Violence in Things Fall Apart In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe uses violence as a means to portray the struggle between change and tradition. A scene which accurately captures this struggle within the novel is the murder of Ikemefuna. Within in the scene the reader is both exposed to the traditions of Umuofia and the Ibo culture as well as, the struggle and moral hardships these traditions place on the people of the tribe. The killing of Ikemefuna exemplifies the struggle between tradition and change that occurs throughout the entirety of the novel. Ikemefuna is brought to Iguedo as payment for the killing of a young woman from the tribe. The clan leaders decide that Ikemefuna will live with Okonkwo at his compound. While staying at the compound Ikemefuna forms a close bond with Okonkwo’s oldest son, Nwoye (Achebe 34). The two of them become inseparable and Nwoye begins to look up to and admire …show more content…
Okonkwo had grown to love Ikemefuna, but in the end he could not choose to be weak. Ibo tradition states that men are warriors and that there are certain prices to be paid. Tradition did not account for Okonkwo’s love. Love is a weakness for men, they are meant to be stoic and strong. Throughout the murder of Ikemefuna Okonkwo has an inner struggle between choosing to break away from what is expected of him and save the boy or what is the tradition of the Ibo culture (61). He chooses the latter and slices Ikemefuna down with his machete. The violence of the scene is then contrasted by the morose tone of the portion of the novel that immediately follows. Okonkwo does not speak and barely eats for the next few days (63). He mourns the boy in secret. Too afraid to show feelings, Okonkwo hides away from the world. The killing of Ikemefuna clearly portrays the struggle between tradition and change in Things Fall
In the novel, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is a sympathetic and unsympathetic character in regards to his family relationships with his adopted son, Ikemefuna, his daughter, Ezima, and his father, Unoka, as a result of he appears to genuinely care about his family; but, the pride within himself prevents his expression of such pride and concern openly. 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.”
... middle of paper ... ... 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.
Since the beginning of Things Fall Apart, Nwoye is set apart from the rest. In spite of him being seen as a child, Nwoye overcomes the obscurity of his father's shadow. Throughout Things Fall Apart, Nwoye flourishes into his own being. Ikemefuna was a valuable role model to Nwoye and assisted him in growing into a young man. The missionaries brought new concepts for the people of Umuofia to face. The new faith and cultural collision became an escape from the norm of which Nwoye was used to. Nwoye found himself maturing and growing apart from Umuofia. People often follow the rules and traditions of their community because it’s all they’ve ever known. In Things Fall Apart, readers see Nwoye’s beliefs, as well as the beliefs of his community, altered.
Okonkwo has a very harsh personality where things need to be done the way he likes it. Okonkwos’s temper has been shown in the novel to get the better of him sometimes and it ends up getting him into trouble. Also Okonkwo has a masculinity complex that makes him feel the need to do anything that doesn’t make him seem feminine, even if that may be to kill somebody like Ikemefuna. The last lines of Ikemefuna in the novel were “My Father, they have killed me!”(Achebe 61) before Okonkwo drew his machete and took Ikemefuna’s life. Okonkwo said that he did this because he didn’t want to seem weak and feminine. Okonkwo was also warned by Ogbuefi Ezeudu not to take part in Ikemefuna’s death but he does it anyway. Okonkwo was also exiled because of an accidental murder of Ogbuefi Ezeudu’s daughter because Okonkwo’s gun went off without him actually shooting it. He had to leave Umofia for seven years and according to Okonkwo, when he left the clan became weak and eventually fell to the Christian...
Since Nwoye cried, Okonkwo beat him. Nwoye wishes he could see his mother and he wants to be with her. When Okonkwo goes to exile, he goes to his Mother's village. He respects his mother and this is where he finds forgiveness for what he did. "Do what you are told, woman," Okonkwo thundered, and stammered. "When did you become one of the ndichie of Umuofia?" And so Nwoye's mother took Ikemefuna to her hut and asked no more questions. As for the boy himself, he was terribly afraid. He could not understand what was happening to him or what he had done.”(Page 5 ebook) Ikemefuna was scared of Okonkwo so he found what was his closest mother figure and looked to her for comfort. “Okonkwo was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue. But his wives and children were not as strong, and so they suffered. But they dared not complain openly. Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. At any rate, that was how it looked to his father, and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth.” (Page 5
The Prophecy of Violent Actions in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. As an overly proud clan leader who is keen on keeping his family’s name pristine, Okonkwo is a man prone to rash decisions resulting in failed judgement calls and violence. Although Okonkwo’s primary concern is to avoid being like his father Unoka, actively avoiding one’s fate by exploiting power can lead to their downfall. Achebe uses Okonkwo’s anger-fuelled violence to illustrate that failing to accept your fate leads to demise, additionally giving Achebe’s representation of violence a prophetic meaning.
