called Unoka who was a laughing stock throughout the entire village, and died leaving many debts unpaid. Becoming his father is something that Okonkwo never wants for himself or his twelve year old son. Okonkwo falls from a place of high respect in his village and this book follows his story. It also tells of how…
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.…
In his novel, “Things Fall Apart”, Chinua Achebe includes a passage about a boy being led unknowingly to his death. In this passage, Achebe builds tension by using foreshadowing, as well as language and diction. He uses this tension to show how traumatic this event was, especially because of the terror of a child who felt betrayed by his family, because of another characters importance of self-image over family. Achebe first builds tension by the use of foreshadowing, in order to show the…
How does the author use diction to achieve this passage’s tone? This quote has significant meaning because of how Okonkwo’s life was “dominant by the fear of failure and weakness” (13). Dismay is able to solidify the tone of this quote due to his family's fear of Okonkwo and his fear of himself. The word “temper” is able to reveal an abstract side toward Okonkwo as throughout the book, Okonkwo had a whirlpool of emotions and his temper always got the better of him. Overall, this quote sounds…
In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the protagonist Okonkwo is a large, male figure that consistently desires power and seeks to gain power over others. From an early age, Okonkwo attempted to be a very manly man after watching his father, who he described as lazy and soft, emulate opposite ideals. Although he was embarrassed of his father, he took these strong feelings and transformed them into energy that would help him succeed in being entirely opposite. He first gained recognition as a…
Like a viper an arrow pierced out from the thorn ridden brush before piercing through the side of a wild pig, the tip driving it through the heart. Before the fat brown target could squeal in pain it collapsed, dead. The brown-haired owner of that arrow followed out from the bushes only a moment later, a short bow in his left hand and a quiver of arrows on his right hip. The young man held no excitement on his lightly tanned face, just a small glimmer of satisfaction in his own abilities hidden…