One of the first things we learn when reading Things Fall Apart is "Fortunately, among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father"(8). Due to this belief, Okonkwo was able to prosper and achieve his goals, regardless of the shame and debt his father was well known for.
You'd think Onkonkwo would bestow the same opportunity to others in a similar situation. Not quite.
When Ikemefuna arrived, it was very fitting that he should stay with Okonkwo. His sole purpose at the village was to serve the punishment for a crime his father had committed. "All he knew was that a few men had arrived at their house, conversing with his father in low tones, and at the end he had been taken out and handed over to a stranger" (15).
Why is it that a tribe who do not judge a child for their fathers sin, would go against just that? This matter should have awoken sympathy in Okonkwo, but instead fed his selfish growing ego.
Three years later, after a bond had formed between them, Okonkwo followed orders and went out of his way to kill Ikemefuna himself, "He was afraid of being thought weak" (61). His image more important than doing the right thing.
New topic. There is much focus on two of Okonkowos children. The male child Nwoye, the female Ezinma. I believe these two serve to show future change in the tribe. Onkonkwo strongly believes that he can mold his children into their proper roles in the community. Yet these two are anything but that.
"Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell" (53). He was also very aware of the improper actions around him. When he was passing the forest where the twin babies had been left to die, "something had given way inside him" (62) and it was obvious that he was very different from the men around him. The type of man he was meant to become.
Ezinma, for her part, was very motivated to do the things that the eldest son was meant to. So much so that her father often yelled, "No, that is a boy's job" or "Sit like a woman" (44). She was not happy confined to the roles of women, and always pushed her bounderies. Quite obviously, she was cut out to do a 'boy's job'. Okonkwo even admits so, "If Ezinma had been a boy I would have been happier. She has the right spirit" (66). Of course his selfish nature would never allow his daughter the opportunity to behave as she wishes. To think what his neighbors would say if he ever spoke against their customs and rules. No matter how much he knows that they are wrong.
Because Onkonkwo is so set on being the opposite of his father, he has completely lost sight of what is right and wrong. He ignores what he knows to be true inside of himself, and lives life solely to impress the men of his tribe. Selfishly hoping to become the best, while taking that same opportunity away from Ikemefuna, Nwoye, Ezinma, and countless others.
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ReplyDeleteOnkonkwo's own hatred and anger are indeed the cause of his destruction, just as the fire he is compared to destroys itself in time. The lack of a strong father or male figure in his life is what causes his lack of self identity in my view. Seeing how his father Unoka, who was an effeminate man and a spend thrift, was treated in his village caused Onkonkwo's distorted sense of being a man and masculinity. Also, this idea that masculinity is defined by hate and anger is what destroys his relationship with his children Ezinma and Nwoye.
ReplyDeleteIn closing, I would have to disagree with Ivana's statement that Onkonkwo is an "ungrateful fool", because i do not believe it is not fair to banish Onkonkwo, as his issues with sexuality and hatred are a direct effect of his father's life. Onkonkwo did not know what masculinity really is because no one had showed him, if such an idea could be defined or shown. Although the tribe did not judge him based on Unoka's actions, Onkonkwo is cursed with comparing himself to his father for his entire life.
It becomes difficult for me, at this point to make an assertion in regards to Okonkwo’s character because I find myself debating whether his father’s behavior and societal pressures justifies Okonkwo’s selfish nature. As far as the first 14 chapters of Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, I feel they are set up in manner that portrays Okonkwo as not being his own person, but a product of his father and society, leaving it up to the reader to sympathize with him or not.
ReplyDeleteIvana’s response to the reading is one that does not sympathize with Okonkwo’s character. Ivana highlights Okonkwo’s faults and refers to him as an “ungrateful fool” whose self “image is more important than doing the right thing.” A man who concerns himself with “what his neighbors would say if he ever spoke against their customs and rules. No matter how much he knows that they are wrong.” I think that it is safe to say that Ivana dislikes Okonkwo because he allows the influence of outside factors to control his behavior instead of taking matters into his own hands.
I can totally understand where Ivana is coming from calling Okonkwo an “ungrateful fool” because he had been given the chance to define who he is by his worth and not that of his father’s, but he does not give others the same opportunity that was once handed to him. However, it is necessary and important to keep in mind that the opportunity given to Okonkwo is an established societal rule that just happens to work in his benefit and perhaps it does not benefit Ikemefuna because he is not a native of the village of Umuofia.
I find it hard to believe that Okonkwo can truly be held accountable for his actions because the novel feeds us this idea that society has much to do with shaping one’s character and not just that, but like Unoka, those that do not comply with societal standards are seen in a negative light. Therefore, challenging societal norms and perhaps following one’s “own beliefs” means dealing with consequences; consequences that evidently are hard for Okonkwo to face because he continues to follow customs and rules despite the conflict they bring to him and his family.
I think Ivana has hit on the, for want of a better word, “point” of the novel in the later half of her post. Achebe seems to be setting our characters up for a generational clash in which the children of Onkonkwo’s generation who were raised by adults basically “playing” at being their fathers and mothers; going through life with fuzzy, half-remembered, conditional sets of rules for how to live life are now going to grow up and reject the supposed rules imparted onto them.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Lizette however, I do feel that ultimately Onkonkwo does bear some responsibility for his actions because for as much as society may pressure him to do something his own recognition of his wrong doing means that he has the ability to correct himself.