Things Fall Apart Quote Analysis

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To begin, Okonkwo shows his strength and weakness/ success and failure through many different emotions. Though he may not physically show his weakness, he shares it mentally and we as readers can feel this throughout the story. Because we only physically see his strengths, we only see the type of person Okonkwo wants us to see. We see a man who seeks fear from others rather than love. We understand this as true because we feel the love Okonkwo has for his people through his thoughts and understand that success isn't given it's worked for, and that hard work pays off. The relationship between strength and weakness portrayed throughout the story comes through Okonkwo. Okonkwo has a hidden love for his surrounding, which he cannot show because he'll seem as weak. He hides his love with strength, even if that strength means it could end love. Okonkwo shows that he'd rather portray fear than love, he appears less of a man if he does show his true emotions. His fatal flaw is his strength, not giving change a chance. Achebe reaches out this point though this quote, “Whenever the thought of his father’s weakness and failure troubled him he expelled it by thinking about his own strength and success. And so he did now. His mind went to his latest show of manliness.”(Achebe …show more content…

It takes trial and error to become successful. In this quote, “For the first time in many years Okonkwo had a feeling that was akin to happiness. The times which had altered so unaccountably during his exile seemed to be coming round again. The clan which had turned false on him appeared to be making amends" (Achebe 283), it shows Okonkwo's happiness and that hard work really does pay off. Okonkwo didn't have many happy or victorious moments, but the ones he did have left an imprint on his heart and began to change him. These moments changed him in a way that we can visibly see as

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