The Lost of an African Hero A hero who has gained much respect from his clan members and has achieved many awards, but will soon lose it all. In the story Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe the main character Okonkwo shows many qualities of being a hero to his village and to the whole Igbo culture such as, becoming a successful farmer of jamons, becoming the best wrestler in the all the tribes, earning many high titles in the clan, and having many wives and kids. Later in the book many Europeans start coming to colonize the Igbo colonies and they gave the Igbo people a new cultural view rather than just Igbo views by offering them a new Religion, laws, and many new buildings like hospitals and schools. Okonkwo does not approve of what the new …show more content…
Sometime when you have change in your life it maybe hard to transition to that new idea. In the story Okonkwo has a very hard time dealing with this change that the European people have brought, because he is still using his old ways of religion and view on things. “ Does the white man understand our customs about land? How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says are customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up this religion also say that are customs are bad… The white man are very clever… He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart”(176). This tells us some of the Igbo peoples views of the Europeans and how they feel about what they are doing. Okonkwo is losing his brothers( village members) to the European religion and the rest of the Igbo culture is gettig erased by this new culture. Okonkwo can’t do anything to stop the brothers of his village from converting religions because if Okonkwo wanted to start a war he would be battling against his own brothers in his tribe, which is a way to upset the Igbo gods. From what the European people have done they have put a knife into Igbo culture and made Igbo culture fall apart. “ Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messenger escape. They had broken into tumult instead …show more content…
Okonkwo always had a fear to not act lazy and weak like how his father acted. This fear to look lazy and weak made Okonkwo act the way he does. This fear was so strong that it is what caused Okonkwo to decide to kill himself. “ Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man but his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of the and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw”(13). This shows how Okonkwo is more afraid to look weak than be fearful of all the Mystical Gods in the Igbo culture. This tells us a little why he killed himself because he did not want to look weak to the European people and die in there prison, so he took matters into his own hands by killing himself. “ Afraid? I do not care what he does to me. I despise him and those who listen to him. I shall fight alone if I choose”(201). This shows that Okonkwo is not afraid of no one and He will fight anyone even if it is a losing battle, he will still fight a war and Okonkwo will not give in and lose or give up on the battle and look weak. This is why Okonkwo will not give into the Europeans who brought the new religion and culture like the rest of his brothers did in his village and some of his actual family. This is why he rather die than give into the European rules. The
Everyone reaches a point in life where enough is enough. People get to a point where they get overwhelmed and can’t take it anymore. So they decide to make actions that aren’t really good choices. The cultural collision challenges Okonkwo’s identity; he feels as if his culture is responsible for the problems he may be having in his life , but he tries to hide it because he believes his culture represents him . Okonkwo has a lot of strengths and weaknesses.The things that he were doing were causing him to have effects and a downfall in his life which was him committing suicide.
Things Fall Apart, a novel based on the cultures and the traditions of the Igbos depict a very strong sense of struggle between change and tradition. This story is somewhat an archetype of To Kill a Mocking Bird. Not just centered on sociopolitical views but also cultural and traditional beliefs, Achebe specifically defines each speck of this Eastern Nigerian culture, from the breaking of the “kola –a caffeine-containing nut of evergreen trees to the unmasking of the egwuegwu and spiritual sacrifices to the gods and ancestors. Kola, a very essential part of the Igbo culture is represented in so many ways; it signifies peace, blessing, wealth, abundance, and respect most especially. In this society, the contest for wealth, titles and success was very important, it was a great legacy to be left by any man. Okonkwo being the strongest and most powerful man in the village had more than set a standard in that village by conquering the greatest warrior of all time. He had a symbiotic relationship with his community, as much has he benefited from the community’s societal and cultural values, so did they benefit from his strength and will power to succeed.
