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Things fall apart analysis theme
Things fall apart: okonkwo vs. society
Things fall apart: okonkwo vs. society
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The book Things Fall Apart , by Chinua Achebe , is about the internal conflict of a man named Okonkwo who fears weakness, and being weak like his father. Achebe has written this book to show the Igbo tribe through the eyes of Okonkwo, a man struggling between his fear of weakness and his love for his children, to the rest of the outside world. And so, Achebe uses Okonkwo's internal conflict between his fear of weakness and his and the want to live his kids to present the idea that fear should not control your life and actions.The main character Okonkwo, has a fear of being weak. This fear starts to envelop his life and warps the way he acts,feels,and thinks to the point where he murders his son.“Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and …show more content…
“A child’s fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm.” Okonkwo feels that he should not be punished for the crime of killing ikemefuna but actually wishes the he will be punished for ikemefuna's death because he feels deeply sorry for it.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. okonkwo has to constantly remind himself about how manly and strong he is to get over the laziness of his father and the death of his son okonkwo is stuck in between two states of believing that the murder of his son is justified because of his strength and power but the other half of okonkwo knows that what he did is wrong and the death of his son was not right Okonkwo is letting this fear of weakness take control of his actions, thoughts, and feeling to the point to where he is driven to murder 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. this quote shows that he used to be a good man and still is but if not addressed or taken care of fears can manifest into something too strong to overcome Even
From birth Okonkwo had wanted his son, Nwoye, to be a great warrior like him. His son instead rebelled and wanted to be nothing like Okonkwo. Okonkwo would not change so that his son would idolize him, as he had wanted since his son's birth. He chose not to acknowledge his son's existence instead. This would weigh heavily on anyone's conscience, yet Okonkwo does not let his relationship with his son affect him in the least bit.
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.
... 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.
Okonkwo was a man that was held high in his village, he was a wrestler that, in his early days had taken down one of the toughest opponents. On page one, "Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and beyond." Like Kurtz, Okonkwo had flaws that affected him greatly in the end. Okonkwo lived in fear of being like his father, of being weak. One consequence that Okonkwo's fear led him to, was the killing of someone which he cared deeply for, whom he loved like his own son. On page sixty-one, "Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak." Okonkwo's fear of being weak, was a flaw that people reading the story can relate to. Okonkwo is a highly respected man, a man with multiple wives, good crops, and children. To the reader, these parts of Okonkwo's life may not make sense. A lot of Okonkwo's life and culture might not make sense to the reader, but looking at Okonkwo's fears and flaws, gives you something to relate
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.
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.
Fear of failure and weakness dominates Okonkwo throughout his life. At first this fear motivates him to rise to success by working diligently and doing everything his father did not do. However, even when Okonkwo establishes an honorable reputation, fear of failure continues to overwhelm him and drives him to perform acts that lead to his suffering. One example of this is when the men of Umuofia decide that Ikemefuna must be killed and Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna even though he is told not to partake in the killing of Ikemefuna. Okonkwo panics when Ikemefuna turns to him and cries for help, and without thinking, Okonkwo slays Ikemefuna with his machete. Okonkwo does this because in the split second where Ikemefuna runs to Okonkwo for protection, Okonkwo is overpowered with fear of being seen as weak and kills 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 t...
Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his children. 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 (p.
...side made him suffer. He did it to himself. If he wasn't so caught up on the idea that if you weren't violent and brave then you were a woman, perhaps he would still be alive at the end of the novel. He takes his own life because he realizes everything he has done to be that powerful leader he has always wanted to be was a waste. When he comes back from exile, everything is different. He realizes that the people in the village don't need him. They are content with change and adapting to a new way of life, unlike himself. They don't want to go to war and have bloody battles like he does. Okonkwo realized his village was able to survive without him. By Okonkwo taking his own life, he proved his misery and the idea of him being truly weak at heart was affirmed.
Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, is a story about a society on the verge of a cultural change. The main character, Okonkwo, is driven throughout the story by fear and a drive for success. He relied on the village of Umuofia to stay the same because he used the structured culture to feel safe and appreciated. He lives in a constant state of fear because he wants to find his own meaning in life. When the structure of Umuofia began to change, Okonkwo found himself incapable of adapting like the rest of the villagers. He was determined to live a life that could not survive the changing world, and his dreams crumbled down. Throughout the novel, Achebe demonstrates that the lack of being able to adapt to change will leave you lost in society.
The book Things Fall Apart successfully expressed how Chinua Achebe had succeeded in writing a different story. It pointed out the conflict of oneself, the traditional beliefs, and the religious matters of the Africans. Throughout the novel, Chinua Achebe used simple but dignified words and unlike other books, he also included some flashbacks and folktales to make the novel more interesting and comprehensible. Things Fall Apart was about a man named Okonkwo, who was always struggling with his inner fear although he was known for being a strong, powerful, and fearless warior. He feared of weakness, and failure more than the fear of losing and dying and that forshadowing the consequenses he got at the end. Through this man that Chinua Achebe represented the deep and rich human characteristics and the beliefs of one religion to another.
Although the reader feels remorseful for Okonkwo’s tragic childhood life. It is another reason to sympathize with a man who believes he is powerful and respected by many when in reality, he is feared by his own family and that is another reason that leads Okonkwo to his downfall. He started positive, motivated but down the line, Okonkwo treats his wife and children very harshly. When the author mentioned, “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children” (pg.13).
Many times throughout the novel, Okonkwo harms himself by blindly trying to resist showing emotion causes relationships, lives and his own life to wither. During the week of peace, Okonkwo had found his wife not cooking dinner. He beats her for that reason causing worse consequences. Furthermore, Ikemefuna was Okonkwo’s favorite; he was a hard-working boy who obeyed Okonkwo and was pleasing to Okonkwo, and Okonkwo even regarded him as his son. However, when people were about to kill Ikemefuna,“Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.
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.
The greatest opponent in life is the one that is created inside the mind. As Okonkwo grows up, he decides to be the absolute antipodes of his father Unoka. Okonkwo perceives his father as a culmination of the weaknesses in man. In this erroneous view, Okonkwo buries his feelings deep within himself. When these emotions emerge, he views them as a sign of weakness. When Okonkwo participates in Ikemefuna's killing, he is deeply affected as he has ended the life of one who he grew to love as a son. Okonkwo is excessively depressed after the slaying, "not tasting any food for two days." (61) As he notices his confusion, he calls himself weak like a shivering old woman. In his emotionless show of strength after Ikemefuna's death, Okonkwo actually proves his frailty by hiding what he feels. Okonkwo is dominated by his private fear of appeari...