The Values and Beliefs of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart

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The Values and Beliefs of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart Things Fall Apart is a novel, which is directly focused on the tribes and the local life of the native people. The protagonist in this novel is a proud strict and tough man with the name of Okonkwo. Okonkwo was born in the mid-nineteenth century, in the Igbo village of Umuofia, (which we now know as southeastern Nigeria). Okonkwo's life was "dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness". His father was a man who had no titles and was called a woman. One main thing we learn in this novel is that these tribes hold great respect for men who had a title. One man who didn't have any titles and was referred to, as a woman was Okonkwos father. We are informed of Oknokwos character with the following words "He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists. He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father". This point is proved many times in the novel and one of the recurring examples is the Striking of his wives, where at on e stage he could have killed her by shotting at her. The honour and beliefs Okonkwo follows are the same as any other man in the tribe except that Oknokwos beliefs are to an extreme extent. One thing we have to keep in mind is the fact that "his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwos fear was greater than these. It was not external bu... ... middle of paper ... ...d see what had happened to the clan was a great shock to him. During his time in exile he had heard of the missionaries come into his village but he had never expected it to be that bad. In other words unlike the other people who had remained in the clan he never had the process of adjusting and accepting what had happened to his clan. The fury burning inside Oknkwo was increasing as they are deceived and captured. During the imprisonment he is said to have been" chocked with hate." This is understandable considering "he was a man of action a man of war. Okonkwo was so proud to an extent that he takes his own sorrow to die in dignity. The cause of his death was sorrow. The pain of coming back to a clan and realising that most of the men in there were no longer real men was too much that Okonkwo couldn't handle.

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