At the beginning of the novel Okonkwo was a fairly wealthy and well-respected member of the Igbo society, but it had not always been that way for him. Okonkwo?s father, Unoka, had been a lazy man who would rather play his flute than take care of his crops. Unoka was said to be a charming man, and was able to borrow large amounts of money from his friends, but was never able to pay it back. As a result, Okonkwo has grown up very poor and ashamed of his lazy father. At one point in the book, Okonkwo remembers hearing one of his playmates calling his father an ?agbala,? which was the word for woman, but all described a man who had taken not titles (13)

The next major event occurs in chapter thirteen, where Okonkwo?s gun misfires and he accidentally kills a young man during a wedding celebration. The only acceptable thing for Okonkwo to do is to flee to his mother?s tribe, where he would be exiled for seven years. After Okonkwo and his family departed, the clansmen went and burned down his obi?s and his compound. Everything that Okonkwo had worked for had been destroyed. This is very symbolic. Although the death was accidental, Okonkwo had to make amends with the earth goddess and his clansmen by leaving. His friends burnt down his buildings because they had to reconcile with the earth goddess. Okonkwo was exiled to live with his mother?s family in a place called Mbanta. He and his family were taken in by his mother?s brother, Uchendu. He is given a plot of land to cultivate and a place to build home for his family. Okonkwo is very prosperous in his mother?s homeland, but he longs for the day that he can return to Umuofia and rebuild his compound and reputation.

The African of western Nigeria had heard of the white man before, but they were only stories, none had ever seen one. Okonkwo heard of and saw the first white man while he was in exile in Mbanta. He and his mother?s clansmen learned of the white man?s religion, and how he was trying to make them forget their ancestors and practice this new religion. The men of Mbanta, like the men of Umuofia, were not at all worried about the white man and his religion. They did not think that the white man?s fortune would be lasting. They gave him and his missionaries permission to build their church in the evil forest. They had originally thought that the evil spirits in the forest would drive them out after a few days, but the white men actually prospered. They preached of equality, which appealed to the lower classes and outcasts of the Igbo society. Their preaching also appealed to Nwoye, and he soon ran away from his family to join the Christians. This pained Okonkwo deeply, his oldest son, the one who was to inherit and continue his successes, had become weak and womanly. Okonkwo never mentioned Nwoye again, and Nwoye never mentioned his father again.

. Okonkwo never forgets this, and actually develops a deep-seated fear that people will think that he is weak like his father. As I mentioned, Okonkwo became very well known, and his wealth and prestige rested solely on his own personal achievements. Okonkwo had received no inheritance from his poor father, no land and no money. As a young man, Okonkwo had been very successful wrestler, and as he grew older he became a well-known warrior. He was said to have brought home five human heads, which was a great achievement even for men who were much older that he was. At the beginning of the story, Okonkwo had obtained two titles, and had the respect of every man from all nine villages of Umuofia. Symbols of his wealth and prestige were his family and his compound. As I mentioned earlier, Okonwo had received no inheritance, and at the time of this s

Some topics in this essay:
Umuofia Okonkwo, Fall Apart, Shortly Ikenfumas, Umuofia Symbols, Mbanta Umuofia, Ikemfuna Okonkwo, Rome Oracle, Prior Ikemfunas, Ikemfuna Okonkwos, Ikenfuma Igbo, trouble understanding, igbo society, okonkwo family, okonkwos struggles triumphs, okonkwos life, earth goddess, seven okonkwo, friend obrierika, reprimands okonkwo, okonkwo fairly, clansmen drive white, seven okonkwo family, nwoye trouble understanding, forest die,