Gabriella Chavez
English 201
In
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo wants to be known for being strong
and not be like his father, Unoka who was lazy and did nothing with his life
and died with no title to his name. Okonkwo who was embarrassed by his father
developed a complex and a determination to be known as one of the best in his
village of Umuofia. Since he wants to be known as strong he never shows any
type of emotion towards his family, he constantly beats his 3 wives when they
do one thing wrong and his children as well. When a man from another village
kills Ezeugo, a woman from Umuofia, they go to the village and take a virgin
and a young boy, Ikemefuna.
Through
chapter 1-7 Okonkwo is struggling with looking strong and not showing emotion.
Nwoye, one of Okonkwos sons gets very close to Ikemefuna and feel like their
brothers. Even Okonkwo who is very fond of Ikemefuna but does not show it
because he must not show emotion according to him. Nwoye is described as being
very lazy and having much emotion and it bothers Okonkwo. Ikemefuna’s fate gets
decided by The Oracle that he must get killed and Okonkwo has to go with them,
in this case he is very sad inside about this but wont show it. When Ikemefuna
runs to Okonkwo and says “My father, they have killed me!” (Things Fall
Apart,61) he cut him with his machete, he was afraid of everyone thinking he
was weak.
Okonkwo’s
struggle with not being seen as weak seems to actually hurt him more, because
he can’t show emotion to anything and that is never good for anyone. In the
book he is portrayed as being very angry and just wants to do good in life but
he wont if he continues this way.
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