Okonkwo is plagued with the memory of his father’s insignificant legacy. Thus, Okonkwo resents his father and is motivated to subdue the memory of him. His father was a man of no title in the clan. Ashamed of his father, Okonkwo became obsessed with the need to prove that he, unlike his father, was a man worthy of respect. “When Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt. Any wonder then that his son Okonkwo was ashamed of him?” (pg. 8). Okonkwo is already a successful man in the clan and has disgraced his father for not being as successful as he is. Having a title in the clan was very important to Okonkwo and this inspires him to keep from becom

Okonkwo’s own son, Nwoye, has rebelled against him and has joined the missionaries, who have now become the new father figure to the clan, whom Okonkwo also tries to subdue. Nwoye does not think the same of the missionaries as his father does. He knows that his interest in the new religion and his wanting to join the school is something his father would never approve of. “He went back to the church and told Mr. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write.”...“Nwoye did not fully understand. But he was happy to leave his father.” (pg. 152). It is apparent that Nwoye has no intention of following in his father’s footsteps and instead adopts the colonizers as the new father as he tries to subdue his own. In addition to Nwoye, the clan has also adopted the colonizers as their father. Okonkwo feels he must suppress them to keep the clan from converting. “‘These people are daily pouring filth over us, and Okeke says that we should pretend no to see.’ Okonkwo made a sound full of disgust. ‘This is a womanly clan, he thought.’” (pg. 158-159). This shows that Okonkwo realizes his clan is slowly being converted to the new

Some topics in this essay:
Nwoye Okonkwo, Chinua Achebe, Meanwhile Okonkwo, father okonkwo, father okonkwo’s, subdue memory, son nwoye, subdue memory father, father figure, own son, missionaries father, memory father, colonizers father, clan okonkwo, adopts colonizers father, missionaries father figure, ,