Okonkwo
consciously adopts opposite ideals and becomes productive, wealthy, thrifty, brave, violent, and adamantly opposed to music and anything
else that he perceives to be “soft,” such as conversation and emotion. He is stoic to a fault. Okonkwo achieves great social and financial success by embracing these ideals.
How does Okonkwo’s character develop or change throughout the book?
Okonkwo doesn’t truly change during the novel
. He is rigid in his ways and unaccepting of new ways of life in his village with the introduction of imperialism. As others in the village drift toward the church during his banishment, he is in his mother’s land working to get back to where and how he was.
How is Okonkwo as a character?
Okonkwo is renowned as
a wrestler, a fierce warrior, and a successful farmer of yams
(a “manly” crop). He has three wives and many children who live in huts on his compound. Throughout his life, he wages a never ending battle for status; his life is dominated by the fear of weakness and failure.
How does Okonkwo grow?
In the second story from Okonkwo’s past, the young Okonkwo was preparing to plant his first farm in
yams
— a man’s crop — while his mother and sisters grew women’s crops — such things as coco-yams and cassava. Because Okonkwo had received nothing from his father, he began his farming through share-cropping.
Is Okonkwo a hero or a villain?
Okonkwo is
a tragic hero
in the classical sense: although he is a superior character, his tragic flaw—the equation of manliness with rashness, anger, and violence—brings about his own destruction.
Is Okonkwo a good person?
Okonkwo is
a good father
in that he is an extremely hard-working man that is able to financially provide for his family. He is a respected member of the community, and he embraces his leadership roles. Okonkwo also recognizes traits in his own father that he doesn’t like, and he works at not emulating those behaviors.
What Okonkwo fears most?
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 deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw.
What does Okonkwo symbolize?
In ‘Things Fall Apart’, the main character, Okonkwo, is often described in terms of
fire and flames
– his nickname is even ‘Roaring Flame’ – so, to him, fire symbolizes potential, masculinity, and life. Okonkwo is a lot like a fire, really.
Why is Ezinma so special to Okonkwo?
Chapter 9- Why is Ezinma so special to Ekwefi?
Because Ezinma is Ekwefi’s only child that has survived past the age of 6
. … Chapter 9- Describe what Okonkwo’s reaction to Ezinma’s illness show about him as a father. He demonstrates his love by going out and finding herbs and stuff to make her better.
Who is Okonkwo’s favorite child?
Ezinma
is also Okonkwo’s favorite child, for she understands him better than any of his other children and reminds him of Ekwefi when Ekwefi was the village beauty. Okonkwo rarely demonstrates his affection, however, because he fears that doing so would make him look weak.
Why does Okonkwo beat his wife?
Ikemefuna
Why does Okonkwo hate his father?
As you can imagine, Okonkwo resents his father a great deal for the lack of work ethic when he was alive, as well as his overall
refusal to provide for his family
. He also fears becoming his father, because Unoka had no interest in wrestling, fighting, or general bloodshed.
Does Okonkwo have good intentions?
Okonkwo is flawed by his excessive pride and need for everything to be perfect, but
he has good intentions
. As the white men come and spread Christianity amongst his people he faces them making him the protagonist. He earns tribal titles and commands authority, power, and wealth.
Is Okonkwo destined for tragedy?
In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo plays the role of a
tragic hero destined to fall
from his lofty titles. So Okonkwo with his characteristics doomed for tragedy, led a seemingly successful life, though a tragic flaw of pride and wrong decisions robbed him of his self fantasized gilded life.
Is Okonkwo an epic hero?
Achebe’s work, Things Fall Apart, is an epic; it resembles stories about heroes found in many cultures. They become heroes by accomplishing great things for themselves and their communities, winning much fame as a result. …
Why is Okonkwo so aggressive?
Although he feels betrayed by everyone in his community, Okonkwo may be his own worst enemy.
His inflexible understanding of traditional Igbo masculinity leads him
to develop an aggressive and unforgiving personality. Okonkwo’s personality allows no room for nuance or change, and alienates others.
