He had to now. don’t Bigger don’t. He was sorry, but he had to. He He could not help it,” (Wright 234). Bigger is panic-stricken so as a result, he goes into a delusional behavior, ignoring all the other vices he has committed as well as the problems he has created such as raping and killing Bessie.
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.
Okonkwo frequently gets upset at his son, Nwoye, because he believes he engages in feminine activities and Okonkwo associates femininity with weakness (this misogynistic point of view is shared by the rest of the clan). Nwoye enjoys listening to women’s stories and is very pleased when his mother asks him to do something for her. “I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands. -Okonkwo (Chapter 4)” Furthermore, in the Ibo society, a man is respected if he is fearless and courageous.
Amir wishes that Baba would “let him be the favourite” but even though Hassan isn’t Baba’s son he will still always treat him fairly to Amir. Amir’s bitterness towards Hassan perhaps makes Amir an unreliable narrator because the jealousness allows Amir to take over the novel with his emotions rather than Hassan’s emotions, which means the reader only have Amir’s opinions to rely on rather than an general overview of the events. This makes Amir an unreliable narrator because he can choose exactly what he wants to tell the reader as his bitterness
He accidently killed Stilson in the beginning of the book without knowing until chapter 15, because he kicked him so many times. He did not mean to, he just wanted to win and make them stop harassing him. Ender always feels like a killer after he kills someone, even when it’s not on purpose. For Ender, he doesn’t want to be a killer because he doesn’t like killing people and he thinks that it will make him like Peter. Ender does not want to kill anyone because if he does, then it’ll make him like Peter.
They are forced to kill their best friends to prove they are loyal, if they don’t, they are killed. It comes to the point were shooting is “just like drinking a glass of water.” It is often argued that the children choose to stay and kill. Many ask, why didn’t they just desert? Why not shoot the commanders? Because they are afraid of what will happen if they do.
Okonkwo plays a big role in the story because of how his character fits on Things Fall Apart. It is crazy how he treat people differently, he will beat up his wives and children yet he has a soft spot towards Ekwefi and Enzima. This makes me think that Okonkwo choose his moments to act manly or choose people to beat up, and he is always more aggressive to his family members than outside people. Okonkwo showed that he has no sympathy when he killed Ikemefuna, who helped Okonkwo a lot in his life, and yet he decided to kill him even though Ikemefuna was really close to him. Okonkwo does not care if you are part of his life or not, if you do not satisfy him he will do damage to you.
Okonkwo's one and only weakness was his fear of becoming a failure like his father. This fear drove Okonkwo to embrace the values of manliness and fueled his desire to be strong; which then drove him to rashness and in the end contributed to his death. Accepting the ways of manhood isn’t a sign of weaknesses, the problem is how narrowly he defines it. Okonkwo was part of a patriarchal society and the male gender was already established with great authority. For Okonkwo, however, any kind of softness and tenderness was a sign of weakness.
He is really upset about his mother and his uncle, but also his father dying. His way of coping with his thoughts about them is to act suicidal, “His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” (I ii 132). Even though he doesn’t want to live anymore and is thinking about suicide he thinks about it and realizes that he can’t kill himself because it is a sin. No matter how depressed and how much he doesn’t want to live, he still considers whether it is a good thing or bad thing to do. Aside from Hamlet’s depression, he shows that he is very determined and brave.
Okonkwo’s tragic flaw is his fear of weakness and failure. Okonkwo is impulsive; he acts before he thinks. Consequently, Okonkwo offends the Igbo people and their traditions as well as the gods of his clan. Okonkwo is advised not to participate in the murder of Ikefemuna, but he actually kills Ikefemuna because he is “afraid of being thought weak.” Tradition was very important to Okonkwo as it was with most of the clan. Order was maintained by tradition and Ibo tradition was steeped in superstition.