The Collapse in Fatherhood in Things Fall Apart In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, we see a breakdown between a father and son relationship which created a very detrimental effect. A relationship between a father and son can have a decidedly profound impact on each other’s lives. Whether this relationship is bifurcated, the psychological effects of having intimate or inadequate parenting skills can have a nurturing or depriving effect on a child 's personality from birth all throughout adulthood. The carved figure of a son that Okonkwo had hoped for was erased due to his egoistic character and terrible parenting skills. The most prominent and compelling theme in the novel originates from the main character Okonkwo and his ongoing …show more content…
I began to farm at your age. I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands '" (Achebe 59). This is an inappropriate and harsh way for a father to discipline his son. Whether corporal punishment was accepted in the Ibo culture or not, Okonkwo’s verbal and physical abuse weakened the relationship with Nwoye until he left for the missionaries. Although Okonkwo seems to want what was best for his son Nwoye to prosper as a real man, I believe that it is immoral to impose control through violence or threats thereof. When it comes to parenthood, Okonkwo has tunnel vision which inevitably led him disgracing his son and making mistakes as his own father did. “I will not have a son who cannot hold his head in the gathering of the clan. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands. And if you stand staring at me like that,” he swore, “Amadiora will break your head for you!” (Achebe 60). This iterates the brutal way that Okonkwo treated his son and reinforces Okonkwo’s deplorable parenting skills. In the story there was also an atrocious and tragic incident where Okonkwo killed his adopted …show more content…
“Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father, suddenly overcome with fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck ” (Achebe 240). This incident provides further proof of the father’s antipathy and impatience with his son which could have resulted in his death was it not for the uncle’s intervention. Analyzing this story, it can be perceived that Nwoye was estranged from the folklore and creed of the clan. He undermines his father’s social approval and rejected everything that he stood for. Okonkwo’s death came exactly as Nwoye was becoming cognizant of his function within the clan and started to develop a sense of self- awareness. Overall, Okonkwo failed in his quest to raise his son uprightly lost his son by virtue of his own shortcomings. His rejection of his father’s lifestyle formulated a strange parallel rejection of his own son. Should Okonkwo have placed less emphasis on his title, Nwoye would not have ran away to pursue an alternative lifestyle, separate and alien to his clan. As exhibited in the anecdote, good parenting abilities are vital to maintain a viable relationship with children. The value of a father in children’s life should never be miscalculated or
Within the Obi tribe, Okonkwo is an important man, who has risen from nothing to a man of great wealth and social status. Okonkwo is obsessed with masculinity, and he has a very narrow view of “manliness”. Okonkwo's relationship with his dead father is the root of his violent and ambitious conduct. He wants to rise above his father's legacy of laziness, which he views as weak and therefore feminine. This drive and fierce pride made him a great man, but they are also the source of all of his faults.
In the book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe certain themes are present in the the
Okonkwo’s fear leads him to treat members of his family harshly, in particular his son, Nwoye. Okonkwo often wonders how he, a man of great strength and work ethic, could have had a son who was “degenerate and effeminate” (133). Okonkwo thought that, "No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man" (45).
He thought if the boy did not want to be a warrior then it could not be his son.
Okonkwo’s true nature was clearly only reflected around those he closest to him, many times only under intimate or special circumstances. As his true masculinity, his unrealised and under expressed fondness for those he loved, and his overly expressed fiery temper, was shown to the greatest extent only around those closest to him. This deeply developed the character, and heightened the sense of Okonkwo being a tragic hero in Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart.
Although Achebe conveys many different themes in his writing Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe expresses the importance of tribal beliefs in African Culture.
Okonkwo crumbled under the newly developed society of the white man in Umofia. He could no longer act on his fury, vehemence or impetuousness, because acting in those non-compliant ways got him no further advancement and was frowned upon. Okonkwo lost his mental composure and everything in his life went to pieces because of it. His lack of sensitivity and understanding of those different from him handicapped his entire life. Okonkwo’s strength was further proven to have many fallacies because he was not strong in the important aspects of having composure and not acting on impulse. He could no longer control the people around him, nor his own life so he became misfortune of a classic tragedy.
Their beliefs are completely opposite each other because of Okonkwo's need to fulfill his own pressures and ideal image, which he burdens himself with. Certain characteristics he holds which his father does not is seriousness, determination, and brutality. Okonkwo cannot move on from his past, instead he forces his future to be effected by his past, which results in his emotional separation from others around him. Oknonkwo describes his father as "lazy, improvident and quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow.
Within every man is a story to be told; one that is evolving day by day and night by night. Each new experience births a fresh reaction that represents a strand of generational DNA. As the chain of events progresses, two things may occur. An individual may follow in path of this genetic pull or dislike it so much that he/she may stray far away from it. In the case of Okonkwo, it was the latter.
by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo depicts his masculinity in many different ways, even if it hurts the people closest to him. He feels it is necessary to display his manliness so he does not end up like his father Unoka. “He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father” (4). Okonkwo correlates virility with aggression and feels the only emotion he should show is anger, leaving him no way to cope with the death of his culture.
As a child, Okonkwo was raised by a poor, unsuccessful father. Based on his childhood experience, Okonkwo had t...
Nwoye grows tired of his father and is called by the Christian faith and converts. Nwoye’s internal struggle with himself between change and tradition ultimately led him to convert against his father’s wishes. Okonkwo is extremely resistant to change, so he does everything in his power to prevent his family from converting; “‘If you turn against me when I am dead I will visit you and break your neck’” (Achebe 105). Okonkwo uses fear to keep his other children from the Igbo culture.
The Importance of Things Fall Apart & nbsp; & nbsp; The novel "Things Fall Apart", by Chinua Achebe, was an eye-opening account of the life and eventual extinction of an African tribe called the Ibo. It focuses on one character, Okonkwo, who at a very early age set out on a quest of self-perfection. Coming from a family ruled by a man who was lazy and inconsistent with everything he did, Okonkwo vowed to never accept the fate of his father. Okonkwo and his family have suffered through many hard times in their lives, but usually managed to come out on top. Through terrible crop seasons and bad judgement calls, Okonkwo usually prevailed, until the day came when he was faced with a situation that could not be resolved by his strength and character alone.
David Carroll writes, of the novel Things Fall Apart, "This incident is not only a comment on Okonkwo's heartlessness. It criticizes implicitly the laws he is too literally implementing..." (Carroll) The incident that David Carroll refers to is the death of Ikemefuna. Ikemefuna was a young boy who was handed over to the village of Umuofia as compensation for the murder of one of that village's citizens. He is handed over to Okonkwo, a great man in the village, to whom he gives every affection. The brief life with Okonkwo and death of this innocent young man, and the life of Okonkwo himself, is a microcosm of life in Umuofia. Inconsistencies, brutalities, and conflict abound in even the highest of Umuofian life. And as Ikemefuna is led off to be murdered by the man he calls father, "the whole tribe and its values is being judged and found wanting" (Carroll).
In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the author poses many perspectives for literary criticism and review. This work emphasizes many different cultural aspects that were considered controversial at the time of publication in both African and American culture. This novel’s focus on feminine roles, religion, and cultural norms give readers a glimpse of life in the village of Umuofia while allowing them to think critically about the thematic topics posed.