Things Fall Apart Quotes Analysis

“Worry about your character, not your reputation. Your character is who you are, and your reputation is what people think you are” (John Wooden). The quote is about when people become too obsessed with their images, they would actually lose their true characters. In Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe implies this message throughout the story. It is an archetypal modern African novel written in 1958. The novel is about the tragic fall of the protagonist Okonkwo, and the Igbo culture. Okonkwo is a fiercely competitive and influential leader within the Igbo tribe. Later on, he accidentally shoots and kills a boy during a funeral. The town exiles him for seven years to his mother’s homeland, Mbanta. Realizing that his clan will not go to
He even strikes down a child that calls him father. “He heard Ikemefuna cry ‘My father, they have killed me!’ as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (61). The quote shows that Okonkwo thinks a reputation is even more important than the life of a child. This also shows that he thinks killing someone he loves would make him appear strong. Striving to have a reputation influences someone’s morality and sometimes it may hurt people. When Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, overheard that Ikemefuna was to be “taken back to his village, [he] burst into tears, whereupon his father beat him heavily” (57). Okonkwo feels unsatisfied with Nwoye because he thinks he’s lazy and feminine. He corrects Nwoye with constant nagging and beating instead of teaching him what is right and what is wrong. Later on, it causes Nwoye wants to resist his father and join what Okonkwo dislikes. It’s understandable for Nwoye to abandon his old tribe and choose to become a Christian. Obsession on reputation sometimes leads people to the wrong track and it leads Okonkwo to face his own son’s