The importance of fatherhood in this novel is that a father is the provider, defender and teacher for their children. Okonkwo is also a warrior, leader and farmer which are opposite of his father, Unoka. Unoka is known for his laziness, cowardness and in debt with all the people in his village. Okonkwo is afraid that Nwoye becoming like his father. Okonkwo abused his wives and beat Nwoye. His reasoning for hurting his family is tells that he is not like his father.
Okonkwo’s family loved Ikemefuna, the adopted son. He feels guilty for killing him, but he can’t say no to their “god”. “The earth cannot punish me for obeying her messenger,” Okonkwo said. “A child’s fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm.”(Chapter 8, page 67). Okonkwo did not eat for two days because he feels bad for killing Ikemefuna. Okonkwo will do everything for their “god” even to kill his family. Nwoye fears for his life. If Okonkwo can kill his adopted son, then there will be no hesitation to kill him.
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When the oracle ordered Okonkwo to kill Ikemefuna, Okonkwo followed the order and he killed his adopted son with his own hands. Nwoye’s got mad with his father and that lead him to convert to Christianity. Nwoye’s questions his faith and his father’s views, values and beliefs. “And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend. And he found that Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye. It was only from Nwoye’s mother that he heard scraps of the story” (Chapter 18, pages 144). This only shows that the relationship between a father and son is gone. Nwoye hated his father for killing his brother because the oracle told him so. Okonkwo hated Nwoye when he acknowledged new religion and leave the beliefs that he is accustom
Okonkwo starts to scorn Obierika for not coming to kill Ikemefuna. Obierika then said that Okonkwo shouldn’t have gone. What Okonkwo did is the type of deeds that the gods punish. It is against their traditions to kill a kinsmen. Okonkwo shows up for the negotiation of the bride price.
In the novel the audience reads a shocking piece in where Okonkwo kills the boy who called him father while under direct orders not to. “Father, they’ve hurt me” cried the boy as he ran towards Okonkwo for help, but Okonkwo did not help, he drew his machete and finished the boy. Okonkwo was too afraid to be seen as weak if he didn’t. (Achebe 61). Okonkwo killed his son.
A weak, lazy, and unsuccessful man. So he started to hate everything his father loved. “Okonkwo was ruled by one passion - to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness(10).” As you can see, Okonkwo really never showed his kids and his children any kindness or gentleness.
Okonkwo just wants to be respected by his clan but being like his father isn’t going to get him respect. When Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna he felt bad and had a guilty conscious from that day on. He wouldn’t eat nor drink he would be too depressed to do anything. All he has been doing is worrying about Ikemefuna and how he felt bad. All he could do was to think about Ikemefuna , he couldn’t sleep nor walk.
He is ashamed of his son, feeling that Nwoye isn’t a good son because he doesn’t act “manly”, which is what allowed Okonkwo to be so successful. Nwoye represents what is happening to Igbo society as a whole now that the British have begun to colonize them – the culture is changing. It is no longer the same as when Okonkwo was younger. Since Okonkwo is not adapting, he is losing his place in the hierarchy of society. He used to be highly respected, but that is slowly changing.
His reasoning for hurting his family is tell himself that he is not like his father. He is a warrior and that he can hurt and kill people. Okonkwo’s family loved Ikemefuna, the adopted son. He feels guilty for killing him but he can’t say no to their “god”. “The earth cannot punish me for obeying her messenger,” Okonkwo said.
Prompt 2 Okonkwo is driven by his hatred of his father and the fear he will become like him. Okonkwo saw his father, Unoka, as a coward and is ashamed to be his son. Everything that Okonkwo does is meant to set him apart from the legacy of his father. First, this is evident in his beating of his wives and even his aggression with his children. He is trying to show his strength and ensure he is not portrayed to be like his father: powerless and incapable.
But the villagers said that he needed to be killed and Okonkwo insisted on taking his life even though you can see their relationship was very good on pg 28 ikemefuna called him father. He kills him out of fear of being weak and making relationships in the story start to “fall apart “. Chapter 4 pg 28 quotes that Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly unless it was the emotion of anger. To show such emotion as affection was weak. This tragic event causes a relationship with his son Nwoye causes
(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.
Okonkwo’s aggressive ways caused Nwoye to rely on Ikemefuna, A boy given to Okonkwo by a neighboring village, as an older brother who teaches him a more gentle form of masculinity. The bond between Nwoye and Ikemefuna was stronger than the bond between Nwoye and Okonkwo ever was because of Okonkwo’s refusal to demonstrate affection towards his son as it could make him appear weak. However, because of the death of Ikemefuna, Nwoye fears having to return to the harsh values of his father. Okonkwo’s stubborn ideas of masculinity ruined his relationship with his son beyond repair. Okonkwo’s refusal to show emotion towards his family pushed them apart which shows that Okonkwo is not willing to give up his stern values and reputation to be emotionally committed to his family.
Killing Ikemefuna shows that Okonkwo does not have absolute control over his emotions. As he sits in his obi afterward he is sad and defeated: “Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna” (Achebe 63). Killing someone close to him causes Okonkwo to fall into a deep state of depression. Starving himself because of his grief reveals that he has succumbed to his fear. Okonkwo has committed his life to avoid a situation that causes him to appear weak, but refusing to eat outwardly demonstrates his pain and sorrow of killing the boy that called him father.
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.
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.
The hatred that he had for his father he carried with him throughout his whole life. That hatred turned into him killing Ikemefuna and the messenger. Ikemefuna was thought of as a son and he killed him in fear of being considered weak in front of his clan members. That weakness was thought of his weakness which was considered a failure. 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.
As a child, Nwoye is the frequent object of his father's criticism and remains emotionally unfulfilled. Okonkwo, “wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough man capable of ruling his father’s household when he was dead and gone to join the ancestors”(38). When Nwoye finds out that it is Okonkwo who killed a “brother” who he is extremely fond of, and grows very close with, he loses all appreciation for Okonkwo and decides to go against his father and his cultures.