Okonkwo really didn’t like his father because his father was basically a lazy piece of crap, and took any money he could grab to buy wine. Okonkwo despised his father and does everything he can to be nothing like him. Okonkwo was trying to build his talking life, so he started wrestling, and defeated a tremendous wrestler. After that it had shown enough to make him a fearless, courageous warrior/ Leader or his village. Okonkwo is later selected by the elders to be the guardian of Ikemefuna, a boy taken prisoner by the village as a peace settlement between two villages after his father killed an Umuofian woman. Ikemefuna is to stay with Okonkwo until they find out what to do with the boy. Okonkwo later kills the boy. Okonkwo later kills another person during this ritual. Later his family was tossed into exile for seven years. How he killed the person was by his gun accidently going off and shooting the person. After all this mess, white people came and tried getting Okonkwo, but Okonkwo kills himself before they even get there. I thought this book was crazy, but I was good. It definitely was a little confusing at times. There was a lot of killing I thought anyways, and I would have never thought Okonkwo would have killed himself before the white government people trying to get him to go to court. I really thought this was a great book, and I’m going to tell other people to read this cause it was so great.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is the story of an Ibo tribe before and during the arrival of white missionaries. The main character, Okonkwo, is a highly respected man within his society who slowly falls in esteem as the story goes on. He involves himself in more and more conflicts with the people around him, including an ongoing battle of impossibly high standards for his son Nwoye, who decides to leave his family in the end for the Anglican Church. The warrior archetype Okonkwo is too rooted in his ways to survive marginalization, but his son Nwoye understands his only choice and resolves the doomed father-son conflict by abandoning his own culture.…
- 687 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Okonkwo’s acts of violence in this novel weren’t all meant to be violent.He’s had a few situations where things went bad, or he decided he’d go with them and help. Although some of what Okonkwo has done may not be the best of ideas, maybe they were to him considering the position he was it for that particular time and place.…
- 241 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
When he came back from his exile, he noticed that his own brothers already had different thoughts about their customs and said they must fight for their land and for their religion. Okonkwo refuses any changes, and began to speak out to defend his motherland. He said, “Until the abominable gang was chased out of the village with whips there would be no peace (158),” the division was so marked that many others did not agree with his point of view, but he remarked, “ 'If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor, what do I do? Do I shut my eyes? No! (158).' ” Okonkwo was trying to convince the clans to fight, fight and fight for their customs. Obierika told him, “our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad, (176)” that white man was very intelligent, because he came peacefully and quietly, but then, “he has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” (176) White man had achieved his gold by dividing Igbo society. They knew that by doing so the Igbo could not stand together to fight and defend their way of…
- 833 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Okonkwo beat and killed people to intimidate and prove his strength. Okwonkwo beat his own chilren and his wives. on one occasion he got so uppset with his wife he almost ended up killing her. " He pressed the trigger and there was aloud report accompanied by the wailof his wives and children." (Achebe 39) Although he did not kill her, was was aming for her, and if it were not for his terrible aim, he may have ended up killing one of his wives. The worst part of…
- 898 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
During the week of peace, “He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo’s return. And when she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess”(29-30). Okonkwo rampages during the week of peace and beats his wife painfully. He does not want to appear weak in front of the other men and so he beats his wives and acts impulsively. Due to his fear of being seen as weak, Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna "Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak." (61). The way he kills Ikemefuna shows that reputation is more important than a child’s life. Okonkwo's actions depict how anxiety has overtaken him. Rather than coping with his fear, he allows it to dominate him and drive his actions. Okonkwo's apprehension permits him to acquire respect from the Igbo society, simply because it persuades him to show improvement over any other…
- 688 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
3. Ikemefuna was a young boy that Okonkwo had to take care of. He was given to Okonkwo as a peace offering from another village. The other village, Mbaino killed a woman from Umuofia and a young virgin and Ikemefuna was given to the village as a peace offering. Okonkwo was troubled by his death because he became like a son to him. Ikemefuna…
- 815 Words
- 4 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Okonkwo is a well-respected man and warrior of Umuofia who rose from poverty and descended to destitution. As a boy Okonkwo was able to work hard and gain status, at his height he was progressively disgraced by a series of his own actions and banished from the tribe for several years. After returning Okonkwo gained some traction in his village but was imprisoned and died disgracefully through suicide. The most harmful event in his personal tragedy is the accidental murder of a clansman which led to his exile.…
