Chinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart - 1005 Words

Saurav Dhungana Term paper 2 ENGL 2309 Dr. Ana Savic April 28, 2015 Unlike Father, Unlike Son There are many father and son relationships depicted in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart set in the post-colonial era of 1958. Unoka is the father of the protagonist of the novel, Okonkwa. Secondly, Okonkwa is the father of a young boy named Nwoye. Throughout his novel, Achebe has masterfully portrayed how father and son relationships lead to things falling apart because a father’s behavior has a profound impact on their son s upbringing and their behavior. Unoka is an immoral dad and husband. He is lazy and serves as no use to anyone. He is always in debt, spends all his money on getting drunk, and can be seen partying with his tribal friends.†¦show more content†¦He controlled his family’s loves just to prove to the villagers that he wasn’t like his father. Okonkwo wasn’t naturally like this, rather his father changed his life before and after his death. Another father- son relationship in Achebe’s novel is Okonkwo and his son Nwoye. Unlike Okonkwo, Nwoye grew up with a completely different father figure. Nwoye was closely advised and told what to do and what not to do by Okonkwo. As a result, everything Nwoye did was an attempt to obtain his father’s approval. The only thing Nwoye ever did without his father’s approval was joining the white missionary, which upset and disappointed Okonkwo. Apart from Nwoye, Okonkwo also looked after other children. Since Okonkwo was the leader of his community, he took care of Ikemefuna. Ikemefuna was a lost child from the other tribe. Okonwo and Ikemefuna were deeply close and called each other father and son. Moreover, Nwoye and Ikemefuna were best friends and considered themselves family. Ikemefuna and Okonkwo’s relationship also proves how much of an impact Unoka had on Okonkwo’s life. Okonkwo raised Ikemefuna. They called each other father and son. But when tribe’s leader ordered Okonkwo to slaughter Ikemefuna for the peace of their tribe, Okonkwo chopped Ikemefuna’s head off just to prove his alliance and manly strength in front of his tribe. Okonkwo proved he was a brave man by following orders, unlike his father Unoka. By the same token, Unoka also created the