Theme Between Father And Son In Things Fall Apart

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Recommended: Short note on the character of okonkwo when things fall apart

Severe conflict between father and son arise in Chinua Achebe’s tragic novel Things Fall Apart and Peter Weir’s film Dead Poets Society. The fathers in each of these stories are adamant on adherence to the status quo and tradition, while the sons seek individual expression revolting against the norms much to their fathers’ disapproval. Ultimately the actions of both the father and the son contribute to tragic outcomes. Things Fall Apart takes place in the village Umuofia in Nigeria during the late 1800s and follows the story of Okonkwo, the stoic alpha male of the village who lives to overshadow his father, Unoka’s feeble legacy. He hopes for his eldest son Nwoye to follow his footsteps, but sees many of the characteristics of his father in
In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo wants Nwoye to continue the family legacy being the eldest male son in the family. Despite his belligerence, Okonkwo “was a man of action” (Achebe 10) believes that his strictness and authority over the family will teach his son the proper way to act as the head of the household. This originates from Okonkwo’s latent fear that he will be associated with Unoka’s legacy which his son will carry. His first encounter of guilt for his father was “when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala” (Achebe 13) or a man who has taken no title. Although Mr. Perry in Dead Poets Society does not rear such guilt, he wishes for his son to see success as a doctor. The Perry’s do not come from a wealthy family similar to that of Okonkwo, but Mr. Perry diligence and sacrifice led him to a middle class lifestyle. Both fathers draw upon traditional family hierarchies, where the male makes decisions for the children. Mr. Perry tells Neil that his father did not allow him to pursue his passion in his adolescence because his father wanted him gain success in a respected profession. Similarly, Mr. Perry wants the same for Neil, despite Neil’s disdain for his father’s
In Things Fall Apart the father is the tragic hero who cannot live without the community’s adherence to traditions while in Dead Poets Society the son cannot live with his father’s obstruction of his dreams. The hubris of each of these tragic heroes inhibits them and leads to their tragic deaths. Understanding the motives of the tragic heroes especially in father-son relationships are important to interpret the inherent power struggle between them as they both seek complete control over themselves in the case of the son or over the family as for the

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