Okonkwo has always resorted to violence when he is text with the problem. One such time is in Mbanta when Okonkwo claimed that “if his children are praying to the white man's God, he would wipe them off the face of the earth." (Achebe 146) Again this shows Okonkwo resorting to violence to solve his problem. His problem is this new culture and religion invading his land. This quote also shows that his negative response will not be limited to the invaders, but anyone who joins them, even his family. They will all be punished by him. The thought of his family joining the white man creates a drastic negative response in Okonkwo. Another reason for Okonkwo’s strict punishment was probably from Nwoye. Nwoye had defied Okonkwo and joined the white man’s religion. This enraged Okonkwo and he threatened Nwoye. He later disowned him as his oldest son. This no doubt contributed to Okonkwo’s response to the invading culture.
Things Fall Apart, a story by Chinua Achebe, is about a man named Okonkwo who has many achievements and lives in an Ibo village in Umuofia, Nigeria. The beginning of the book introduces the main characters, including Okonkwo and his household. He has three wives and children with each of them. Okonkwo gained fame in his village from a wrestling match, respect from his titles in war, and money from farming; he is a leader in his Ibo clan. His success is driven out of his hatred toward his father who was not a strong man or a good farmer. This causes him great anger and makes him despise all things that his father stood for. The beginning of the novel is rather slow due to much detail written about day-to-day life in the clan,
He was in great conflict with the ideas of the white men and the missionaries. Okonkwo saw that their beliefs had not only changed the daily life of the Ibo, but it also changed the people themselves: “He mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women” (Achebe 183). The author uses strong diction to compare the men before and after colonization. This quote also portrays Okonkwo’s opinion towards the cultural collision. He values strength and masculinity immensely because of his fear of appearing weak like his father Unoka. When he describes that the men of Umuofia changed to be soft like women, this shows how much he dishonors the Western ideas and how it has taken over the village. He made an attempt to get rid of the Western influence by urging the tribe to fight like men, but they refuse to. He was determined and still attempted to furthermore encourage the people of Umuofia to revolt against the new culture. He realizes that his attempts to return the village back to the way it was before were futile. He knew that Christianity was tearing his people apart, but knew he was incapable of making change to help his people. Okonkwo then starts to feel hopeless and abandoned by his clan, which causes him to commit suicide by hanging himself: “Obierika… turned suddenly to the District Commissioner and said ferociously: ‘That man was one of the greatest men
You never know how much you care about your culture until people try to take it away from you. Okonkwo was a prideful jerk as moste would describe him, who was once exiled for seven years for his unlawful actions. When he finally returned to Umuofia, white men come trying to change things and take land. Okonkwo stepped up to help lead his clan but ended up with the same mistakes he used to make, which connects to violence. He then gives in to his biggest fear, weakness. When stress and trying to step up and change to somebody your not takes toll over you, sometimes one just can’t over turn it. This was his reaction to the cultural collision of the white men and Igbo people. This is important because that cultural collision impacted many people on both sides of the dispute. Okonkwo’s reaction to this collision showed how one can connect back to old habits and how cultural collisions mostly never end well no matter what. There will always be that person offended, killed, or even that person to take their own life because of
As “he lay on his bamboo bed, he thought about the treatment he had received in the white man's court and, he swore vengeance. If Umuofia decided on war, all would be well. But if they chose to be cowards he would go out and avenge himself” (199). Okonkwo is willing to take any risk, whether it endangered him or not. The spell was broken by the head messenger “let me pass he ordered”!
Okonkwo was ashamed of him and did everything possible to never end up like his father. When the narrator stated, “With a 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.
The above passages were taken from the end of chapter three, part one. After finishing reading this book and then going back through it, I found these passages very ironic in regards to how the story eventually ended. Okonkwo believed that because he was such a fierce fighter, he could conquer anything life threw at him. However, it was his fierce, proud, fighting attitude that was his demise in the face of uncontrollable circumstances in the end. Okonkwo believed that war and brute fighting would fix everything. He was a proud and stubborn man constantly struggling to improve his standing in the tribal community. Okonkwo also had intense pride for his tribe and way of life. He believed it was the right way of life and not to be questioned. Everyone was supposed to fear war with Umofia due to their fierce warriors and greatness in battle. When the white men not only did not fear them, but openly threatened the tribal way of life, Okonkwo prepared to handle the situation the only way he knew how. He wanted to got to war against the new white invaders, chasing them from tribal lands and ending the threat of different ways of life.
