Okonkwo's Father example essay topic

Cultural Themes in the Characters of "Things Fall Apart" The book Things Fall Apart is about Okonkwo, a strong man whose life is dominated by anger and fear. It is about the rise and fall of this great man due to unforeseen events that occur. In my paper I will discuss the cultural aspects of the book, the themes of the story, and my personal opinions of the book itself. The story takes place in a village, located in Nigeria, named Umuofia.

Umoufia is the most feared village in Nigeria and is know for its strength and for war. The people of Umuofia were of the Ibo religion. They believed in one great god, called Chukwu, lesser gods, and ancestors. They would worship these gods and ancestors for various reasons such as for better harvests, fertility, to get out of debt, and for health.

Society in Umuofia was built on status. To obtain high status in this community, one must possess the qualities of strength, wealth, and war. One must also have taken at least one of the four titles. Men who had not taken a title were considered ambala, meaning a man with no title, or a woman. Men were the head of the households and often had more than one wife. The man and his wives would stay on the same compound, but in different huts with their children.

The women would clean, cook, and raise the children, while the men worked on the harvest. If women helped with the harvest, they would grow small crops such as rice and beans, while the men grew yams. And this is how it was; this was village life before the European invasion. One of the important themes of this story was that of overcoming adversity within oneself and stepping out of someone else's shadow. Unoka, Okonkwo's father, was lazy and incapable of thinking about the future. He was irresponsible with money, often spending it on wine.

He was always in debt and owed everyone money. Unoka was a failure. Unoka was poor and his family would sometimes go hungry. He was also a coward and hated war. Okonkwo hated his father and was ashamed of him. He had become the exact opposite of him.

Okonkwo was cut out of great things. He thrived on war. He had won fame in nine villages from a wrestling match he had won. He was a wealthy man with a large compound and many huts. He had taken on three wives and had a total of nine children. He also had great harvests.

Even though Okonkwo's father was a failure in his village, Okonkwo was able to rise above that and achieve great prosperity. But Okonkwo had a very difficult time dealing with his father's past. He was very self-conscious about becoming a failure like his father was. So he put all of his energy and everything he had into making sure we was not a failure and to making it known that we was a warrior and not weak. His sole focus in life was to obtain all four titles in his village and to have his sons be like him. Another important theme is building oneself back up again after a great fall.

On the night of Ezeudo's funeral, Okonkwo accidentally shot and killed Ezeudo's sixteen year old son. This was ruled as a female murder and as a result, Okonkwo was stripped of everything and banished from Umuofia for seven years. Okonkwo ventures to his mother's land to seek comfort and shelter. While there, he immediately starts planning his arrival back to Umuofia. He works on his harvest through his friend Obeireka, and makes plans to build a greater compound with an extra hut for a new wife. He plans to introduce his sons into society and also to marry off his daughters.

At this point in his life he is determined to take one the fourth title. The third theme, and the theme that I deemed most important is that of having everything you dedicated your life to, your hopes, dreams, everything, taken away from you and not being able to do anything about it. When Okonkwo returns to Umuofia, he finds that the Europeans have come and imposed their ideas and beliefs upon the people of Umuofia. A large number of the villagers had converted to Christianity and the English rule was now imposing their government on Umuofia.

This bothered Okonkwo a great deal. Everything he had planned for and everything his spent his life building was being taken away be these white foreigners, and he refused to give up without a fight. Unfortunately, in the end, Okonkwo lost the battle and was forced to conform to this new reality. This was too much for Okonkwo to bear, and so in a fit of anguish and heartbreak, he killed himself. I could not imagine the pain he must have felt. Just think about everything he had to endure during his life, his father being a coward, his son joining the Christians, his inner fears and battles...

He worked so hard to overcome all of this so he could achieve a high status in his society, and without warning, his hopes, dreams, and aspirations were stripped from beneath him, and there was nothing he could do. Imagine was that must feel like. I guess he felt like they had taken his life from him, and without life, he no longer wanted to live. I thought that this was an excellent book.

Not only did it give you an good understanding of Ibo culture, but it painted an excellent picture historically. This book hits really close to home. It makes you come out of your comfort zone and think about things that you really are not accustomed to thinking about. More than anything, it makes you appreciate where you are and what you have. Some people are not so fortunate.