1 Thompson Megan Thompson Mars. Higdon English 2 4th Block 14 October 2019 Okonkwo the Great There are many good people in the world but not all of them show character. Okonkwo in the book things fall apart by chinua achebe shows us his victories and success but also failure and difficult times, Even though Okonkwo is strict on his family, he is still an overall good person because he is smart, brave, and an over comer. In the book things fall apart it states that “if'a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. Okonko washes his hands so he gets to eat with the kings.” (page 8--Achebe) this shows that Okonkwo is smart because by doing this he gets to speech and eat with the highest valued people in his village. “Trade us a virgin git] and a boy"(page 12--Achebe) Okonkwo is smart by doing this, because instead of going to war with the neighboring village he accepted the peace offering they made. So it saved both villages from killing there village people. “Okonkwo took his machete and went into the bush to collect the leaves and grasses and barks of tree that went into makeing the medicine for iba”(page 76Achebe) this is smart because if someone in his village is sick he knows how to treat them,2 Thompson By being brave you have to be daring and do things out of your comfort zone, You can't be afraid to try new things. In the book things fall apart it states “Afraid? I do not care what he does to you. I despise him and those who listen to him. I shall fight alone if I choose."(page 201--Achebe) this shows that Okonkwo is brave by showing how courageous he is to stand up and fight by himself. He doesn't need a “white man” to help him fight. “Okonkwo was one of the first to bring home a human head” then “Okonkwo brought his fifth head home” (page 10--Achebe) this shows bravery because not very many people in his village get more than 2 heads. So for okonkwo to get 5 heads that is a big deal. It means he will go out of his way to go hunt and be the best. For example his father, Unoka, could not stand the sight of blood so he never went to war and got a head. “Okonkwo at the age of eighteen threw Amalinze the cat” (page 3--Achebe) this shows bravery because no one for years has been able to throw the cat. Even to this day no one has been able to throw the cat. Due to the fact that Okonkwo threw the cat it brought honor to his village and is very well known. “Okonkwo was not afraid of war. He was a man of his of his actions, a man of war."(page 10--Achebe) this shows bravery because if a war starts up he isn't afraid of fighting in it and helping out his village. Overcoming things may be hard for some people to do, it can either already come for you or you many have to be motivated to overcome something. Okonkwo has always hated his father due to the fact that his father was a failure and not a good person. He would borrow money from people and never pay back his debt. So from then on Okonkwo has always been driven to be better than his father. In the book things fall apart it states that3 Thompson “Okonkwo does not want to be called weak so he carries his family with a stern fist”(page 12-13--Achebe) this is considered overcoming because his father didn't care about his family. His father, Unoka, just sat there doing nothing with his life and mooched off of pople for things they needed, “Okonkwo was always ashamed of his father and didn’t want to be anything like him” (page 4--Achebe) his father ws lazy and poor. Okonkwo overcame this by trying his best in everything he did. He always tried to find things to do for his family he never asked anyone for things because he didn’t want to build that reputation of being like his father. “Okonkwo demands his family to work long hours now mater the age” he states this because he doesn't want his family to turn out how his family was poor, and hungry. “Perhaps down in his heart he was not a cruel man”(page 13—-Achebe) Okonkwo lives in fear, he fears that his life will tur into a failure just like his father so he makes sure he is nothing like his father by living in fear so if he does something like his father he makes sure to do something good right after. He works on a yam farm so he is overcoming being lazy by actually working and putting in effort to do good. “When Okonkwo thinks of his father’s weaknesses and failures he cuts them out by thinking of his own success and strengths.” (page 66--Achebe) Okonkwo thinks about joining the murder of Ikemefuna to show that he has masculinity. Unlike his father who can't stand the sight of blood. And just sits back and lets other people do the work. “Lam calling a feast because i have the wherewithal. I cannot live on the bank of a river and wash my hands with spittle. My mother’s people have been good to me and I must show my gratitude,”(page 165--Achebe) this means he wants the respect of his people by having a feast4 Thompson but at the same time he feels its his time to go get rid of all of the bad memories that he has collected in his past years. Not only was Okonkwo smart,brave,and overcoming of things he was a very hard worker. “During planting season Okonkwo worked daily on his farms from cock-crow until the chickens ‘went to roost.”(page 13--Achebe) this not only shows Okonkwo is hard working but also over coming his family reputation of being lazy. “Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken to title."(page 13--Achebe) Agbala means a female, so his father is being called gentle and not a real man. This is one of the reasons Okonkwo is very stern and mean to his family because he doesn't want to be called an agbala. “Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing seed-yams. But he thought that one could not begin too early. Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one gravest to another was a very great man indeed, Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man, He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him.”(page -Achebe) Okonkwo did this to his sons because he didn't want them to be lazy. So if he started off at an early age and teach them how to farm they would do it as adulls. “You have all seen the great abomination of your brother. Now he is no longer my son or your brother. I will only have a son who is a man, who will hold his head up among my people. If any one of you prefers to be a woman, let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I5 Thompson