Ikemefuna, is one of two of Okonkwo’s son, and Nwoye’s brother, he does not have a biological relationship with Okonkwo or Nwoye. Ikemefuna was an offering by the people of Mbaino to Umofia for the killing of Ogbuefi Udo’s wife. The elders did not know what to do with Ikemefuna, so they gave him in the meantime to Okonkwo.
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.
Perspective is used in Things Fall Apart to give high contrast to issues within the community, which brings out its inner complexity. When differences of opinion are highlighted, these differences show that internal pressure are causing the tribe to break down from within. Ikemefuna’s death is a point of stark disagreement among the Umuofians. Ezeudu tells Okonkwo, “I want you to have nothing to do with [Ikemefuna’s death]. He calls you his father” (57). Although Ezeudu warns Okonkwo about participating in the death of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo decides to kill Ikemefuna himself. Ezeudu’s oppinion that Okonkwo should not be involved with the boy’s death shows the reader a shade of the community that would not have been seen without highligh...
The natives could no longer see eye to eye and therefore a certain division among the people could be seen. The inhabitants of the village started to segregate themselves between two groups: one that stood loyal to the traditional Igbo tradition and culture and another which had divided loyalties and looked up to Christ and his saving grace as the ultimate gift of life to mankind. Things Fall Apart is all about the “collapse, breaking into pieces, chaos, and confusion” of traditional Igbo culture that suffers at the hand of the white man’s arrival in Umuofia along with his religion. Okonkwo’s own son Nwoye converts to Christianity, leaving his own culture bereft because of the suffering he endured after the killing of Ikemefuna, who was a ward left under the care and protection of Okonkwo.
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’s desire for respect motivates his quest to preserve the practices of Ibo culture, while Obierika preserves the practices of the Ibo culture with a more humanistic perspective. Achebe uses the differing approaches of Okonkwo and Obierika in maintaining the cultural doctrines of the Ibo people to reveal his sympathy for Obierika over Okonkwo. Okonkwo’s motives for maintaining the customs of the Ibo originate with fear. Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna while “dazed with fear,” drawing “his machete [to] cut him down” because, “he was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Though Okonkwo attempts to appear strong to the people of Umuofia, his fearful motivation speaks to a hidden internal weakness. Okonkwo’s focus on eradicating the taint of “his father’s weakness and failure” and his yearning for respect drive him to kill Ikemefuna instead of the more proper motive of simply effectuating what the Ibo conside...
Ikemefuna was Okonkwo’s “adopted” son. Ikemefuna and a little girl were taken away from their families in a neighboring village after a man from his village killed a man in Umuofia’s wife. Ikemefuna was given to Okonkwo as a peace offering and he fit in quite well with his new family. Okonkwo’s other sons were greatly influenced by Ikemefuna, and Ikemefuna’s relationship with Okonkwo was closer than that with his biological father. After three years of living with Okonkwo, Ikemefuna was told that he was going home. In reality, the oracle had told Okonkwo that Ikemefuna was to be killed. As Ikemefuna was on his journey “home” his innermost thoughts give his opinion
Ikemefuna called Okonkwo father and Okonkwo treated Ikemefuna like a son he had him do things only the eldest son would do. It had been several years since Ikemefuna had come to stay with them but the elders had finally decided his fate, Okonkwo was forewarned not to partake by a wise man. Okonkwo being the man he is ignored the wise advice and went with them. Deep in the forest Ikemefuna was assaulted by his traveling companions and called out to Okonkwo “Father they have killed me”. Okonkwo filled with the fear of being thought “womanly” brought down his machete and cut off his head.
David Carroll writes, of the novel Things Fall Apart, "This incident is not only a comment on Okonkwo's heartlessness. It criticizes implicitly the laws he is too literally implementing..." (Carroll) The incident that David Carroll refers to is the death of Ikemefuna. Ikemefuna was a young boy who was handed over to the village of Umuofia as compensation for the murder of one of that village's citizens. He is handed over to Okonkwo, a great man in the village, to whom he gives every affection. The brief life with Okonkwo and death of this innocent young man, and the life of Okonkwo himself, is a microcosm of life in Umuofia. Inconsistencies, brutalities, and conflict abound in even the highest of Umuofian life. And as Ikemefuna is led off to be murdered by the man he calls father, "the whole tribe and its values is being judged and found wanting" (Carroll).