The Igbo were a strong and noble culture in Africa before European colonization occurred. After the slave trade ended, Christians started to go deeper into Africa, looking to spread their religion further across the globe. In the book, Things Fall Apart it focuses mainly on the main character, Okonkwo, who is Igbo, and his life choices when the white come. With the fear of becoming like his father, Okonkwo’s decisions become more reckless and violent throughout the story, these reckless decisions include killing his foster son Ikemefuna, attacking his first born Nwoye, and killing a messenger of the white man. In chapter seven, Okonkwo kills his foster son Ikemefuna, although this is a crime against the earth goddess to kill one’s own family, in his fear of being thought weak he kills him. Okonkwo is warned not to do this and that it is a crime, "Yes, Umuofia has decided to kill him. The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom, and kill him there. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. He calls you his father." (seee page number to go here%$#@^&) Okonkwo goes on the journey that leads to his son’s death anyways and when it comes to the murder, Okonkwo is the one that delivers the killing …show more content…
When the Igbo are holding a meeting a messenger arrives saying, "The white man whose power you know too well has ordered this meeting to stop." In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow, It was useless. Okonkwo's machete descended twice and the man's head lay beside his uniformed body.”(!^%$#@#$%). This behavior wasn’t approved of by the clan, and many whispered asking why he would do such a thing. Death is a great sin among the Igbo and Okonkwo had, in his fear and becoming womanly like his clan, killed this
Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umofia, Who had so unaccountably become soft like women.
"[Trembles] with hate, unable to utter a word. in a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was a waste of money. Okonkwo's machete descended twice and the man's head lay beside his uniformed body."
Despite kind feelings, cultural influences betrayed him in the end. “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was...
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
In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, there are many characters with varying responses to the clash of cultures between the white culture and the Ibo culture. Okonkwo is one of the characters that had a strong negative response. Okonkwo responded negatively and therefore divided himself from the tribe who was not ready to go to war, because he did not adapt like everyone else who was exposed to the culture when he was not. His distaste for the white man’s religion grows as it takes in converts and disrespects Okonkwo’s religion.
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
Okonkwo wanted to become one of the greatest men in the Ibo tribe, but three unfortunate events occur bringing him closer to his end. Okonkwo was a proud, industrious figure who through hard work was able to elevate himself to a stature of respect and prominence in his community. The one major character flaw was that he was a man driven by his fear to extreme reactions. Okonkwo was petrified of inadequacy namely because his father was a complete and utter failure. This fear of shortcoming made him hate everything his father loved and represented: weakness, gentleness, and idleness. Who was Okonkwo, well Okonkwo was a hero and also he...
... a meeting, Okonkwo, knowing that his clansmen would do nothing to drive the white men away form their villages, killed a messenger. He then went home and committed suicide.
...s return to Umuofia at the end of his exile when he returns home. The white men send their a messenger to the village. Okonkwo is still enraged about Nwoye's conversion. He sprang to his feet as soon as he saw who it was. He confronted the head messenger, trembling with hate, unable to utter a word. The man was fearless and stood his ground, his four men lined up behind him. “In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. . . . Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man's head lay beside his uniformed body” (204).
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.
This is an unwise act on behalf of Okonkwo, and as a result, he suffers emotionally in the next few days. He enters a stage of depression and cannot eat or sleep as all he can think about is what he has done to Ikemefuna. It is at this point that things start to fall apart for Okonkwo.... ... middle of paper ... ...
As you see, Okonkwo was a deprived man after hearing about the whites expanding their beliefs and customs to Umuofia. Being unable to contain it, he had no choice but to give in. Okonkwo wanted to go to war and fight the invading Europeans, but he soon realized that he was the only one hungry for war. “I shall fight alone if I choose” (Achebe 201). Being the only one seeking for revenge, he had no choice but to behead the head messenger who was trying to end a clan meeting. Letting the other messengers escape, Okonkwo’s visual was the truth. “He knew that Umuofia would not go to war” (Achebe 205). Everything that he stood for was now distant. His once powerful and running clan was now weak and resistant to fight off enemies. What was the point to live when everything else had failed him and he could do nothing to resolve it? He struggled with the changes occurring in the tribe. He was known as a very strong and honorable tribesman, but when the whites arrived promoting Christianity and other tribe members began to change as a result, even his own son, he could not bear the change. While viewing the others as weak, like his father, he tries to remain strong against change however he is the only one. Killing the messenger was the last attempt to try and save the tribe from the influence of the white man. Seeing the others not join in his action, he loses hope and in desperation ends his life
In Okonkwo’s case, he feels guilty of executing Ikemefuna: a young boy that lives with Okonkwo for three years, a boy that “calls [Okonkwo] his father.” (Achebe 57) Ezeudu, the oldest man in Umuofia, advised Okonkwo to “not bear a hand in his death.” (57) But he kills him anyway, which makes him depressed.
After an incident happened in Umuofia, since a rival clan allegedly murdered an Umuofian woman. The recompense for such deeds were a virgin girl, and a boy. The boy was named Ikemefuna, as he arrived to the village he was handed over to Okonkwo's family. He was very young and after a while, began to grow onto Okonkwo. He was adored by Okonkwo, but he was rarely shown that privilege thanks to Okonkwo’s lack of expressing emotions. Another setback as a result of Okonkwo's firm stance on his macho image. Okonkwo and Ikemefuna were very close until the day of Ikemefuna’s execution. He was taken by a few men with machetes (by The Oracles orders) with Okonkwo following along, although he was not to be involved. Okonkwo tried his best to look away as he heard the first blow, but was later distracted by Ikemefuna’s cries of “My father, they have killed me!” (7.27-28). Okonkwo could not help but give into fear, and kill Ikemefuna on instinct, to hide his initial feelings of sadness and despair. Okonkwo was punished for becoming involved, and he mourned in his hut. Okonkwo was once again taken over by his internal conflict and did a non-sensical
Since Okonkwo’s pride made him take negative actions again, he decided to come up with the decision of committing suicide. Committing suicide was seen as a cowardly act to do, but since Okonkwo had already lost his power due to his pride, he figured the only other option was to hang