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The Fear Of Fear In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

926 Words4 Pages

The novel, “Things Fall Apart”, by Chinua Achebe talks about post colonial life of Nigerian society. Okonkwo, the lead character of the novel was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness. Okonkwo was a man of action and a war, he was not afraid of war but all his life was dominated by this one fear of being unsuccessful and lazy. In this story we get an exclusive view of fear, masculinity, family, missionaries and racism.
When Okonkwo was young, he declared that his father was not able to feed adequately of his family and he was ashamed by his father’s strength. He expressed his embarrassment against his father and also discovered that villagers of Umuofia had similar dislikes against his father. The hatred feelings against his father by the villagers encouraged him to follow his principles and strategies to self-stand. His independence was more or less admired and kept respected by the community and gave him feelings of security and reverence of his gaze further elevates his self-respect, and became more distance from his father. He was overwhelmed of the security and respect shown by the community. Moreover Okonkwo visualized his acceptance in the community and he determined to impress the villagers. Hence unlike his father, he believed that he was safe, respected and successful in leading his life (Nosek, 2008).
Despite of being a strong man, he was mentally weak. All his life was dominated by a fear of being unsuccessful that drove him to become the most

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