- 856 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Ikemefuna was a teenage boy that Okonkwo took temporary possession of after a settlement with a neighboring clan. Okonkwo and his family created a close bond with the boy, which is significant because Okonkwo rarely ever has an attachment to people. One day it is determined that one of the local gods wants the foreign boy killed. Despite urgings from his neighbor, Okonkwo went with the men to kill Ikemefuna to avoid appearing unmanly. When the village men began to attack the unsuspecting boy he ran towards Okonkwo for help, Okonkwo instead cuts down the boy, once again to avoid appearing weak. Although Okonkwo appears stoic at first, he falls into a deep depression when he returns home saying to himself, "'When did you become a shivering old woman, you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'" Although Okonkwo's actions seem unforgivable, especially by western standards, he is clearly suffering a deep moral conflict as a result of those…
- 1175 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Ikemefuna- A boy given to Okonkwo by a neighboring village. Ikemefuna lives in the hut of Okonkwo’s first wife and quickly becomes popular with Okonkwo’s children. He develops an especially close relationship with Nwoye, Okonkwo’s oldest son, who looks up to him. Okonkwo too becomes very…
- 1227 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
He was masculine, hardworking, reputable, and wealthy. He didn't want to be like his father, a failure. Okonkwo believed his father was a failure because the man was very lazy, disgraceful, and poor. Over the years in his village it was said by the elders, “...if a child washed his hands...and so he ate with the kings.” This quote indirectly characterizes Okonkwo, displaying how he knew what he had to do if he wanted to be a great hero, furthermore developing his character as a young man. Towards the end of the novel one can imagine Okonkwo as a tragic hero because, like other tragic heroes, he has one major flaw. His main flaw develops from his fear of being like father, whom he dispised. He as well can't display his emotions because he doesn't want to look weak or sissyish, and when he does show any emotion, it is an uncontrollable rage. As a result of his flaws, Okonkwo has suffered countless tragedies, which ultimately leads to his ironic death. Okonkwo's tragedy was due to many things that happened in Umuofia, but the main reason was the arrival of the white missionaries, “Does the white man understand our custom about land?” (chpt. 20). Okonkwo says this, due to his…
- 778 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Next thing, Okonkwo didn’t disrespect NO IGBO LIFE in any place during The Week Of Peace or The Feast Of The New Yams. He was just obeying the goddess of the land, Ani, and doing as any men in the tribe would beat his wives for the absence of not doing their perspective jobs. Okonkwo was just revealing his manliness and showing how high he stands as a man.…
- 584 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Okonkwo is a man who was possessed by his extreme fear of weakness and failure. We see that very clearly here. In the novel, after the men were released, Okonkwo wanted the clan to fight back, and gain their rights. Hence, he proceeded to kill the head messenger to prove to them that they should fight back. However, the missionaries were allowed to run away and he would bear the consequences. But since Okonkwo previously knew about the "men in Abame" and "the hanging incident", he could have chose suicide as an option over public humiliation. Since he was so afraid of failure and of seen as being weak or vulnerable, there was a high possibility that he would not want to face a public death and be subjected to the White man's tortures. Thus, the only way of an escape was for him to take his own life. This resulted in his suicide in the…
- 1054 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Next, the way fate destroyed Okonkwo’s plans was that it caused Okonkwo to kill himself. When he arrived back in Umuofia after his exile, he attempted to appear masculine but just got himself into trouble with the District Commissioner. He got himself and five other men put into something of which resembled a…
- 709 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Okonkwo often commits violent acts when he is attending public gatherings such as festivals, or while a sacred holiday is being observed. Some of his violent acts occurring during these times include: beating his wife during the week of peace, killing Ikemefuna, and accidentally killing Ezeudu’s son. His violent tendencies often result in consequences for him and even his family.…
- 483 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Initially Okonkwo’s pride serves him well and leads him to become a respected man in Umofia. He uses his pride as a mecanism to avoid showing signs of weakness and maintaining his respected status in Umofia. His personal pride allows him to celebrate his success and seperate himself from the shame of his father: “He had begun even in his father’s lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future. It was slow and painful. But he threw himself into it like one possessed. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death” (18). By examining this quote, it becomes clear that his motivation in life is to never be associated with his father’s failure. It’s almost as if he feels he must carry the weight of both him and his father. His success is a compensation for his father’s failures. His hard work is motivated by his “fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father” (13). As successful man Okonkwo has reason to be proud, however he often gets carried away by his lack of patience and respect for those less fortunate than him and ends up offending others. This causes him to alienate himself from his fellow clansmen. For example during a town meeting a man of no titles contradicts Okonkwo. He retaliates by insulting this man in a very passive agressive way: “This is a meeting for men”…
- 1062 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays