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Symbolism in the novel things fall apart
Things fall apart: okonkwo vs. society
Character Traits Of Okonkwo In Things Fall Apart
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Who are you? What do you live for? Family, fame, religion, hobbies, talents. Do things we do every day make us stable and content with life? In the novel “Things fall apart by C.A” Okonkwo the main character everyone knows as the tragic hero responds to the Christian take over negatively and aggressively, which challenge his stability, and ultimately shows that the things that hold us together can sometimes fall apart and ruin the best of us. Okonkwo is known for always reacting to every event with anger and physical punishment to please his ego which is to be seen as a strong warrior, hardworking, and powerful. Which you can see when Okonkwo kills ikemefuna “Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.
Okonkwo is on two ends of a stick. Sometimes he can be shown to be a caring, sympathetic character, but others he is shown as a ruthless person that is very unsympathetic person. Okonkwo is a man of action that would rather solve things with his fists rather than talking it out. He is a great wrestler hailing from the Umuofia clan that has thrown Amalinze the Cat. Okonkwo is also a very good farmer, where he has been able to grow two barns worth of yams. He is someone that doesn’t know how to control themselves when they get angry as he will then resort to violence. Okonkwo’s family relationships make him a sympathetic character because of his caregiving nature and hospitality and he is shown to be an unsympathetic character because of his
... his words that he committed a great evil; we live in peace with our fellows to honor our great goddess of the earth without whose blessings our crops will not grow. You have committed a great evil (Achebe 30). Okonkwo displays another fit of anger during the feast of the new yam, when he almost killed his second wife with a gun because she cut a few leaves off the banana tree to wrap some food. Without patience to discern her explanation; she was beaten mercilessly and almost got killed. Okonkwo lacked a sense of affection towards his family, which can be linked to his fear of weakness. He repudiates any show of emotion or patience in order not to appear weak. His household lived in a perpetual fear, he never gave them the opportunity to get close to him without been scared of him, and this really had a great effect with the relationship he had with his household.
Even though Okonkwo loves Ikemefuna and in some ways thinks more highly of him than his own son, he participates in his death because the oracle has decreed it, and he also does not want to be perceived as weak. After that, it was a sullen moment for him: “Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna. He drank palm wine from morning till night, and his eyes were red and fierce like the eyes of a rat when it was caught by the tail and dashed against the floor”(Achebe 63). The death is absolutely traumatic to Okonkwo as it shakes his faith in the traditions that he has built his entire life and existence around. It conflicts many things he believes about himself in terms of his manliness and bravery. Achebe describes Okonkwo’s emotions in order to display a sense of hopelessness and despair to the
Unlike his father, Okonkwo is a hard worker with little debt and a driven personality. His internal fear leads to his decision to beat his wife during the week of peace and to take part in the mandatory action of killing his beloved son, Ikemefuna.
One example of Okonkwo's quick reflexes is seen when he kills Ikemefuna because he did not want his fellow clansmen to think that he was weak. After the Ikemefuna's slaying, Okonkwo is unable to eat or drink for two days due to the fact that he is upset over the death of Ikemefuna. However, he must fight against his manly pride, which reminds him that killing someone should not bother him. However, he has trouble accepting this, but must for fear of being considered weak, like a "shivering old woman" (Achebe 45). Another instance of Okonkwo's hot temper arises while he and some other men are locked up in a cell and Okonkwo reaffirms how he believes they should have killed Mr. Smith. A messenger overhears this remark and beats each of the men on their backs and heads with a large stick. A final illustration of Okonkwo's rash actions leading to suffering for himself and those around him occurs when he hastily kills the head messenger who comes to Umuofia to break up a town meeting. The messenger is only able to speak 2 short sentences, before a furious Okonkwo assassinates him.
In these few chapters that we read, we have already learned a lot about Okonkwo, his life, and how he shows sympathy to some, but to others he is heartless. Okonkwo is other wise known as an unsympathetic person. Okonkwo is a clan leader of umuofia who holds many titles and is well known among his people. Okonkwo's daily life consists of tending to the three yam farms he has produced and to make numerous offerings to numerous gods and to help himself and his family. Okonkwo's personality is hard driven, since his father did not provide for him and his family Okonkwo had to start man hood early and this led him to be very successful in his adulthood, Okonkwo is an unsympathetic character who only shows sympathy rarely because he believes it's a sign of weakness Okonkwo's family relationships make him a sympathetic character because when his children show signs of manliness or do their jobs right he shows sympathy towards them. He is an unsympathetic character because whenever he get a little mad he has to take his anger out on something and that is usually vented by beating his wife's.
“In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete...Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messenger escape” (Achebe, 176). All of the fear led Okonkwo make drastic decisions. His rage and everything engulfed him and in the end led him where he wanted to run away from. All of his life he strived for greatness and failed to realize that he developed into the person he despised to become. This is the final determining act before his death.
