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Analysis of Chinua Achebe's things fall apart
Identify and discuss the cultural elements in Things Fall Apart
Identify and discuss the cultural elements in Things Fall Apart
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Recommended: Analysis of Chinua Achebe's things fall apart
Things Fall Apart Book Report 1. Title of work: Things Fall Apart 2. Author and date written: Chinua Achebe, 1959 3. Country of author: Nigeria 4. Characters: 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 - Okonkwo is a clan leader in Umuofia. He has a large family, yet is very stubborn and known for his violent personality. He became well known through all of the seven villages by throwing “The Cat” during a wrestling tournament. Ekwefi - Ekwefi is Okonkwo's second wife. She had nine children, but each of which died at a very young age. Enzinma is her only surviving child. She is a dedicated mother and a proper wife. Ezinma – Ezinma is open-minded and understanding. She is her father’s favorite child because of those reasons. He wishes that she would have been a boy, and keeps referring to that wish throughout the course of the novel. Ikemefuna – Even though Ikemefuna is seen as the perfect son and clansman, he is still sentenced to death by the Oracle. He is a hard-working, caring character. Nwoye – In the eyes of Okonkwo, his oldest son, Nwoye, is weak and lazy from an early age. He dislikes his father because he beats him so often to make him more masculine. After the death of Ikemefuna, Nwoye becomes very depressed and later converts to the Christian faith, which makes Okonkwo disown him. Obierika – He is a close and loyal friend to Okonkwo. He is always there for him, even when he is banished for seven years, Obierika still comes to visit Okonkwo and his family in the motherland. He also takes care of the yam distribution and it’s payment because Okonkwo is unable to do so. Chielo - Chielo is the oracle who speaks to the villages as the goddess Agbala. She is very fond of Ekwefi and Enzinma. Ogbuefi Ezeudu – He is the oldest man in the tribe. He was very successful and he had won three out of the four titles that you can take in the tribe. When his funeral came, they had a great warrior celebration in remembrance of him. Uchendu – Uchendu is Okonkwo’s uncle. He welcomes Okonkwo and his family with open arms when he goes to the motherland for his seven years of punishment.
Okonkwo is on two ends of a stick. Sometimes he can be shown to be a caring, sympathetic character, but others he is shown as a ruthless person that is very unsympathetic person. Okonkwo is a man of action that would rather solve things with his fists rather than talking it out. He is a great wrestler hailing from the Umuofia clan that has thrown Amalinze the Cat. Okonkwo is also a very good farmer, where he has been able to grow two barns worth of yams. He is someone that doesn’t know how to control themselves when they get angry as he will then resort to violence. Okonkwo’s family relationships make him a sympathetic character because of his caregiving nature and hospitality and he is shown to be an unsympathetic character because of his
“Okonkwo was specially fond of Ezinma. She looked very much like her mother, who was once the village beauty.” (Achebe Ch 2)
(Achebe 37) Okonkwo also shows sympathy to his daughter, Ezima, a daughter of Ekwefi.
Okonkwo is not all that he may seem as there is more than what meets the eye. Okonkwo is the primary protagonist within the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo is a cruel yet kind man who has everything yet has nothing, which in turn creates a sympathetic character. A character such as Okonkwo has many facets or masks if you will. Then we have his many influences: the Ibo culture, his father Unoka and of course his own personality.
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.
Okonkwo is supposed to be comforting to his children, but instead he hurts them. “Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears, whereupon his father beat him heavily. As for Ikemefuna, he was at a loss. His own home had gradually become very faint and
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.
"Developing a Philosophy of Leadership." . Leadership Paradigms Inc., n.d. Web. 12 Nov 2013. .
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.
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...
Okonkwo grew up from poverty to wealthy enough to support three wives, and many children. He was well respected by his clansmen from his village. Although, Okonkwo has many great aspects in his life, his tragic flaw is the fear of becoming like his father. While everyone was working on their farm, Unoka did nothing but drink, dance, and just plainly pray to the gods.
He has grown to detest all the things Unoka liked, and developed a strong will and exterior so he wouldn’t even flinch at bloodshed. His father was a coward that feared almost everything and was considered an agbala amongst others. Okonkwo had been personally affected by his father's underachievements by cause of children who taunted him at a young age. Unoka is also known to be the opposite of Okonkwo, or rather Okonkwo began to become the Unoka. “[…] Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood. In Umuofia’s latest war he was the first to bring home a human head.” (2.4). He is ridden by the internal conflict of the always caring of the opinions of others in the village. Okonkwo faces man vs. man conflict since he has to tackle his own perceptions of being an idol in the village. This is a fright that cannot be shaken off in Okonkwo's situation, since it;s been deeply embedded into his personality and how he is. Now that he is overflowing with pride of his high status in Umuofia, his standards are higher, it induces an even more self conscious Okonkwo.“[..] his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic“ (12). Okonkwo is able to tackle many obstacles with his power, but unfortunately there is no greater opponent than himself. His mind is always patrolling back on
Motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of effort towards a goal, provided the effort made also satisfied some individual need. (Keenan K., 1995, e.g. 60)