But much to the anguish of Okonkwo, Nwoye embodied most of his grandfather’s traits and this enraged Okonkwo deeply. Okonkwo dreads that Nwoye will blot the acclaim and honour he has worked so hard to achieve. Nwoye’s “incipient laziness” was causing Okonkwo great deal of distress and he sought to correct him by “constant nagging and beating” and as a result Nwoye was “turning into a sad-faced youth” (Pg. 13). Nwoye is aware that he should adopt the more masculine traits of his tribesmen, as desired by his father but he still prefers his mother’s company.
Even before that, because he was an orphan, he most likely had to provide for himself. Being thrown into such an important role required him to be strong, and to be strong, Griffith suppressed his emotions. As the leader of a group of mercenaries, he had no time to bother himself with human relationships. This suppression would eventually lead to a complete lack of understanding about his own feelings, developing a childlike and impulsive mentality. Griffith’s role as a leader also nullified any worth in anything other than his dream, eventually, letting his dream define him.
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
It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic,” (Achebe 22). The quote validates that Okonkwo is terrified of failure and weakness, both traits of an unmanly character. It is quite evident that manliness is important since every respected male in Umuofia was a successful farmer or warrior, which are traits of a manly character. This concept explains the decisions that Okonkwo made when it came to his career. He was a respected warrior that fought hard for his clan, and he was a hard-working farmer that reaped yams because it “was a man’s crop,” (Achebe 31).
Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. (Achebe, 13) You sometimes have to rule your household with a head hand to show them what’s right from wrong. Okonkwo had to put them in check since he ruled his household with a heavy hand. Okonkwo is like that because he has one passion and it’s to hate everything that his father loved because his father was a lazy man that’s why he is so hard on his wives and children because he doesn’t want them to be like his father. (Achebe, 13) Okonkwo is doing a right thing there because his father was a lazy guy and he doesn’t want that to happen to his family.
Amir had been guilty for most of his life but always pushed his feelings aside because he was afraid to face the truth. His decision to come back to Kabul was the decision that would appease his guilt and make amends with his own conscience and Hassan. It would also prove to Baba that he was becoming a stronger
While his brother feels like he could never truly explain anything to the narrator. Although both characters were different they found an understanding by trying to feel what each other were feeling. Also by coping with their tough childhood and feelings together without directly communicating. Sonny wanted so desperately to please his brother, but couldn’t find a way to avoid Jazz but still get that feeling he craved. Sonny was clearly disappointed and embarrassed by his choice of actions and despite what anyone said, he realized the choice he made was poor and it was time to follow his dream.
There are several parallels between the stories of Joseph and Esther. One of the main commonalities was that they had to make tough choices. Joseph’s story begins with him being favoured by his father which lead to his brothers disliking him. Throughout the book of Genesis, there is a history of fathers and mothers favouring some children more than others, so Joseph’s story does not differ from others in that sense. The difference here is that this imbalance of Jacob’s love resulted in Joseph being sold as a slave by his brothers: “When his brother realized that their father loved him more than them, they grew to hate him – they wouldn’t even speak to him” (Genesis 37:4).
He was going to get the people who were not completely defeated by the rules. He wanted to show them the words “I” and “ego”. This was the biggest transgression you could commit, although he didn't care. Equality came to the realization that this society that they had been living in didn't benefit the people. He knew that they never really were equal despite all the rules.
"...Nwoye was not worth fighting for. Why, he cried in his heart, should he, Okonkwo, of all people, be cursed with such a son?" (Achebe 152) Although his father was already skeptical about Nwoye's out coming, this decision made him lose all hope. This cultural collision was a very important time in Nwoye's life. For the first time, he desired something other than pleasing his father.