Preview

Okonkwo's Loyalty

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
130 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Okonkwo's Loyalty
In the Igbo culture, one that showboats their emotion is considered feeble, as “Okonkwo never showed emotion openly…” (Achebe 28). Men are the ones that are superior and to exhibit any sympathy, remorse, or even love would be unacceptable. This makes Okonkwo an honored individual within his village as he presents himself as an emotionless being with no regrets. Even though Okonkwo makes it seem this way he still has feelings just like everyone else, such as for when he has murdered Ikemefuna. Yet this makes Okonkwo a more glorious character as he is able to do a task deemed difficult to commit, yet still capable of showing the world the mighty warrior he is, despite on the inside containing sorrow discreetly within himself, and with that Okonkwo

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The notion of family loyalty is displayed throughout the film as a driving force to override corruption, the workers on the waterfront can be considered a family as their struggle from corruption forces them to on each other for survival. The loyalty between the shore men’s families grips Edie as her Brother Joey’s murder increases her family loyalty to find his killer, but also Johnny Friendly’s power over the shoremen workers makes sure that their loyalty towards him is kept sacred so his corruption is not caught out.…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Okonkwo despises his father for those exact reason. He feels like being kind or caring shows you have feelings and emotions, and that makes you look feminine of womanly like. Okonkwo’s father was also given the name of “agbala” which means a womanly like person, Okonkwo was very ashamed of this fact. “Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness… agbala was not only another name for a woman. It could also mean a man who had taken to title” (chapter 2, paragraph 12). Okonkwo never shows his affection to his adopted son Ikemefuna. “Okonkwo refused to let his feelings slip”(chapter 4, paragraph 7). He was not willing to show emotion of love or happiness as he feared of being seen as a unmanly person. One thing you can see about Okonkwo is that he has to resist his strongest emotions that were unmanly. He had to enforce very strict gender roles on his family and subordinates. He is very on board with this gender diversity and he seems like he will want to continue this…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • 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
  • Good Essays

    Okonkwo never understood the concept of going with the flow or adjusting to circumstances. It started in his childhood. His father, Unoka, “had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt” (Achebe 8). He was a poor farmer and a coward in war. The people of Umuofia called him an agbala, which means woman. Okonkwo was immensely ashamed by him, and his life was definitely affected because of him. “Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had. He did not inherit a barn from his father. There was no barn to inherit,” (Achebe 16). In a perfect world, his father would have been a bloodthirsty warrior, with many wives and children, and a number of cowries. Okonkwo was narrow-minded, and this quality backfired in the form of shame and discontent. “He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father,” (Achebe 2). Unoka never had the money to support his family, and this disgraced Okonkwo. Okonkwo was never able to understand his father and his different ways. Since Unoka was his father, he couldn’t say anything to him, but in his heart and mind, he meant nothing to Okonkwo.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Early on in the novel readers are introduced to Okonkwo's hamartia: the fear of appearing weak. This affects his temperament and the relationship he chooses to have with his family. Okonkwo cannot show the affection he has to his family, even though he definitely has a strong fatherly affection to both his daughter Enzima, and the outsider Ikemefuna. Okonkwo's wives and his eldest son Nwoye suffer most from this lack of affection. The three wives bear many beatings; his second wife Ekwefi is almost killed with a gun when she mumbles an insulting remark about her husband's shooting skills. They go into exile for seven years with Okonkwo, and although the novel doesn't show what happens to the widows when Okonkwo commits suicide, it probably isn't a happy life. This lack of affection though is how Okonkwo stays strong and also how he achieved his high status in the community. After hearing what happened to Okonkwo's "lazy" father one can understand this sternness that Okonkwo lives with.…

    • 624 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo's actions take place because he is afraid of becoming "A Woman" like his father. Not only does he act masculine to appear manly to the villagers, he does it to satisfy his own conscious. Okonkwo portrays a short temper in this book. Small things such as his supper being late and remarks about his hunting anger him, and lead to his beating of his wives and his son Nwoya. His desire to appear manly often fogged his judgment. When the time came to kill Ikemefuna, the boy who called him father, he was told by his best friend that he should not take part in this because the boy looked up to him. Okonkwo knew his friend was right. When he, Ikemefuna and other leaders of the tribe went to the woods to carry out the task, Okonkwo did not want the other men to think that he was weak so he cut down his own son. Okonkwo's actions were also motivated by the fear that his whole village would become weak. After returning from his exile in Mbanta, Okonkwo realized that the Christians were taking over. Unlike the rest of his tribe he wanted to go to war with them and drive them out. Soon he realized that during his seven years in exile Umuofia had changed and no longer was feared tribe it used to be. Okonkwo continued to fight the inevitable. His actions were never able to help his village; his worst fear had come true, they had become weak.…

    • 726 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo worries that after his participation in the killing of Ikemefuna his emotions will show as a sign of weakness. Expressing emotions as a male is seen as a sign of femininity and therefore a sign of weakness in Ibe culture. Okonkwo tries to hide his emotions behind his actions and temper that lead to the foreshadowed ending of the village slowly falling apart.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Norman Mailer Quotes

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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
  • Good Essays

    Okonkwo’s father caused him to have a strong fear of becoming like his father.“Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness... It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” This shows that his aggression towards his wives and children is influenced by him not wanting to be soft. His father caused him to become a workaholic who doesn’t show any emotion.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    UWO Core Values

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Having core values, UWO worked to ensure that they are reflected in practice and in the relationships between members of the school community. Core values act as tree roots for the university, helping them build a positive learning community. These values builds the foundation of the university. Throughout my 4 years at UWO, I have at least participated or experienced each of these values, specifically Diversity and Inclusivity. Diversity and Inclusivity: Many of education courses touch on the diversity of students today and how we should include everyone in our classroom.…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Things Fall Apart

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages

    First, one of Okonkwo’s major weak points was his family. He tried not to let it show, but he cared deeply for his family. For example, when Ikemefuna was introduced into Okonkwo’s life, Okonkwo immediately grew a stronger bond with Ikemefuna than he had with his real children. After raising Ikemefuna for three years, Okonkwo was told Ikemefuna must be killed. Not only did he agree to it but he took part in the brutal murder. On page 61, Achebe writes, “Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.” Although he loved Ikemefuna like his own son, he killed Ikemefuna to avoid being thought of as weak by his fellow clansmen. Another example of Okonkwo’s weakness when it came to his family was when he followed Ekwefi, Enzima and Chielo to the shrine. He wanted to ensure his daughter and wife’s safety. On page 112, Achebe says, “He allowed what he regarded as a reasonable and manly interval to pass and then gone with his machete to the shrine.”…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Okonkwo's Tragic Flaw

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Things Fall Apart follows the style of a classic shakespearian tragedy with a tragic hero who inadvertently causes his own downfall through his own actions. Chinua Achebe crafts a traditional Shakespearian tragedy that differs from the culture of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Achebe represents Okonkwo as the tragic hero who is blinded by his pride. Okonkwo follows the path of the traditional Shakespearian hero and is undone by his own blindness.…

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I viewed Ikemefuna as a son. Ikemefuna had been with our family for three years, so I really didn’t count on things changing. When Ezeudu told that the oracle ordered him dead I was shocked. I didn’t know what to do. I thought maybe Obierika would know what to do, but I was even more confused after leaving his compound. How could I let someone just kill this boy who called me father, but I wasn’t willing to let anyone call me a coward. So I did what had to be done, I told Ikemefuna that he was going home.…

    • 583 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Things Fall Apart Analysis

    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In the beginning of the novel, Okonkwo and his father are the general focus and the readers begin to see their father – son relationship. Okonkwo is always criticizing his father as being lazy, weak, and unmotivated to do things. Okonkwo views these characteristics as feminine, so he never really sees his father as a real man. Ever since he was younger, Okonkwo has known he never wanted to grow up to emulate his father. He wanted to be a better man and respected by everyone in Umuofia and beyond. Since then the only emotion he has expressed is resentment and anger. Growing up, his success came from defeating an undefeated wrestler in their community named Cat. The novel really picks up after Okonkwo’s fathers death, which has left an enormous debt to his neighbors. Okonkwo never felt any remorse about his father’s death because he does not express any emotion now besides anger and aggression in his quest to become a great, well-respected man.…

    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Okonkwo is both strong and hardworking. This complex character is described by Achebe as "tall and huge, and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look" (Achebe, 3-4). He also breathes very heavily like a great beast in deep slumber. Okonkwo is always seen walking upon the foremost part of his feet, leaving his heels just above the ground. This stance gives the impression that he is ready to pounce upon anybody who angers him, and often times this is the case. Strength and pride are very important aspects of the main character, Okonkwo, however, these traits may sound like excellent traits to possess but because of the way he was raised, Okonkwo harbors many of his emotions under an outer shell of violence, strength and pride. His traits can be shown by looking at where he has come from in his life, for example, Okonkwo has acquired a large amount of wealth in his life because of his hard work and dedication which he also puts towards his family, unfortunately, his family also suffers greatly because of this due to Okonkwo’s high expectations of his children and his violent ways when they do not live up to them. While still quite young, “he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat” (Achebe 3). Okonkwo’s ability to beat a famous wrestler at a young age shows how he has great physical strength.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays