Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart Essay

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 spite of having the same occupation, Okonkwo is wealthy and hard-working while Unoka was poor and lazy. Unoka visited the priestess looking for answers as to why his crops failed, the priestess said “ You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers…. You, Unoka, are known in all the clan for the weakness of your machete and your hoe. When your neighbors go out with their ax to cut down virgin forests, you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labor to clear” (Achebe 17). Unoka is…

Okonkwo is an amazing, wealth man that is feared by many. Okonkwo is well respected warrior of the Umofia clan and he is undefeated, he brought honor to his village once he defeated “the cat” in a wrestling contest. Okonkwo is feared by many because he is strong and doesn’t fear anything. On one of his battle he cut of five heads the enemies men and drank wine from one of the dead man’s head. He has a huge family, he has three wives and eleven kids. Okonkwo family fears him as well and Okonkwo…

Okonkwo was a much respected man. He had done a lot for his name and his family. This started to deteriorate, though, when he got upset with his wife, Ojiugo. He felt that she was being neglectful and thought that she cared more about being pretty than being a good mom. For this reason, Okonkwo, seeking perfection in everything, his wife included, decided to beat Ojiugo. “When she returned he beat her very heavily” (Achebe 29). This was highly frowned upon – especially under the circumstances.…

Okonkwo is the father of Nwoye and Ezinma. He treats them very different. Okonwko abused Nwoye and thought he was weak and female. Okonkwo is filled with care and concern for Ezinma. The difference in the relationship affects the confidence levels of the children. The acceptance Okonkwo acceptance and love toward Ezinma helps her become bolder than others in her village. However, Nwoye is more introverted and seeks to be accepted by Okonkwo. Okonkwo is the son of a very lazy man, Unoka. Since…

Okonkwo Okonkwo is a very strong and powerful character. He isn’t like any other man in his village. This is because instead of having somewhere to start or land to start his yam harvesting on and a place to keep his family, he had nothing, nowhere to start. He had to rise from the very bottom and learn and grow with no help. Because of how grew up, Okonkwo forms either strong bad relationships with people or strong good relationships with people. Okonkwo’s father got all the blame for his bad…

book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the main character always had a chip on his shoulder about his father and how lazy he was. Okonkwo wanted to be completely different from his father. This brings great effort, motivation and anger, and eventually it leads to crisis and destruction within his culture. Okonkwo has a constant fear of being like his father, this acts as a great motivator but affects himself within the community both positively and negatively. Okonkwo, in Things Fall Apart,…

write about Okonkwo and why gender mattered to him. Okonkwo is portrayed as a very masculine man who has much faith in the quality of ‘manliness’. Gender is important to the character of Okonkwo because he uses women to make them feel smaller, so him and men appear stronger. Him and many men use the term women as an insult as a term for weakness. Okonkwo needs gender so he can feel masculine. The majority of the time Okonkwo wives were scared of him . It says that “Okonkwo ruled…

(171). These facts are something Okonkwo knows, but wished so desperately not to be true. Okonkwo spent his seven years of exile in his motherland preparing himself for an impactful return into his fatherland: “He would build a bigger barn than he had before and he would build huts for two new wives.” (171). Sadly, all that Okonkwo prepares for his return is pointless. Nobody in the clan of Okonkwo’s fatherland, Umuofia, is interested in the once amazing Okonkwo when he returns. Everyone in…

“Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honour to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat.” (page 1) Okonkwo’s sense of identity was challenged with the introduction of Western ideas into the Ibo Culture. Okonkwo started collision of the British colonists and Ibo people affected Umuofia to the point of murder, hatred, and suicide. Okonkwo had many life events that changed…