During the course of the novel of ‘Deadly Unna?’ the readers are exposed to the negativity between the father and his son. This affects Blacky in way that his self-esteem is almost non-existent, and the negativity is prominent throughout the novel. Examples of the neglect shown by his father are that of the time when Bob refers to Blacky as a ‘gutless wonder’, and the journey we take through the story of Blacky’s deteriorating respect for him. The ‘gutless wonder’ incident was a influential part of the novel, as Blacky realises that his Dad isn’t one to take advice of someone he feels is inferior than him, thus saying, ‘My own son, a gutless wonder. A gutless fucking wonder!’ When Blacky explains to his father about the storm, Bob insults him rather than swallow his pride and takes his son’s advice on board.
At first, he is extremely loyal to his father, as we see with most young boys they think their fathers can do no wrong, they place them on a pedestal and look up to them. As the father figure digs a deeper and deeper hole for himself and his family, Sarty realizes that this is simply an extremely vicious cycle. In the opening scene, he thinks that his father wants him to lie, and acknowledges that he will have to do so, despite strong feelings that it is the wrong thing to do. He fears his father more than he wishes to act, as he would like. Sarty watches his father get kicked out of town, track manure over his new employer’s rug, suffer the indignity of having to clean it, and then burn the landlord’s barn down.
Also, he had to experience the “ We do not serve Negros here ”. This give an idea to the reader that the poor treatment he received in New Jersey created bitterness in Baldwin that matched to the bitterness that his father had. Finally, he understood why his father had such beliefs. The reader also felt this was really interesting because at last James Baldwin learned about the cruelty in the real world. Most children did not listen to their parents and at the end he had to experience this before understanding the words of his father.
As the boy grows older with this point of view, he comes to know the world as predominantly evil. The isolation of the father and son from the rest of the world because of their being ‘good guys’ and the overt maliciousness of everyone else they come into contact with enforces this view point. The father’s alienation is different. He becomes consumed with the boy’s survival and well-being, not his own. This causes him to make decisions that the boy views as wrong in order to survive.
His parents actions when he was young left him with the idea that love and relationships are horrible and all it does is hurt us, he felt as if it’s not worth going through the pain and stress. He only saw the bad sides of love, and because of that, he kept himself from everyone; he never realised the good sides of love until later on in his life. Another main contrast between the two poems, is guilt. In both poems the poets both feel guilt, but in different ways. Harrison, who had a good and loving family life, felt guilty about the way he treated his father when mourning.
Although his father was looked upon as a failure in society, in the eyes of the tribe, and by his own son, he contained something that Okonkwo never had: humility and happiness in the smallest things. He thought that those were the reasons that made his father a failure. His son, Nwoye, was more like Okonkwo’s father and this leads them to drift off in different directions. Okonkwo had grown up to reject anything that resembled his father, humility or happiness, and this leads him to live his life dominated by fear. Okonkwo's tragic flaw is that he fears looking weak and letting emotions get the best of him is what lead him to his ultimate downfall.
He is afraid to show affection, as seen with Ezinma and Ikemefuna. In fact, he is so “possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life” (Achebe 18), that he does not heed Ezeudu’s advice regarding the death of Ikemefuna. Okonkwo is afraid of looking weak, so he kills Ikemefuna himself. His deep seated fear of resembling his father is stronger than even love for his adopted son. Okonkwo’s “whole life was dominated by […] fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13), and while this initially aids him in his success, it is also the precise reason for all his immoral actions.
It was not external, but lay deep within him. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken to title. And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion – to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved.
* He begins as a farmer who is trying to repair a fragile marriage. * He ends as a man whose opinion is so valued by his community that other peoples’ lives depend on it. * He despises hypocrites and hypocrisy and yet is at times guilty of it himself. Thinks of himself as a fraud because of his inappropriate actions with Abigail Williams. * He is self-contained – does not want to be involved with the affairs of others in his community.
He lives in a society where men rule, and it is hard for him to show love or affection towards his family. In this book Okonkwo’s character shows intolerance towards his father’s image, feminism, and the changes in his community. Okonkwo shows intolerance towards his father who was looked at as being weak. Unoka unlike Okonkwo, had no job and no money. He instead spent his time trying to bum money off other people in the village, well aware he would not be able to repay them.