Essay Things Fall Apart

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Part IV: Essay

D. How does fear dominate Okonkwo in his interactions with his family, tribe, and the white man? How do the decisions he makes in these interactions culminate his eventual fate?

In the book Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe, portrays a young man, Okonkwo through his manhood. Despite how intimidating he might be to most people around him, aside from his friends, throughout his whole life he has been shadowed by fear. The initial push that most likely triggered his fear was from his father, Unoko, who was an irresponsible man with great debt during his time. Okonkwo was going to do everything in his will to make sure he would never end up like his father. However with the mounted pressure and fear of failing, there is no way his life would turn out to be normal and joyful. In his family, the fear was initiated because of his father. Okonkwo’s father was a lazy person and resulted in him not being respected by anyone. With Okonkwo’s father earning a bad reputation for his family, Okonkwo was going to make sure he would not be as bad of a person as his father. In his village, Iguedo, Okonkwo is a highly respected man. During his childhood he defeated the reigning wrestling champion, Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling contest. Unlike his father, Okonkwo was in good financial shape. On the other hand, as his father Okonkwo does not adapt well to change, which will lead to his eventual hanging. When the White man arrives in Umuofia and is on a mission to convert every non-believer to Christianity, Okonkwo does not cope well with this 2 happening, and eventually cannot bear the sight of his own people pledging allegiance to the White people. As regards to his tribe, Okonkwo was aspiring to be the best man is his village earning all titles one could possibly earn. With all the pressure mounted on his back in order to achieve his goal, Okonkwo makes one fatal mistake which ruins his reputation, and essentially throws away his dream of being able to achieve and hold all titles. During the funeral of Okonkwo’s close friend, Ogbuefi, in order to show respect the men fire their guns, and unexpectedly the bullet shot from Okonkwo’s gun hits Ogbuefi’s
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