Fear Of Failure In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Within the novel “Things Fall Apart,” the author, Chinua Achebe, explained how a warrior named Okonkwo was a victim of himself. Okonkwo was a victim of tragic events that surrounded his life. These events eventually lead him to his fate. Okonkwo had a father who was weak, and he was a failure in the eyes of the men of the village, Umuofia. Okonkwo’s worst fear was to be the kind of man his father was, so he tried his best not to let his fear become a reality.

Who might he not have compassion for and why? The relationship talked about the most in the book is between Okonkwo and his father, Unoka. Okonkwo’s greatest fear is that he would become like his father, who was lazy, afraid of war, a musician who didn’t work, and didn’t support his family. Bottom line: Okonkwo has no respect for his father simply because he was what Okonkwo called agabala, meaning woman. This relationship affected Okonkwo’s life greatly considering that is what his life revolved around.

At the end of the story Okonkwo ends up being just like his father which is ironic because he strived to be nothing like him. The fear Okonkwo has from failing becomes his greatest downfall right to the end of his life. He became everything he didn’t want to become in the first place. If Okonkwo forgave his father from the beginning then things would have gone much differently. If he wouldn’t have been so cruel, harsh, warlike, and he would have been someone admired, strong, and courageous throughout the clan.

“Life can only be understood backwards; it must be lived forwards “ -Soren Kierkegaard In the novel Things Fall Apart,by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is driven by his past.Specifically his relationship with his father, Unoka who was a failure in village standards; he was poor, owed a lot of debt, and was too lazy to do anything about it. Okonkwo saw this as weakness and swore that he would live his life as a stark contrast from his father. Okonkwo’s motivations, interactions, and development of his character and his society suggest that he is a Byronic hero. Okonkwo’s accumulation of wives, yams, and children show his social dominance. In the article titled (“Byronic Hero”) the writer lists the traits of a Byronic hero,one including “Social dominance”.

Because of his arrogance he had become cruel to the boy he loved and in the end killed him out of misery. If we look at this scene we can see that he 's having an inward battle with himself, being strong was his main priority over anything else, even his own family. Even if he cared for them, he was conceited and cared about the opinions of others and what 'd they think of him. This ultimately led to his downfall when a cultural collision was evident and he couldn 't face it. His

“There is evil in your bones” (18). For his entire life, Equality has been frowned upon his physical and intellectual differences. All Equality has known from himself is that he was an outcast to the society. As many people feared Equality’s differences, they told him lies. Equality’s assessment of his sin is correct because at the end of Anthem, Equality now sees his so called curse as a gift and plans to show the society how it is a great thing to be different.

Okonkwo was one of the most famous and fearful member not only of his clan in Umuofia but other nine villages as well. He worked hard to become a renowned and prosperous member of his clan and to break away from the legacy of his father Okoye who was referred to as ‘agbala’, a man who has not won any title and was another word for woman. Okonkwo was not an evil man but his life was dominated by fear of weakness and failure which made him extremely violent and aggressive. He hated everything associated with his father- music, gentleness and laziness. But much to the anguish of Okonkwo, Nwoye embodied most of his grandfather’s traits and this enraged Okonkwo deeply.

Edward Scissor-Hands Draft The film Edward Scissorhands was directed by Tim Burton, it is about a man with scissors hands who struggles to feel acceptance and belonging, unfortunately he lives in a perfect community where they don't like change and find it hard to accept him as a person. In the film, the community was quick to reject and take advantage of him because of his unique ability which led to isolation and the community singling him out. Society quickly judges and disregards Edward Scissorhands because of his differences. Society was quick to take advantage of Edward Scissorhands. The community took advantage of his ability and lack of economic understanding.

In the story, their choices affect Paul by causing him to have low self esteem, fearing his brother and feeling isolated. A choice made by Paul’s mom drops Paul’s confidence very rapidly. Her reluctance to be strict with her eldest son cause Paul to not be assertive enough. Throughout the novel, readers can point out that Paul is very similar to prey, while Erik acts like the hungry predator. In the novel, the author wrote,” Forget it dad, forget it mom, someone has to pay for this...I’m sure” ( Bloor 133).

(Acehebe, 1958) Though Okonkwo proves an ambitious hero, he is affected by his internal fear that has ruled his entire life. Infact, He deeply fears nothing but himself just because he don’t want to have the feminine and weak qualities like his father Onoka. He is compelled to kill of his step son (Ikemefuna), just