Things Fall Apart Masculinity Analysis

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In the novel Things Fall Apart by Achebe, Okonkwo is a man who is strict about his masculinity and masculine tradition. His consistency is impressive but his struggles makes his fight unyielding. Okonkwo’s masculinity is significant for him not be like his father, throughout his life he works hard to not be like Unoka. Okonkwo is a stubborn man and he constantly fights to be masculine and does not like much get in his way. This all sums up to his consequences of being a strict masculine man. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the way Okonkwo views masculinity through the novel is a consisted fight and he goes through a journey of sticking to only masculinity but has a downfall because of it.
Masculinity to Okonkwo is important so that he is not like his father who he considers feminine. His father Unoka was a person with no title and was unsuccessful, all characteristics that Okonkwo does not want and Osei-Nyame mentions that Okonkwo is driven to achieve distinction among his people to compensate for the disgrace of his father, Unoka. How Okonkwo started this hatred towards his father all started when he was a young boy and what he saw his father as is what strives him to become a successful man. There are several characteristic that Okonkwo does not tolerate of his father, “In his day he was lazy improvident and was …show more content…

His constant fight of not being like his father sets him up for failure. While Okonkwo constantly fights to not be like his father he mirrors some of his father's characteristics. Before Okonkwo kills himself he loses his possessions, title, and clan, his father did not have any real possessions or a title. Then he kills himself which is not masculine and is called a agbala which his father was known as. All of Okonkwo’s hard work and attention to details does nothing for him but end up like Unoka who he strived untiring to not even be seen as

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