"And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion- to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. "(17) Nwoye is presented as being similar to his grandfather, or at least that is Okonkwo's greatest fear: "Nwoye was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. At any rate, that was how it looked to his father." (17) Here the narrator interferes in defense of Nwoye; what it looks like to his father may not be the truth about the boy. But who is Nwoye?
Okonkwo, afraid of being viewed as soft-hearted and weak, participates in the killing of Ikemefuna. The clan elders advised him not to partake, but he did so anyway. Nwoye is not only emotionally broken, but spiritually as well by the killing. Okonkwo is shaken as well, but he continues to try to become a lord of his clan. Nwoye constantly disappoints Okonkwo, which leads to a great love for his daughter Ezinma.
I had to hate somebody” (593). He assumed blaming others rather than himself was the best way to get over his frustrations but little did he know it was the beginning of his racist rampage. Ellis shows throughout the essay that he is weak minded and has very low self-esteem. Parrillo states that “self-justification”
While this process took many years, there are landmark events that can reveal how Okonkwo’s ways would eventually push the boy away. A clear example of this divide is after Okonkwo, against the advice of kinsmen and elders, takes part in the killing of Ikemefuna. Ikemefuna’s death was a great blow to all in the clan and family, but affected Nwoye the most. He was described as “something seemed to give way inside him, like the snapping of a tight bow. He did not cry.
His father was very laid back and accomplished nothing in life and Okonkwo hated him for it. Okonkwo’s eldest son Nwoye is lazy and weak from an early age. Okonkwo’s fear of his father’s laziness rubbing off on his son Nwoye changes Okonkwo from hero to villain when he beats him to make himself more masculine. What he thinks is helping his family is actually causing pain. Okonkwo’s wives are often beaten for the simplest of things, sometimes even for not explaining to him where they have gone.
Okonkwo let his anger get the best of him and violated the code of the Ibo people. Next, his shunning of all things feminine causes him to commit crimes that eventually lead to his downfall for example in his relationship with Ikemefuna. “Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy-inwardly of course. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it would be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.
Even though he witnessed many horrible things, he could not believe in his Father’s true work. He died because he was not aware of what was happening in the concentration camps. (Boyne, page 213) it states, “He assumed that it had something to do with keeping the rain out and stopping people from catching colds.” This shows that Bruno had no idea that he was taken to a gas chamber. Standing in the big room, in between skinny, shaved head men, he was more concerned on catching cold than the vision in front of him. Another example of how Bruno was avoiding thinking about what was happening around him was when he said, “I expect we’ll have to wait here till it eases off and then I’ll get to go home” (Boyne, page 212).
During Okonkwo’s exile, the tribe changed immensely. Okonkwo fears that the Ibo have lost their will to fight. He still has a violent passion to protect himself and the tribe but it seems as though the Ibo have lost their passion. This passage clearly depicts the separation between Okonkwo and his tribe. The first phrase gives the reader the image of one man, Okonkwo, standing alone against five Kutma.
The laziness of Unoka encouraged Okonkwo to rise above the live his father lived. Additionally, the concern of changing fellow townspeople belief that Onkonkwo would be equivalent to Unoka and constructing his own reputation were also a factor in his motives. The quotation of Okonkwo “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 an agbala.” (Achebe 13), shows the distinctive mind set of Okonkwo in comparison to Unoka. The relationship between Okonkwo and his family also inspire Okonkwo’s static character decisions. With his strong attitude he has no patience for his wife that is why she ends up getting beat many times through the novel.
Okonkwo wants to be nothing like his father, so he becomes a warrior, a farmer, a family provider, and successful overall. Oknokwo also doesn’t like anything that reminds him of his father, which is why he is hard on his oldest son, Nwoye, because he doesn’t do work around the house. One day someone from the Mbaino village killed the wife of an Umuofia clansman. Okonkwo was upset about what happened but he said he would not attack the entire village under certain terms. The Mbaino people agreed with them and gave them a virgin and a fifteen-year-old boy as a slave.