Faivre June

Tarlow
English 10 GT
13 March 2014
Psychologists Notebook
September 6, 1895
Psychologist: Alfred Adler
Patient: Okonkwo
Things Fall Apart Chapters
Transcript Notes
Psychologist: Hello Okonkwo. How have you been fairing lately if you dont mind me asking?
Have many things happened to you lately?
Patient: I have been been fairing well. I have harvested many yams this season
Psychologist: Is there anything you would like to tell me about?
Patient: A young boy , Ikemefuna, has come to live under me due to certain cirucumstances. I
suppose he has been helpful with the chores and things. My eldest son, Nwoye, is becoming a
man, so I am teaching him to be more like me, even though he still listens to womens stories.
Psychologist: How do you feel about him coming to living with you?
Patient: Why are you so concerned with how I am feeling? You are a man are you not? This is a
womanly thing to discuss, so I will not subject myself to it. Next Question, Mr. Adler.
Psychologist: Okay why do you not like to talk about womanly things?
Patient: What kind of question is that? What real man would like to talk about womanly things?
No Man! Only a woman! Much like my father was. He owed debts to many and left my family
and I bare with no money. All he ever did was play his flute! A truly womanish man I tell you!
Psychologist: You mean to say that you despised your father as a child?
Patient: Ive always hated my father. Im tired of this conversation.
Psychologist: Thank you for your time Okonko, I hope to speak with you again.
Doctors Preliminary Analysis: Due to his late fathers laziness, aversion to violence, and lack
of money, at an early age Okonkow began to resent his father and thus feared becoming like him
as an adult. He viewed his father as being inferior, so he wanted to be superior which to him
means having complete dominance over his family, never showing emotions, and being able to
support his family. This is not psychologically healthy, because it leads him to alienate himself
from his family.
Explanation: Okonko relies on the standards set for men by his clan for a sense of self-worth.
They make him feel self-empowered. To him anything else is unacceptable, so his ability to form
cohesive relationships with his the members of him family is impaired.