Theme Of Reality In Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart'

706 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Themes of culture conflict in chinua achebe's

In my essay I will discuss how Okonkwo’s in “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, changes from the beginning to the end of the story relates to reality as motion and how in reality he was his fathers child, but in ideal he wanted to be nothing like his father he wanted to find something different in himself which relates to contradiction energizing motion. Contradiction energizes motion is when there is contradiction between one’s reality and one’s ideal so that consequently energizes motion. Oknokwo is the son of the lazy Unoka. Okonkwo wants to make his way to being man, so he refused to follow in his father’s footsteps. Okonkwo ideals were the complete opposite of his father’s, he’s father was poor, cowardly and loved good music and conversation, …show more content…

With contradiction energizing motion being what you want to be vs. what you are at the end of the day Okonkwo knew he was his father’s child meaning no matter how he tried to run away from the thought of being just like his father in reality he really was. Reality as motion is a notion that overtime whatever appears to be is actually a moment in the process of becoming. Okonkwo was known for is the one everyone in the village turns to, he’s man known “throughout the nine villages and even beyond,” but his tragic mixture of manliness, anger and violence brings him destroying himself. Achebe says Okonkwo, “seemed to walk on springs, as if he was to pounce somebody and he did pounce on people quite often.” His rage drove him to three transgressions that lead him to the punishment of seven years of exile; this leads him to lose respect from the village. Okonkwo first mistake was his beatings of one of his wives during the Week of Peace, where violence is forbidden, to honor the Earth goddess. He not only breaks Week of Peace he messes up completely not only does he physically abuse his wife he tries to shot her, but his aim was terrible.

Show More
Related

  • Tragedy in Chinua Achebe´s Things Fall Apart

    590 Words  | 2 Pages

    Set in Africa in the 1890s, Chinua Achebe's ‘Things Fall Apart’ is about the tragedy of Okonkwo during the time Christian missionaries arrived and polluted the culture and traditions of many African tribes. Okonkwo is a self-made man who values culture, tradition, and, above all else, masculinity. Okonkwo’s attachment to the Igbo culture and tradition, and his own extreme emphasis on manliness, is the cause of his fall from grace and eventual death.

    Read More

  • Themes In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe certain themes are present in the the

    Read More

  • Tragic Hero In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    Between his complex, multilayered sense of pride, his collapse at the hands of his unbending will, and his pitiful background, one can easily understand why Okonkwo exhibits the traits required of a tragic

    Read More

  • Okonkwo: The Tragic Hero in Things Fall Apart

    470 Words  | 1 Pages

    Okonkwo’s fear of unmanliness is kindled by his father, who was a lazy, unaccomplished man. Okonkwo strives to have a high status from a young age and eventually achieves it. He has a large family, many yams and is well known throughout the village for his valor. He raises his family by his mentality of manliness and is ...

    Read More

  • The Power of Fear in The Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

    590 Words  | 2 Pages

    Okonkwo’s fear of becoming like his lackadaisical father is an internal conflict between Okonkwo and his father. “Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” (Achebe 13). Okonkwo tries to live his life, ideally from his father.

    Read More

  • Okonkwo Determined In The Odyssey

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    Okonkwo, from Things Fall Apart, was determined not to be like his father. He focused on what was important to him. In his life he wanted to be known as a strong man. He used his father as an inspiration to be a better person. “[Okonkwo] was a man of action, a man of war. Unlike his father, he could stand the look of blood” (Achebe 10). Okonkwo was determined to become a man of action, he took his father's example and used it as a guideline to remind himself that he wants to be strong. Okonkwo had a rough childhood and wanted to grow away from it. By using his father's example, and staying determined, he was able to focus in

    Read More

  • Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    Okonkwo is “a man of action, a man of war” (7) and a member of high status in the Igbo village. He holds the prominent position of village clansman due to the fact that he had “shown incredible prowess in two intertribal wars” (5). Okonkwo’s hard work had made him a “wealthy farmer” (5) and a recognized individual amongst the nine villages of Umuofia and beyond. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw isn’t that he was afraid of work, but rather his fear of weakness and failure which stems from his father’s, Unoka, unproductive life and disgraceful death. “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness….It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” Okonkwo’s father was a lazy, carefree man whom had a reputation of being “poor and his wife and children had just barely enough to eat... they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back.” (5) Unoka had never taught Okonkwo what was right and wrong, and as a result Okonkwo had to interpret how to be a “good man”. Okonkwo’s self-interpretation leads him to conclude that a “good man” was someone who was the exact opposite of his father and therefore anything that his father did was weak and unnecessary.

