Okonkwo Nwoye example essay topic

China Achebe's, Things Fall Apart, is a story of an ambitious, determined man, Okonkwo trying to keep his culture alive while the Christian missionaries try to destroy it. Okonkwo works hard as a young man so that he will not end up as his father, Unoka, who had no titles and who was buried in the evil forest with nothing but the debt he owed. But Okonkwo pushes on and becomes an important man in his village. To his astonishment his oldest son Nwoye begins to show many of the same characteristics of Okonkwos father. The relationship between the two was not good and would eventually end in the two never speaking again. Okonkwo sees Unoka and Nwoye both as failures but Okonkwo himself is a failure from being exiled, to coming back to his land and not being able to make a difference, and then finally his final destruction".

Okonkwo's gun had exploded and a piece of iron pierced the boy's heart" (Achebe 124). The exile begins. It happened so quickly, without any thought. Okonkwo did not set out purposely to kill the boy but it happened.

It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman and Okonkwo's only choice was to flee his village. His family and him would have to leave their home and go to a distant land to live for seven years. After the seven years are up then his family would be allowed to return to their village. Everything Okonkwo had worked hard to build was destroyed. His compound and his barns were burned and even his animals were killed. All of his titles were lost.

He was nothing. All of the years of hard work and Okonkwo had nothing to show for it. Years of him swearing that he would never end up like his father and he was beginning to become more like him little by little. His father had died with no titles and now Okonkwo himself who held many prestigious titles before had none and was stuck in his motherland, Mbanta to start all over again.

He had to build a compound for his family and himself and begin preparing the farm for the coming planting season. But work for Okonkwo was not the same. He did not have the passion he once had to work and when there was no work to do he stayed around silent and to himself. With help from his kinsman Okonkwo was able to push the years along and actually establish himself in Mbanta. But as the sun begins to shine just a little in Okonkwos life the hurricane moves back in. Just as the seven years were ending Okonkwo and Nwoye have a showdown.

With the Christian missionaries moving in on all the villages many began leaving the traditional culture and converting to Christianity. Christianity had caught Nwoye's eyes from the beginning but he hid it from fear of his father. Then one-day word was out that Nwoye had converted to Christianity and Okonkwo was not happy. When Nwoye returned home that day Okonkwo began to beat him but Nwoye got away and never returned. To Okonkwo Nwoye did not exist anymore. The seven years were done and Okonkwo began to return to his village.

He was returning with whatever salvage name he still had there, a compound and farm a friend of his put together for him, and most important he was returning a son short. Just as Okonkwo's life was falling apart so was his village. When he returned home it was not the same home that he had left. The missionaries had moved in there and had built churches. There was also a government established. Okonkwo did not like how his people allowed the white men to come into the village and take it over without a fight.

When he voiced his opinion on the situation, many seem not to care because they had brought other perks, such as a trading post. Okonkwo felt his people were acting like cowards and felt ashamed. He knew if he had never become exiled then his people would not be acting like this. If he had stayed in his village and continued to earn titles then they would have kicked the white men out along time ago and never allowed them to become established. His village was not the same and every day it was making him more angry and uncontrollable". The clan which had turned false on him appeared to be making amends" (192).

A spirit was unmasked at the market during a celebration for the earth goddess and many believed the white man had gone too far. Okonkwo along with some other men went to the church and burnt it to the ground. Okonkwo felt a sense of satisfaction. But again the sun would not shine for long. Six great men from the village including Okonkwo were invited to meet with the commissioner in order to solve issues between the Christians and the clansman.

Or that is what the men had thought but they were tricked and taken into custody until there fine of two hundred cowries was paid. By the time it hit the village the fine was two hundred and fifty cowries. The messengers had added on their own fee. The hurricane in Okonkwos life continued because he knew in his heart that his village would never go to war with the white men. After the men were released and settle down from the commotion, a meeting was thrown in the market trying to plan out what to do next.

As the meeting began court messengers approached and Okonkwo sprang to his feet. Without and questions or words he drew out his machete and took the head messengers head off. No one knew what to say. No one knew why he had done it either. The hurricane had stopped and the sun was not exactly shining. Okonkwo knew no war was to come.

His people had given up on being fearless leaders and now ran around as women. The only option left for him was death and that was the route he took. He did not die fighting the war on his own as he had preached previously to his friend. He died an outcast like his father to be buried in the evil forest. Killing of oneself is against their religion and customs and it not looked highly upon.

So anyone who kills himself or herself will not get a proper burial and will be thrown with the outcasts into the evil forest. Okonkwo always judges everyone but never took the time to look at himself. He believed his father to be a failure but his father lived a happy life and enjoyed the choices he made and continued to do whatever he wanted to do, regardless of what others might of thought of him. Nwoye as well is living a better life.

He goes to school and can now read and write and make a better future for himself. Okonkwo proves himself as a failure by being exiled from his clan, having to start a new life with a new clan, coming back and his clan being different from when he left, not being able to kick the white men out, and then finally going against traditions which he whole heartedly believed in and took his own life. Okonkwo is the true failure.