How Are Okonkwo And Unoka Alike

521 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How does achebe present the customs of the people when things fall apart

In “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, Unoka and Okonkwo are father and son but they are written in such a way that they can be described as foil characters with very little characteristics in common. For example, one of the few things they both have in common is that they were both admired by the Umuofian community (even if it was for two different reasons). Unoka was admired for his proficient ability to play the flute even though he was considered an ‘agbala’. “Sometimes another village would ask Unoka’s band and their dancing egwugwu to come and stay with them and teach them their tunes”. Okonkwo, however, was praised for his achievements, ambitions, and success in life. “Okonkwo was clearly cut for great…so he ate with kings and elders”. …show more content…

Unoka expressed his love to his children by consoling them in times of hardship and by never beating and abusing them. “Do not despair. I know you will not despair. You have a manly and a proud heart”. Nevertheless, Okonkwo showed his love by beating and punishing his family to stamp out the laziness so that his children can end up doing great things. “Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man. He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he already saw in him”. Finally, both Okonkwo and his father died a coward’s death with no titles. Unoka died aboveground in the Evil Forest with no titles by a disease that is considered an ‘abomination’ by the Umuofian’s. “He died of the swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess. Okonkwo also died a coward’s death by committing suicide. His suicide made the two titles he earnt lose meaning as suicide was also considered a shameful death. “It is an abomination for a man to take his own

Show More
Related

  • Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some people might say that Okonkwo was just trying to protect the tradition and cultural of his tribal village but in actuality this is far from the truth. When Okonkwo cut down the guard, he made the swift assumption that his clansmen were as passionate about fighting colonialism as him and would follow him into war. When he found otherwise, he could not understand what had happened to his village. The next place he was seen was hanging from a noose in a selfish show of hypocrisy. In the end, Okonkwo's status among his tribe counted for nothing because his own despair over the colonization of his village led him to kill himself. His whole life Okonkwo strived to not to look weak like his father, but in the end he took the cowards way out, suicide. Suicide was a great sin against the Earth. Because he took his own life, Okonkwo, a great leader of Umuofia, had to be buried by strangers. All of his work and perseverance amounted to nothing because of what he had done.

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

    741 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... a rat when it was caught by the tail and dashed against the floor”(Achebe, 63). He refused to eat for two days straight and only drank palm wine. This shows that he felt he did something horrific and knew it was wrong, but only because society and culture dictated that he had to kill Ikemefuna. Thus, Okonkwo evokes sympathy within the reader because he is not only a product of society.

    Read More

  • Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart – Finding Unoka in the Mirror

    1662 Words  | 4 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

    2074 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...y had let the other messenger escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action" (Achebe 205). Everything he lived for and believed in was going to be taken away by the white men. They had control over everything. He did not want to see that happen so he took his own life. Yet, this is ironic because, in doing so, he was committing an act which was considered one of the worst actions a member could do in the Ibo society. Throughout the story we see how strong Okonkwo's personal beliefs were and how much they meant to him. Beliefs, both personal and those of the society someone is born into, play a major role in their life. This story is an example of what happens when those beliefs are taken away and others are forced upon a person. Everyone needs to believe in something, and things fall apart when they no longer can.

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    Okonkwo was well known through out the nine villages because of his achievements in the tribe. Okonkwo had a great fear of becoming like his father. This had a rather large impact on his life and how his personality. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was a lazy man whereas Okonkwo was a hard worker, Okonkwo ruled his house with a heavy hand and he was a man of war.

    Read More

  • Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart

    1974 Words  | 4 Pages

    Okonkwo is often described as being similar to characters in Greek tragedies. Okonkwo knew that the end of his clan was coming, and that they would do nothing to prevent it from happening. He took his life out of desperation. He had struggled his whole life to become a respected member of his community, and suddenly his world is turned upside down and changed forever because of an accident. Okonkwo sees that he is fighting a losing battle, so he quits. Suicide was one of the biggest offenses that could be committed against the earth, and Okonkwo?s own clansmen could not bury him. Okonkwo?s death symbolizes the end of patriarchy in Umuofia. The last page of the book is from the point of view of the white Commissioner, who notes that he wants to include a paragraph on Okonkwo?s life in his book entitled The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of Lower Niger. Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs and defeats are all reduced to a paragraph, much like his culture and society will be reduced.

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Analysis

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wanting to avoid being a failure, just as the villagers are, Okonkwo commits suicide. Here, the irony is undeniably present. To commit suicide is to offend the Earth, as believed by the people of Umuofia. It is said that killing oneself “is an abomination for a man. his body is evil, and only strangers may touch it” (207).

    Read More

  • Okonkwo's Character Development In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    Okonkwo’s shame and fear of being seen as weak drove him to be a cruel leader in his tribe and a harsh ruler in his household. In describing this harshness, Achebe writes:

    Read More

  • Okonkwo’s Resistance to Change in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    1470 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...nkwo did one last thing that his father would never have had the strength of conviction to do. In a way, Okonkwo’s suicide really did conform to the ways of Umuofia; the true Umuofia that Okonkwo had been able to identify with and that he sought validation from had killed itself with its pliability towards the new ways.

    Read More

  • Okonkwo's Self-Destructive Masculinity in Things Fall Apart

    2752 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart Adapt To Change Essay

    622 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since his childhood, Okonkwo has always been ashamed of his father, Unoka. Unoka was rarely able to feed his children, which made Okonkwo scared and embarrassed. When he went out into Umuofia, he found that the villagers had very similar opinions towards his father. As...

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart Book Report- 11 Pages Long. I Got An A

    2728 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How Does Okonkwo's Change In Things Fall Apart

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    Unoka was a poor person, was a valueless individual to Okonkwo, and he held no titles in Umuofia society. On the off chance that a poor person were permitted to take a title in Umuofia, it would disturb the establishment on which Okonkwo had manufactured and driven his life; this reaction foreshadowed Okonkwo's response to the bigger occasions of the finish of the

    Read More

  • An Identity Crisis in 'Things Fall Apart'

    1770 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...rgivable. The clan considered "it an abomination for a man to take his own life" (Achebe 207). Okonkwo went from being someone that his clansman respected to a stranger that no one cared about.

    Read More

More about How Are Okonkwo And Unoka Alike

Open Document