Okonkwo and Macbeth are both heavily influenced by other characters, fuelled by the expectations of their societies, and driven to act based on their tragic flaw. The reason behind all the actions Okonkwo takes can be traced back to one person; his father. Okonkwo grew up hating Unoka’s laziness and he “was ruled by one passion- to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved” (Achebe 13). This led him to rule “his household with a heavy hand” (Achebe 13), and treat his family poorly. He is afraid to show affection, as seen with Ezinma and Ikemefuna.
But what the villagers do not know is that he never wanted to kills his son. In fact, he feels horrible about it. Okonkwo falls into a deep depression some days after Ikemefuna’s death. Okonkwo and Unoka are truly polar opposites. However, just like his father, Okonkwo is always at odds with the values of the people of the village.
Daniel Arrants Things Fall Apart Draft English Honors Pr.6 Intolerance has negatively impacted people in today’s society as well as in the past. Things Fall Apart is written to follow the life of Okonkwo and his fall from greatness in his community. He has 3 wives, many crops, and is a strong warrior, all traits of a typical wealthy man in the Ibo Tribe. Okonwko’s main goal in life is to not gain the characteristics of his father, who was weak and considered a failure to those around him. He lives in a society where men rule, and it is hard for him to show love or affection towards his family.
His father, Unoka, was a well-known for his laziness in the village. He was the root of Okonkwo’s embarrassment. Since his childhood, Okonkwo was ashamed of his father, who, “In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow” (04). In the standard of his clan, Unoka was a coward, lazy, and wastrel man who spent money wastefully. When he was a child, a boy once called Okonkwo’s father an Agbala, witch means “a woman” as well as a man who has no title.
Anse’s exaggerated traits of selfishness distance him from the other characters and others tend to dislike him because of his self-centered personality. Anse is even too stubborn to call a doctor for his own wife until it is obvious that she is desperate. Peabody says, “I knew that nobody but a luckless man could ever need a doctor in the face of a cyclone. And I knew that if it had finally occurred to Anse himself that he needed one, it was already too late.” (42) Peabody highlights Anse’s stubbornness in this passage and shows just how unwilling to adapt and help others he is. The other characters are bothered and annoyed by the grievances of Anse, and his neighbors such as Tull view Addies death and Vardaman’s actions as “A judgment on them.
[David] flinched back and he [Carl] grabbed the back of [David’s] neck with fingers like a vise. ‘You’re nothing but a lazy brat. I’m going to beat some industry into you if I have to kill you to do it.”’ (Gould, 3) David’s earlier years have been hard, resulting him being unpopular, and being unsatisfied. David begins to feel sick and tired of the abuse from his father and decides to run away from home. David starts to develop hatred towards his father, wanting to hurt and give him the pain he has felt over the years.
No one wants to be seen as weak or a failure and be taken advantage of, that’s why people have their guards up. Things Fall Apart tells a story of a stubborn man (Okonkwo) responding to change. In Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart, he reveals Okonkwo’s fear of failure and of weakness. Okonkwo, with a deep insecurity of being like his father, known to be a poor, unsuccessful man and a failure in his society, gives his best to be successful and nothing else. Okonkwo passionately works hard to be at the top as a respected man (which he achieves) and the complete opposite of his disappointing father.
Applicable Theories of Criminal Behavior Social Risk Factors: He didn’t always live in poverty, but once his family wasn’t there he was in poverty. He also received rejection by his peers, when they often teased him because of his deformity. Parental and Family Risk Factors: His mother used a very authoritarian style to shape and control her sons. This caused irreparable damage to Gein throughout growing up. His mothers parental monitoring was too much, she never let Ed do anything and always kept him hidden.
He constantly feared that others would have negative emotions towards him because of what his father did. His father, Unoka, was a lazy man who did not think of the future. In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of think about tomorrow. Due to the lifestyle that Okonkwo witnessed he despises a lazy lifestyle. His life was all about hard work and never failing.
His first downfall was not being able to have a child. He tried his hardest to be able to do so yet luck wasn’t on his side. As any man can say, being remembered as the guy who can’t get his own wife pregnant isn’t a good way to leave this earth. Regardless to the sorrow I feel towards him, I still believe he deserved worse. Despite him being the big disgrace of the town the years which he made girls suffer wasn’t enough.