Okonkwo And Ezinma, An Unxpressed Love In Things Fall Apart

He shows great love and sympathy for his family and cares for them when his father chose to be idle. He also shows his sympathy to his children, biological or not. His unsympathetic tendencies distance him from the reader, he is violent and threatening. In either circumstance, Okonkwo proves to be a memorable character in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, because of his striking characteristics that show him to neither be a hero nor a villain, but a loving an abusive father.

The novel “things fall apart” is about the fatal demise of Okonkwo and the igbo culture of Umuofia. Okonkwo is well known and respected leader in his community, who is successful in everything he does, such as wrestling and farming. He is quick with his hands and takes pride in his accomplishments. Okonkwo’s family relationship makes him a sympathetic character because of his support and an unsympathetic character because of his cruelty. In many ways Okonkwo showed that he had no sympathy for others , However at times he could be sympathetic.

Okonkwo constantly struggled to create the same masculine character in Nwoye that he made for himself and constantly found a reflection of his effeminate father, Unoka, in Nwoye. Chapter two describes the relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye in Nwoye’s youth. “Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness... He sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating” (13-14). Okonkwo’s efforts to change Nwoye’s resemblance of Unoka were causing their relationship to be pushed apart because of Okonkwo’s violence and Nwoye’s resistance.

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.

Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Chinua Achebe. In the novel there is a main character called Okonkwo. He lived in Umuofia where he was also known throughout many of the nine villages around Umuofia. In the beginning of the story we see his overwhelming hatred towards his father Unoka. His father died about ten years ago and had not taken any title and was very much in debt. Unoka was described as lazy, improvident and not capable of thinking about tomorrow. From this Okonkwo was ashamed of his father and strives to be nothing like him. Okonkwo’s hatred towards his father has hardened his heart and has made him incapable of being a person of compassion and understanding throughout the novel. His hatred for his father has made him fear failure and weakness throughout the story. His fear of failure has brought him to his downfall.

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.

In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo reacts to cultural collision in his society by having a closed mind and attempting to retaliate, which ultimately leads to his suicide, contributing to the novel’s theme that one

From being nothing in his village he rises to be a great, honorable, successful leader of umuofia. He also has a tragic flaw of being weak, failure and having fear that leads him to fail at things several times because of his fears. All of these failures then lead him to his suicide. Finally, he finds his own tragic fate because of his murder of the missionaries court messenger during his villages meeting. Though Okonkwo's life started out as one of the most successful and leading men of Umuofia but because of his violent and impulsive characteristics, even the most successful and well-respected man can fall from his

In the beginning of the story, Okonkwo was a very vigorous man who everyone loves. One day a killing happened leaving Okonkwo with a wife and a son, Ikemefuna. He grew to like the young boy, where he is different from his other children, On a fateful day, Okonkwo murders Ikemefuna. Okonkwo had a load of guilt for killing his adoptive son, Ikemefuna.

Among those of the same culture, individuals who are adaptive and open-minded can be successful when there is cultural collision. When the Igbo and European cultures collide, Okonkwo gradually spirals out of control, losing everything he values and his own sense of self. From the beginning of the novel, Achebe depicts Okonkwo as a virile warrior and a successful farmer within the Igbo tribe. Reacting with violence to anything he considers “womanly” or “weak”, “He was a man of action and man of war” (10). Because of his reputation as a warrior he is highly respected by his community.

Things Fall Apart: Literary Analysis In Things Fall Apart, a realistic fiction novel authored by Chinua Achebe, literary devices are used in numerous ways. Imagery, Allusions, Metaphors, and many others are used to develop several essential themes and ideas throughout the extent of the story. One key, elaborate, idea maintained throughout Things Fall Apart is the idea of masculinity and femininity as perceived by the main character, Okonkwo, and the whole of Umuofian culture. In summary, Achebe uses several literary devices and techniques to express many views on the abstract, subjective, concepts of masculinity and femininity.

The central theme of Things Fall Apart, is that Okonkwo strives to be the most successful man in Umuofia. Although it is not bad to strive for success, Okonkwo took this yearning too far. He let this dominant his life and he feared notwithstanding his respected public image, leading to domestic violence, and many apparent physiological insecurities. If Christianity’s ideas were practiced by Okonkwo, he would have understood that it is not right to let goals become idols, consuming all his attention within his personal

Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, demonstrates Okonkwo’s internal struggle through his failed relationships. Throughout the novel, Okonkwo fears that if he lets himself care for something, he will automatically be assumed weak. This is shown through his relationship with his son Nwoye. For example, Nwoye says to Obierika “I don’t know. He is not my father,” (Achebe 144).

Every hero of a story, either great or disappointing, has a flaw; Achebe creates the character Okonkwo to examine his flaw: fear of failing tradition. Umuofia is a land where the concept of tradition is ending due to the colonization of the white man. For example, Okonkwo's own son, Nwoye, joins the new church, and Okonkwo is livid. He thought, “ To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very death of abomination,” (Achebe 153). Through Okonkwo’s anger for Nwoye changing beliefs, deep down he becomes frightened that the traditional Igbo religion will be no more because of people like his own son.

This affects and can also be seen as a reflection of Okonkwo’s other relationships between male characters, namely Unoka, Nwoye, and Ikemefuna. This essay will discuss how Achebe portrays masculinity in Things Fall Apart (Achebe, 1958), how the hyper-masculinized character, Okonkwo, receives and interacts with certain characters. I will also discuss how Okonkwo’s ridged patriarchal ideals of virility are counterintuitive with his actions and intentions of ensuring a masculine household. Okonkwo is a titled and successful warrior in his village, Umuofia. A great amount of respect is received by Okonkwo because his youth did not promise such a prosperous life, he had to work hard for his wealth and success.