Achebe shows us a culture that is on the verge of change. Within the story we find out how the reality of change is brought upon several characters, and what their actions follow. Just like how African’s resisted the white’s over taking their country in reality, Achebe implements the same idea with the use of several characters. Okonkwo, for example, is completely opposed to the new political and religious upbringing that has come upon his clan. He feels that a real man does not change his views and beliefs for another mans views and beliefs. He see’s it as a sign of weakness. As we see throughout the novel, Okonkwo’s fear of losing his title and status, drives him further away from the idea of changing and adapting to the new religion. Achebe shows us how there will always be those that fight against the change, but in the end the stronger religion will over take and turn the others. Unfortunately for him, Okonkwo finding out his clan is converting is heart aching and he finds complete weakness in his clan. Achebe ties both themes of change and masculinity very well, and both themes support each other in every way. In reality, many Africans resisted the colonizers trying to destroy their religion, but the colonization wasn’t as severe as Achebe presented in her novel. “Groups strongly resisted the coming of European
Okonkwo is deemed the hero of this story, but he is not a traditional hero. Much like the common archetype, Okonkwo represents a whole culture. Achebe wrote this book to display the true, complex culture of the Nigerian people, and Okonkwo is the piece on which the topic is presented. In Katie Bacon’s interview with Chinua Achebe, the author discusses his book. He believes that the world is “portraying Africa as a place […] where humanity is really not recognizable” (Bacon 219). Because of this, the well-known author wrote Things Fall
Upon an initial reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, it is easy to blame the demise of Okonkwo’s life and of the Umofia community on the imperialistic invasions of the white men. After all, Okonkwo seemed to be enjoying relative peace and happiness before then. He did have a few mishaps; one of them resulted in him being exiled for eight years. Nonetheless, he returned to his home town with high spirits and with prospects of increased success. However, everything has changed. The white men have brought with them a new religion and a new government. Okonkwo’s family falls apart. The men in his village lose their courage and valor; they do not offer any resistance to the white men. Consequently, Okonkwo kills himself in disgrace and Umofia succumbs to the white men. However, the white men are not the only people responsible for demise of Umofia. The Igbo culture, particularly their views on gender roles, sows the seed of their own destruction. By glorifying aggressive, manly traits and ignoring the gentle, womanly traits, Umofia brings about its own falling apart.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a story about personal beliefs,customs, and also a story about an identity confliction. There is struggle between family, culture, and religion of the Ibo tribes. It shows how things fall apart when these beliefs and customs are challenged and how a personal identity changes for a man. The novel concerns the life of Okonkwo, a leader and local wrestling champion throughout the villages of the Ibo ethnic group of Umuofia in Nigeria, Africa, his three wives, and his children. Throughout the novel, Okonkwo is internally challenged and slowly becomes someone that is no longer recognizable by his friends or his family. When Okonkwo faces change, his identity starts to fade.
Okonkwo uses fear to keep his other children in the Igbo culture. He fears that if his family converts then there won’t be anyone to remember him when he dies. At the end of the story, Okonkwo reaches his breaking point; “They came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling and they stopped dead” (Achebe 127). With everything changing around him, he reaches his breaking point and hangs himself, even though it goes against the Igbo tradition.
Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, uses the changes in African tribal culture brought about by European colonization to illustrate the evolution of the character Okonkwo. As Okonkwo leads his life, his experiences, personality and thought are revealed to the reader. The obstacles he faces in life are made numerous as time progresses. Okonkwo's most significant challenge originates within himself. He also encounters problems not only when in opposition to the white culture, but in his own culture, as he becomes frustrated with tribal ideals that conflict with his own. The last adversary he encounters is of the physical world, brought upon himself by his emotional and cultural problems. The manner through which Okonkwo addresses his adversaries in Things Fall Apart creates the mechanism that leads to his eventual destruction.