    Read More

  • The Stubborness of Okonkwo

    389 Words  | 1 Pages

    Okonkwo, a fierce warrior, remains unchanged in his unrelenting quest to solely sustain the culture of his tribe in the time of religious war in Achebe's book, Things Fall Apart. He endures traumatic experiences of conflict from other tribes, dramatic confrontations from within his own family, and betrayal by his own tribe.

    Read More

  • Okonkwo's Failure

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both the beatings of his wives and the killing of Ikemefuna helps to manifest Okonkwo’s impulsiveness. During the misunderstanding about the banana tree, Okonkwo “... who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger, suddenly found an outlet” (Achebe 38). Okonkwo resorts to violence to try to relive many of his frustrations in life. His anger is shown in his incompetence to control himself. Okonkwo states, “ ‘Who killed this tree? Or are you all deaf and dumb?’ ” (Achebe 38). Okonkwo’s frustration and temper starts to build up until he cannot handle it anymore and lashes out on his second wife for “killing” the banana tree. The tree, in fact, was still alive, but since Okonkwo’s impulsiveness controls him he could not understand that his second wife had only taken a few leaves from the tree to wrap up some food. Without listening to his wife’s explanation for why some of the leaves on the tree were missing, “Okonkwo gave her a sound beating and left her and her only daughter weeping...His anger thus satisfied, Okonkwo decided to go hunting.” (Achebe 38). Okonkwo’s actions towards his wives highlight his impulsiveness. All of Okonkwo’s built up anger and emotions are trapped inside of him and are usually released at the expense of others through his actions. Okonkwo’s part in the killing of Ikemefuna

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

    741 Words  | 2 Pages

    Okonkwo is not all that he may seem; as there is more than what meets the eye. Okonkwo is the primary protagonist within the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo is a cruel yet kind man who has everything yet has nothing, which in turn creates a sympathetic character. A character such as Okonkwo has many facets; or masks if you will. Then we have his many influences: the Ibo culture; his father Unoka and of course his own personality. Then there is a staggering list of achievements. Okonkwo is a strong character but thinks only inwardly - especially towards his father - which will be discussed further in this essay.

    Read More

  • The Man Behind the Mask in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is portrayed as a respected and determined individual whose fatal flaw eventually works against him. Throughout the novel the readers are shown that Okonkwo has many of these Characteristics because he is obsessed with the idea of becoming just like his father. This becomes his flaw in the novel that puts him into exile and makes it hard for him to adjust to the changes that were made with in his village.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Okonkwo

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    While everyone was working on their farm, Unoka did nothing but drink, dance, and just plainly prayed to the gods. Okonkwo was ashamed of him and did everything possible to never end up like his father. When the narrator stated, “With father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had…But he threw himself into it like one possessed. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death” (pg. 18). The shame of a father like Unoka drove Okonkwo into the passion of being nothing but successful in his life. Everything about Okonkwo had to be acknowledged and respected whether be his family or the people in the village. The true hatred of his father derived his power when the author stated, “Okonkwo was ruled by one passion- to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness” (pg.13). Also, another statement that represents the flaw in Okonkwo is the way he is when it comes to his father, not defeating him or fighting for the father that raised him even thought they were poor, the gesture of lowing your head to the outer of your father’s name in disgrace when the narrator stated, “ … ‘Ask my dead father of he ever had a fowl when he was alive’ Everybody laughed heartily except Okonkwo, who laughed uneasily

    Read More

  • Okonkwo’s Resistance to Change in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    1470 Words  | 3 Pages

    The character of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was driven by fear, a fear of change and losing his self-worth. He needed the village of Umuofia, his home, to remain untouched by time and progress because its system and structure were the measures by which he assigned worth and meaning in his own life. Okonkwo required this external order because of his childhood and a strained relationship with his father, which was also the root of his fears and subsequent drive for success. When the structure of Umuofia changed, as happens in society, Okonkwo was unable to adapt his methods of self-evaluation and ways of functioning in the world; the life he was determined to live could not survive a new environment and collapsed around him.

    Read More

  • Essay on the Downfall of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    The greatest opponent in life is the one that is created inside the mind. As Okonkwo grows up, he decides to be the absolute antipodes of his father Unoka. Okonkwo perceives his father as a culmination of the weaknesses in man. In this erroneous view, Okonkwo buries his feelings deep within himself. When these emotions emerge, he views them as a sign of weakness. When Okonkwo participates in Ikemefuna's killing, he is deeply affected as he has ended the life of one who he grew to love as a son. Okonkwo is excessively depressed after the slaying, "not tasting any food for two days." (61) As he notices his confusion, he calls himself weak like a shivering old woman. In his emotionless show of strength after Ikemefuna's death, Okonkwo actually proves his frailty by hiding what he feels. Okonkwo is dominated by his private fear of appeari...

    Read More

More about Theme Of Reality In Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart'

Open Document