Nwoye was my favorite character in this book because he expressed his feelings even when he was told by his father not to. This character made his own decisions and I can respect that, which is why I chose him for this essay.When Christian missionaries brought a new religion to the Ibo culture Nwoye changed his opinion about his cultures beliefs and religion. The book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a fiction work that represents the Ibo culture. At the beginning of this book Nwoye was a very quiet and depressed teenager. He was beaten nearly every day by his father. “And so Nwoye was developing into a sad faced youth.” (p.14) This quote is very important because it shows how unhappy he was with his tribe, especially his father. Okonkwo …show more content…
If he could kill a boy that he treated like his son so easily he would not have a problem killing his actual son. “But the boy was afraid of him and slipped out of the hut as soon as he noticed him dozing.” (p.63) This quote is important because he realized that he does not like being around his father. He lost the little respect he had left for him after he killed Ikemefuna. Nwoye joined the missionaries because his father drove him away. He didn’t seem to belong in the Ibo culture. The missionaries accepted him and all the other outcasts. “ What moved Obierika to visit Okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter’s son, Nwoye, among the missionaries in Umuofia.” (p.143) Okonkwo most definitely did not accept Nwoye joining the missionaries. Okonkwo strangled his own son because he changed his beliefs. He could not be himself around his own family, he felt more comfortable around the missionaries; complete strangers. When Christian missionaries brought a new religion to the Ibo culture Nwoye changed his opinion about his cultures beliefs and religion.Nwoye was one of the best characters in this book because he had a conscious. He cared about what happened to people and he did not hurt a fly. He did not deserve being beaten and strangled by his father, no one does. Life in Nigeria seems very unfair and dangerous. It just shows you how strong the people that live there have to
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Show MoreIn Things Fall Apart Okonkwo’s eldest son Nwoye is very different than his father. He is not aggressive and manly but more effeminate. Okonkwo feels like Nwoye is a disappointment because he doesn’t follow his values while Nwoye loses all respect for his father because he doesn’t want to live in his shadow. Later on, Christian missionaries come to their village and Nwoye is taught that there is a better way to live and is amazed by it. The missionaries speak about a story of “...brothers who lived in darkness and in fear, ignorant love of God” (Achebe), which really touched Nwoye and made him find peace in leaving his father’s teachings and convert to
Manhood is being treated as a human of mankind. Okonkwo, however, equates manhood to brute force and anger. Anything else was considered to be characteristic of a woman. It is this idea of manliness that pushes Nwoye into the hands of the missionaries. Okonkwo “wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough young man” and although Nwoye at times acted as if he was annoyed with the tasks the women would ask of him, “nothing pleased Nwoye now more than to be sent for by his mother or another of his father's wives” (Achebe, 36).
Okonkwo's tragic flaw causes him to alienate his son Nwoye, who ultimately converts to Christianity and becomes an outcast in the community. Furthermore, Okonkwo's fear and anger also lead him to commit a crime, which is murder, and as a result, he is exiled from his community. He returns to find that his community is in disarray and unable to resist the colonizers and their culture, Okonkwo is unable to adapt or accept the changes that have taken place and ultimately takes his own life.
Obierika returns to Mbanta. He has decided to visit Okonkwo because he has seen Nwoye with some of the Christian missionaries who have arrived. Most of the other converts, Obierika finds, have been efulefu, men who hold no status and who are generally ignored by the clan. Okonkwo will not talk about Nwoye, but Nwoye’s mother tells Obierika some of the story. Then in chapter 17 the missionaries request a piece of land on which to build a church.
Nwoye had first started to become scared of his father at a very young age. “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(9).” Okonkwo was a hard man, not cruel, but hard. He tried so hard to be the opposite of his father.
While the true conflict is internal and within Nwoye himself, the external stress from his father increases his internal struggle to balance his culture’s beliefs and his values. His first true act of defiance began when, “…Okonkwo’s cousin, Amikwu, was passing by the church on his way from the neighboring village, when he saw Nwoye among the Christians,” (Achebe 145). Nwoye is intrigued by the Christians ideas which concur with his own. For instance, both Nwoye and the Christians disagree with throwing children into the Evil Forest because they are twins. Because the Christians beliefs are more like his, Nwoye seeks comfort in their culture.
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.
Once again, Nwoye found peace away from his father when the Christian missionaries came to Mbanta, the motherland where Okonkwo and his family were exiled to. Nwoye converted to Christianity and escaped the force of his father in their household. Okonkwo, of course, didn’t support his son’s decision and was completely against Nwoye leaving behind the tradition the Okonkwo followed so deeply. A paragraph in chapter seventeen reflects on Okonkwo’s thoughts. “To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about
As Obierika explains, “The white man is very clever... he has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (176). Achebe’s in-depth story exhibits all aspects of Igbo culture and examines the way a culture can transform as the world progresses around it. Throughout the novel, readers sense the shift in the characters’ attitudes and beliefs towards once-vital traditions. The bold protagonist, Okonkwo, represents the culture, and as pressures to change appear from the outside world, he comes apart at the seams.
By changing his religion, Nwoye disregard his father in the worst way. But Okonkwo cannot fight against his son because he is uninformed about the Christian culture. It seems that committing suicide is Okonkwo’s way of going against Christianity. But unfortunately this act not only takes his life but it also takes away the respect of Umuofia for
“Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, he had kept it a secret. ”(112) He was afraid to be different and show who he really was. He was always around when they would preach and he even started to remember some of the stories they told. Eventually he was tired of hiding it and when he just couldn’t handle his father anymore he ran away.
Despite the fact that his status in the Umuofia tribe was high-ranked, his masculinity seems to bulldoze over the qualities that humanize him. In a section of Psychology & Behavioral Health Vol.2 about fear, the author states, “Fear is an unpleasant emotion that occurs in response to an immediate and identifiable threat, usually of an external nature ” (Moglia). While faced with conflict Okonkwo detects a threat and reacts. In several instances these reactions have caused him immense losses such as the death of his adopted son. Okonkwo's temper always manages to shine through, Things Fall Apart depicts this perfectly by stating, “It is not only Ikemefuna who feels fear… every nerve in Okonkwo tells him this is wrong, but when the moment comes, he kills his adopted son.”
Fear is the core cause of the dramatic shift of lifestyle for both Okonkwo and Nwoye. Through the management of reputation and the avoidance of their father’s likeness, Okonkwo and Nwoye built new lives for themselves. Okonkwo sought power and authority to prove his masculinity and make up for Unoka’s reputation as a weak man. He did this to the point where manliness became his character. Fearlessness and violence were masculine qualities that in Igbo culture signifies strength and influence.
This was a fateful act because it could urge Umuofia to attack the missionaries, but Umuofia decided to not go to war. Okonkwo explains how the white missionaries have come in and converted all the Igbo people into their religion until their own tribes become too weak to fight back against them. The white missionaries described by Okonkwo, “brought a lunatic religion, but he had also built a trading store
Nwoye as young man suffered under his father 's high standards and chooses to branch away from the Igbo cultures religion and go rogue as christian to seek who he really is. All throughout Nwoye 's childhood he was looked as the lazy one and was looked down upon by his own father and the community. Nwoye