Okonkwo Paragraph

Children often inherit their values from their parents. Explore to what extent this is true of Okonkwo

Okonkwo contradicts the statement that children inherit from their parents, as Okonkwo's fear of failure, a fear to be like his father, is what drives him to be who he is now and by extension, the fear influences the way he raises his children. Okonkwo, unlike other clansmen, has a failure of a father, an agbala, a man with no titles that carries shame with him. Because Umofia resented Unoka, as he portrayed lazy and effeminate traits while Umofia's culture idolizes achievements and glorifies masculinity, so did Okonkwo. "Age was respected, but achievements were revered", it was this value of achievements that further drove Okonkwo to be determined with his work. Evident by the fact at that at a young age, he was share-cropping with Nwakibie, a great man of the village, and by his pleasure in farming rather than feasts. Furthermore, this also applies to the way he treats and raises his own children; he raises them with strictness as so they grow to be like him, to be masculine and achievers. Okonkwo punishes his son, Nwoye, when he showcases traits of femininity and is proud when Nwoye starts to spend time with him instead of his mother and sisters. Additionally, Enzima, while a girl, is his favorite child, as she showcased masculine traits and he often wishes that she was born a man through the book. It could be said that his strictness is actually an act of compassion, as he desires for his children to prosper and succeed, however, this would be an inaccurate statement, as his behavior is instead a personal conflict in him. And ironically, because of his harsh behavior Nwoye converts to Christianity and rejects Umofia culture, and thus he is inwardly compared to his feminine grandfather, Unoka. The very thing that Okonkwo feared, and he resents Nwoye for converting, mocking him to his other siblings and refusing to speak about him. Overall, Okonkwo's most significant internal conflict, a conflict that transcends religious belief, is his fear of failure, his fear of being anything his culture is not, a fear of being anything that his father represented.