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Parent child relationships in literature poetry
Parent child relationships in literature poetry
Parent child relationships in literature poetry
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Parent child relationships, one of the strongest bonds a person could have. No matter which parent you side with, you still try to support and love each other the same. In the novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe the main parent child relationship lies between a father and son. Or at least this is how Achebe portrays it in the novel. Achebe accomplishes many tasks by using parent child relationships as a motif. He creates interest, helps readers easily grasp concepts, creates generalizations about parent child relationships, emphasizes a link between generations, and characterizes main characters such as Okonkwo. While using these things, Achebe creates a more interesting, complex, and realistic novel.
The main parent child relationship, as mentioned before, lies between a father and son, named Okonkwo and Nwoye. A strong, hardworking, violent, and brutal man, Okonkwo was born into a poor family. Okonkwo’s father, the lazy and peaceful Unoka did not sustain his family, as he was too lazy to work. As a result when Okonkwo came of age, he started from scratch while the other boys at least inherited a barn. As shown in the following quotation, Okonkwo accomplished quite a bit despite his situation. “He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife. To crown it all he had taken two titles [...]” (8). As a result of his poverty, Okonkwo grew up hating his father including the things he loved most, such as idleness. This causes his actions to become rash and unthoughtful. “Okonkwo was ruled by one passion – to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved.” (13) This becomes problematic for his son, Nwoye, who enjoys similar things to his grandfather. Achebe creates a character foil by...
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...his overall writing while using parent child relationships as a motif. When authors use motifs in their writing it helps readers get a grasp on key concepts and ideas, while helping authors characterize their characters. Motifs give chances for the characters in novels to constantly change and develop. In this case parent child relationships are used to characterize and develop Okonkwo and Nwoye, two main characters. While using motifs, it helps show the changes in characters by bringing up a similar subject, but getting a different reaction. Although in this novel, characters’ parent child relationships were negative experiences, it helped grow the characters’ strength. Helping them push forwards towards the futures that they desired. Parent child relationships can make or break people, whether positive or negative, both are experiences to be used later on in life.
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.
The protagonist, Okonkwo demonstrates his sympathetic character solely to himself, personally, and infrequently not in the eyes of others. During the plotting of Ilemefuna’s death, Okonkwo was hesitant to make the boy aware of his fate and also hesitant to take part in his death. “‘I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy,’ he asked Obierika” Okonkwo was aware that the adopted boy from an opposing tribe thought of Okonkwo, not only as an authority figure and high-ranking tribal member/warrior, but also as a father—his father. Until the death of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo continued to show Ikemefuna kindness due to feeling that “his son’s development was due to Ikemefuna.” (Achebe 3...
“With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. He neither inherited a barn nor a title, or even a young wife. But in spite of these disadvantages, he had begun even in his father’s lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future” (18). Most of his accomplishments were despite his father, whom Okonkwo loathed, but with whom I connected. In the novel, I relate more to Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, a much more laid back character. Like Unoka, I am in love with life, lazy, not worried about tomorrow, and deeply in debt.
Nwoye is the frequent subject of his father’s criticism and remains emotionally unfulfilled. Ikemefuna comes to fill that void and Nwoye, in his adoration of his adoptive brother, begins to mirror him. Ikemefuna helps Nwoye grow and find his masculinity, which, in turn, helps Okonkwo shift to a gratitude toward his once rejected son. “Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son’s development, and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna.” , through this quote we are able to distinguish Okonkwo's feelings toward his son that were once belligerent, now exhibiting acceptance.
Okonkwo’s fear leads him to treat members of his family harshly, in particular his son, Nwoye. Okonkwo often wonders how he, a man of great strength and work ethic, could have had a son who was “degenerate and effeminate” (133). Okonkwo thought that, "No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man" (45).
How does someone overcome the traumatic experiences they suffered with in their childhood? “Nobody had a perfect childhood, not even the kid down the street whose family seemed to have it all together. We all grew up with some sort of dysfunction, and we’re all who we are today because of it,” an excerpt from the article “The New Normal – Healing from a Dysfunctional Family.” A person’s dysfunctional childhood could sprout from neglect, abuse, loss, or psychological aspects that they have no control over but, every bad encounter can be overcome by the strongest people. “Emotional and psychological trauma is the result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter your sense of security, making you feel helpless in a dangerous world,”( Lawrence Robinson, Melinda Smith, and Jeanne Segal). The three steps to overcome is understanding, coping, and healing (Dania Vanessa). Each of
In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, we see a breakdown between a father and son relationship
His greatest disappointment is the fact that his son is not turning out to be the man that Okonkwo wants him to be. He sees his father in his son, Nwoye, rather than himself. This is greatly displeasing to Okonkwo. This might be why Nwoye’s mother is never mentioned by name, since she produced a “woman” for a son. He does find that Ikeme...
