Even his father’s death has brought shame to Okonkwo. So he strives to be a successful and affluent man and through his hard work and determination he becomes one. Achebe’s diction in this quote allows the reader to realize the seriousness of Oknonkwo’s fear of failure. For example,” It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil.” This alone shows that his fear of failure is ultimately going to lead to his downfall because failure is what makes him this man who is afraid to show any feelings that will be seen as “agbala” which means womanly. This fear throughout the novel causes him to make rash and impetuous decisions in order to achieve a high stature in the tribe.
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.
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.
Creon wants the people to obey him and respect him, but he has not given them a reason to. The decisions that he makes are bad ones that hurt his people as well as his own reputation and family. It is only when he can’t take the suffering anymore that he is driven by grief, but still he will not give up his power. Another strong reason why Creon should not continue to be king is because he is too stubborn and proud to be a ruler. A good leader should know when to kneel down instead of trying to put everyone and everything under him.
He simply was not strong enough to say no because he believed that this would show weakness inside of him. Weakness leads to failure, and Okonkwo simply cannot fail. He tries to accuse Obierika in order to cover up for his own feelings. This quote adds to Okonkwo’s character by inducing even more of the idea of his fear for failure and weakness. He does anything possible to cover up his weaknesses and will never give in to them.
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.
Proctors action s reveal his inner strength. For example, when John tears his testimony he is giving his life away. Proctor action’s not common because he is a brave man who cares about his family. In Salem no body else would have dared defy authority because they are afraid to die by the injustices of the town. John Proctor choose to go against the judge s orders for the reputation of his family can be ruin because of his action.
Here we saw Elie’s feelings towards his father really come through. He doesn’t want to find his father. This shocked me when I read it because he was so against this when he saw it happening to other father-son duos. He said he would never wish he didn’t have his dad because he was the only family left. It’s sad to think that his feelings changed when he was put in the exact situation.
This quote defiantly shows that people are not born violent. The Invisible man clearly wants people to not ignore him that is why he is so mean, just to get attention. “The Destructors” also disproves that people are born violent. For example, “T was giving orders with decision: it was as though this plan had been with him all his life, pondered through the seasons” (Graham Greene 13). This shows that ‘T’ bosses the kids around cause he was giving “orders” about how he wanted stuff done.
Because of Eric’s lack of manors, Mr. Birling uses his pride to belittle his son which is very upsetting for Eric and its not how a parent should treat their children. He should use love and instead of using criticism to teach his son and gain that father and son