Famous French fabulist, Jean de La Fontaine, astutely stated, “A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.” People, both in real life and literature, seal their fate through their own actions. The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe captures the cultural life of the Igbo people before and after the influences of British colonialism by focusing on a representative hard-working character named Okonkwo. The Igbo believed that Chukwu, lesser gods, ancestors, and their own personal gods were responsible for determining the destiny of one’s life. Through proverbs regarding motivation, achievement, and respect, Achebe communicates that destiny must eventually be accepted.
He took vengeances against anyone who dared go against his wishes and commands. He uses aggression to establish his rule and his action of defiance against the elders and the Gods shows his “king like” status that he so much enjoys. “But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess.” (19). Okonkwo physically and mentally abused his family, especially the younger ones who were easily intimidated by his sizzling temper and challenging personality. Okonkwo would mistreat his wives and kids without any reason or rational thought. “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, live in perpetual fear of his fiery temper” (9). Okonkwo temper and aggression gave him dominance and control over his family to the extent that no one could question his
Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, is a story about a society on the verge of a cultural change. The main character, Okonkwo, is driven throughout the story by fear and a drive for success. He relied on the village of Umuofia to stay the same because he used the structured culture to feel safe and appreciated. He lives in a constant state of fear because he wants to find his own meaning in life. When the structure of Umuofia began to change, Okonkwo found himself incapable of adapting like the rest of the villagers. He was determined to live a life that could not survive the changing world, and his dreams crumbled down. Throughout the novel, Achebe demonstrates that the lack of being able to adapt to change will leave you lost in society.
Because his father borrowed from others without means of returning, lived off of others, and never made a stable life for himself and his family, Okonkwo does the opposite in his life. Normally a son would inherit his father’s barn, but because his father was unmanly and “had a miserable harvest” (Achebe 16), “there was no barn to inherit” (16). Okonkwo “hate[d] everything that his father Unokoa had loved” (13) because all that his father did was weak. He makes a stable life for himself and his family by producing yams and stocking up his barn. Okonkwo’s idea of manliness is also more aggressive than the clan. When he is suggested to not take part in the killing of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo not only was there, but he “cut him down” (61) because of the fear “of being thought weak” (61). Whenever Okonkwo thought he or a member of his family was being thought of as weak, he would either beat them, physically, or himself, emotionally, up. He is more aggressive and intolerant of unmanliness because of the fear of becoming like his
Things Fall Apart, Thematic Essay: Humans’ natural instincts are to deny a new aspect and stick to older ones. Nevertheless, old and new aspects are intertwined. Traditions and change are ever present in society, without them society would not prosper. Traditions are the foundations of society. However, just like any other foundation, sooner or later it must be altered or changed, even in the most miniscule way.
In my life a lot of things have converged together to make me who I am today. Some were expected and some weren’t. How we respond to what happens to us, is what makes us who we are. I have been active in many different things so far in my life, each of which have changed me.
He commits many horrible acts not because he wants to, but because he is afraid of what others might think of him if he doesn 't. Although Okonkwo is extremely fond of his adopted son Ikemefuna, he does not even hesitate to brutally “cut him down” because he is “afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Once again this depicts how his fear makes him act impulsively and irrationally. He does not even think before he viciously murders someone he loves. Just like what Dorothy Thompson said, Okonkwo 's fear more often than not turns to anger at others. Okonkwo governs his house “with a heavy hand” and can commonly be seen beating his wife and children because he is insecure and “dominated by fear” (Achebe 13). He does not know what else to do so he hits his family members to try and assert his dominance and to prove to others that he is strong. The fear of weakness “lay[s] deep within [him]” and is another one of the multiple factors leading to his untimely end (Achebe 13). Okonkwo kills the christian messenger out of anger and fear towards the church. He acts impulsively because he is afraid being made to look weak like he was the last time he stood up to the Christians. After Okonkwo murders this man he finally reaches the conclusion that he is alone in his war like thoughts. In Okonkwo’s eyes Umuofia has become weak and he can not stand that thought. His fear and weaknesses that have been
Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, follows the tragic life of Okonkwo, a man who suffers a miserable fate due to the fear of failure that controls every action he makes. Though the fear of failure acts as motivation to become a successful and respected man at first, it later cripples Okonkwo in such a way that failure ultimately defines his life. Okonkwo is constantly afraid of being a victim of weakness and desperately tries to remain a strong and unyielding man. It is his overwhelming fear of weakness that causes things to fall apart in his life, as his attempts to avoid failure and weakness eventually lead to the ultimate defeat: his shameful suicide. Fear of failure and weakness dominates Okonkwo throughout his life.