From an early age, Okonkwo was ashamed of his father, Unoka, who was unable even to feed his family. The unpredictability of receiving enough food at a young age was enough to inspire fear and embarrassment in Okonkwo who associated this embarrassment with his father and was given further justification for these feelings when he went out into Umuofia, discovering that the other villagers held similar opinions of Unoka. When he was old enough, Okonkwo began farming his own yams because “he had to support his mother and two sisters […] And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father” (25). Okonkwo’s self-reliance was admired, valued in the community where “age was respected […] but achievement was revered” (12); this admiration gave him feelings of security, and the respect of his peers pushed him towards greater self-respect, distancing him from his father. The security and respect became related in his mind as he viewed his acceptance in the community as his life’s goal and Okonk...
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).
For an abundance of authors, the driving force that aids them in creation of a novel is the theme or number of themes implemented throughout the novel. Often times the author doesn’t consciously identify the theme they’re trying to present. Usually a theme is a concept, principle or belief that is significant to an author. Not only does the theme create the backbone of the story, but it also guides the author by controlling the events that happen in a story, what emotions are dispersed, what are the actions of characters, and what emotions are presented within each environment to engage the readers in many
Okonkwo sees his father’s gentleness as a feminine trait. He works hard to be as masculine as possible so that he will be the opposite of his father and overcome the shame his father brought to his family. Okonkwo deals with this struggle throughout the entire book, hiding the intense fear of weakness behind a masculine façade (Nnoromele 149). In order to appear masculine, he is often violent. In his desire to be judged by his own worth and not by the worth of his effeminate father, Okonkwo participates in the killing of a boy he sees as a son, even though his friends and other respected tribe members advise him against it. (Hoegberg 71). Even after the killing of Ikamefuna, Okonkwo hides his feelings of sadness because the emotions are feminine to him. He goes so far as to ask himself, “when did you become a shivering old woman” (Achebe 65), while he is inwardly grieving. The dramatic irony of the secret fears that Okonkwo has will open the reader’s eyes to how important gender identity is to him. This theme is also presented among Okonkwo’s children. He sees his oldest son, Nwoye, as feminine because he does not like to work as hard as his father (Stratton 29). When Nwoye eventually joins the Christian church, Okonkwo sees him as even more feminine. On the other hand, Okonkwo’s
In the beginning of the story, Okonkwo’s relationship with his son was strained. Toward the end of the story, Nwoye has left is his family and will never see his father again. The elders of the village put much emphasis on family life and helping fellow clansmen. Okonkwo’s family life had increasingly gone downhill as the story progressed. This book can be related to any family, even though it was written in a different time and place. Family problems affect everyone and this story shows the reader how certain problems are dealt with. I don’t believe, however, that Okonkwo’s family took care of their problems in a productive manner. With better communication, Nwoye’s leaving and Okonkwo’s death may have been prevented.
An extreme contrast of his father, Okonkwo strives to appear as masculine as possible. Even though his traits were already considered very masculine, Okonkwo persistently tries to ensure he is not seen as his definition of weak, more so in the presence of his family then others, in an attempt for his sons to act masculine as well. However, not all agree with his interpretation of manliness, such as his son Nwoye and his friend Obierika, as both did not agree with Okonkwo’s actions when he killed the boy Ikemefuna, who viewed Okonkwo as a father, to not appear weak in front of others. Nevertheless, Okonkwo’s true masculinity is still shown throughout the book, such as when he far...
In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a cultural clash between Ibo culture and Western culture was assessed through fictional literature. Several characters reacted to this in their unique ways, either by accepting or rejecting European beliefs. However, the character Okonkwo, a proud, strong and well respected warrior in the Igbo Society had a significant reaction to the new culture. When the new, western culture comes to Igbo society, Okonkwo, of Clan Umuofia, responds by using violence as the only choice. This decision carried dire consequences, and lead to Oknonkwo’s death.