Austin Dedios

ELA 10 Period 3
Mr. Lundstrom

Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things. He was still young but he
had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. He was a wealthy
farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife. In the
novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the life of a great ma is projected.
Okonkwo is a great warrior, a successful farmer, and a holds many prestigious titles
within his clan in Africa. He has three wives and eight children. The story sticks to its
title, things do fall apart. The White men come and preach their religion to the clans. At
first it is unnoticeable, and has no effect on daily living. However as time goes on, the
church starts to pick up converts. Most of these people are called efulefu in the clans,
and that means they are useless men. However by the end of Okonkwos seven year
sentence for killing a clansman, things had changed. His oldest son had joined the
missionaries, and many other great men had been converted. Eventually, this causes
such a conflict within Okonkwo that he ends up taking his own life. Now how did this
happen? Well this is just a brief part of the story, both Nwoye, the oldest son, and
Okonkwo have one great thing in common. Theyre upbringings by their fathers made
them who they are.
First, however, let's discuss the obvious issue in the end. The arrival of the christians
caused most of the issues in the first place, as life was good for Umuofia and the rest of

villages before this. As time went on, the religion came with much more. It started
developing extensions of education and government. This was forced on the people
unfairly. The Christians took part in imperialism, or spreading a countrys power through
diplomacy or military force. It started as a diplomatic element, but it soon changed into
something completely different. England had pushed it too far. They acted as if the land
was theirs. This is what tore the societies in Africa apart.
Lets start with our brave warrior Okonkwo. His father, as he said, was not in any way
a success. In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking
about tomorrow. Unoka, his father, was called a debtor. He owed many people money,
and he kept track. He never did pay anyone back fully before he died. This gave
Okonkwo the great urge to be a respectable man. He started his triumph as a wrestler.
He threw the great Cat, and became known as the greatest warrior in the land. He built
his hut and asked for seeds. He built his compound and married. He got his own wealth,
and his own profits. He did it without inheritance of any barns or seeds. He became
great to make up for his fathers disgrace, as he saw it. Because his father was such a
disappointment, it gave Okonkwo the greatest motivation he could ever receive. In the
end, it made him a great warrior, but it also was his downfall. He had so much pride,
and he so strongly believed in being this warrior figure that he couldnt stand change.
He could see his way of raising his children was changing, and he was too stubborn to
attempt to accept it.
Therefore, Nwoye was supposed to be a great man as well. However, that was not
what happened. Ikemefuna, the adopted son of Okonkwo, was the greatest tragedy for

Nwoye in my opinion. Okonkwo raised both of them strong, but when it came to the
matter of his honor and his duty to the land, he would do anything. This included killing
his adopted son. This was a hard time, but Okonkwo got through it. Nwoye seemed
distant. I believe this is the reason he left to be a missionary. He was raised as a
warrior, but in his heart he wasnt. It was poetry of the new religion, something felt in
the marrow. He heard something in these preachings, something that connected.
Losing his half brother gave him this connection. Okonkwo was not accepting, but he
couldnt do anything about it anyway. Nwoye was his own man.
In the end it all started with Unoka, who was a nobody to the villagers. He was
unsuccessful and died that way, but he found happiness in who he was. Okonkwo could
never understand that, it turned him rather bitter. It also turned him into something great.
The way Okonkwo brought himself up, made him a tough parental figure. He would do
anything for his honor. This in the end brought the end of Ikemefuna, who Nwoye
became very attached to. This resulted in a distant son, who needed refuge. He found it
elsewhere, and disowned his own father.
In conclusion, the relationships between the father and son in this society is a big
deal. It affects how a man is developed. Okonkwo had a failure of a father, and this
made him so strong and determined to be great. His greatness made him cold, and his
priorities were in being this great clansman. He was trying to raise his son like him, and
this drove him away. Nwoye found refuge in a new faith that spoke of lost brothers. In
the end it all unravelled.