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Analysis of Chinua Achebe's things fall apart
Analysis of Chinua Achebe's things fall apart
Brief summary and thematic aspects of Chinua Achebe' s things fall apart
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The Relationship of Father and son In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe there are many characters with many different personalities. In the story you first get introduced to Okonkwo and his father Unoka. However they are related by blood but they have totally different personalities. Okonkwo and his father Unoka have very little in common but many differences that set them apart and make their future. Okonkwo and his father Unoka have very little things in common. There is not much to talk about for this topic expect for a few things. There are many small things like their height or their skin colors. However a small common similarity that plays a big apart in the story. Their anger that plays an important role in Okonkwo life. For example …show more content…
Then they’re both improvident fathers. Many times in the story it shows Okonkwo not showing their kids respect or how even going far enough to kill your own adopted kid Ikemefuna just for your image. Okonkwo said “I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy,” (Pg.70-3) so it shows how Okonkwo had no regret to be that kind of father just like his father. Even though Okonkwo and Unoka be related, they barely have any similarities. Even though Okonkwo and his father don’t have much similarities they still have many differences. They are many difference to compare to them which show Okonkwo’s success and his father Unoka a failure to their clan. Some big difference for them is the wealth of Okonkwo while his father his poor. While Okonkwo was a hard worker and had achieved many achievements while his father was lazy and did not accomplish anything. As Okonkwo did not want to end up like his father with his many quotes like “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” (Pg.70-5). Which explains Okonkwo’s
This quote shows that Okonkwo is really sympathetic and how he has a liking ness to some children for different reasons. This also shows how Okonkwo is not a heartless man and actually cares for his children. “He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else - with a heavy hand. But there was no doubt that he liked the boy.” (Achebe Ch 4) This shows that Okonkwo even shows sympathy to those that are not related to him. Ikemefuna came in as a prisoner but later ended up becoming apart of Okonkwo's family.
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. As a child Okonkwo was neglected by his father and even later in his life did not speak with him until of course his father was on his deathbed, this made him very angry. Okonkwo always saw his father Unoka as lazy. Okonkwo worked hard to remove any trace of laziness from his personality.
“With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. He neither inherited a barn nor a title, or even a young wife. But in spite of these disadvantages, he had begun even in his father’s lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future” (18). Most of his accomplishments were despite his father, whom Okonkwo loathed, but with whom I connected. In the novel, I relate more to Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, a much more laid back character. Like Unoka, I am in love with life, lazy, not worried about tomorrow, and deeply in debt.
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.
Although Unoka and Okonkwo never had the greatest relationship, they are still father and son. Unoka had brought shame to his family. Never wanting great things, only borrowing and relying on others. Okonkwo always thought of
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.
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
Okonkwo was so concerned about being nothing like his father. Even as a young boy, Okonkwo was embarrassed of his father and wanted nothing to do with him. He was always worried about turning into him. “It was fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father” (Achebe 13). His fathers failure in guidance made him constantly worry about being nothing like him, which created more stress. If a parent does not give good examples of how to live life it will teach the child nothing. Unoka was not a good influence, he did not try hard in life and he was known for nothing, no one acknow...
In the case of Unoka he had achieve no titles and was a debtor. Unoka had a great childhood and loved the good fare and the good fellowship but “Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure” (Achebe 5).He was said to be poor and his wife and children barely had enough to eat, this caused people to laugh at him because he was a slacker. This caused Okonkwo to have no patience with unsuccessful men also “He had no patience with his father” (Achebe 4). Therefore Unoka and Okonkwo had no father and son relationship, he despised he father so much that he forgot to be a father to Nwoye. Due that his father was such a lazy man he also had to support his own mother and sister which was not his duty. This very situation caused Okonkwo to be
Okonkwo is the son of a man named Unoka, who was known as somewhat of a failure and was not able to repay debt. Unoka preferred music and friendly gatherings to working in the field and was therefore more focused on things as seen as unimportant to the Ibo culture such as playing his flute and drinking palm-wine rather than earning titles and growing yams as an Ibo man should. Okonkwo developed a deep shame and hatred for his father and worked tirelessly to erase him from his memory by attempting to become his opposite by earning
Okonkwo is known throughout Umuofia to be extremely masculine. He rarely shows signs of fear or weakness. This is because Oknokwo promised himself he would be the complete opposite of his father Unoka. Unoka had passed away ten years prior to when the story takes place but he has always been remembered as a weak, lazy, poor man who could barely provide for his family. He was always in debt and didn't care to work, he would play his flute all day everyday if he was able to. "People laughed at him because he was a loafer, and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back" (5). Unoka was the laugh of the town and Okonkwo would never allow himself be that.
Unoka – Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was considered lazy and a failure. He never worked and always took from others. Okonkwo considered him a complete embarrassment and vowed never to be like his father. He had to hate what Unoka once loved, and never borrow money or stop working.
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.
Okonkwo displays an heir of masculinity due to his own insecurities and unleashes his wrath on the people close to him, while Holly’s masculinity is unleashed during times of necessity and in hunting. Throughout his life, Okonkwo was ashamed of his father, Unoka. Throughout his life, Unoka was a poor and lazy man and was unable to support his family, which in the society of the Umofia was viewed as one of the most shameful things a man can do. Growing up, Okoknow was embarrassed and vowed to be the polar opposite of his father. He was scared that he too would one day become the man (or lack of a man) that his father was (Achebe 15).
() Okonkwo was never taught what was right and what was wrong from Unoka. As a result of this Okonkwo had to figure out how to be a good man on his own. Okonkwo doesn't accept himself, this flaw leads him to conclude that being a good man would just be the opposite of this father, Unoka. Therefore, to Okonkwo’s beliefs anything his father did was weak. Okonkwo's fear of weakness is taken out on his family who he treats very harshly.