Father and Son The popular saying “like father like son” constantly appears in the depiction of family. In the Kite Runner, a young boy struggles with the relationship of his father due to hardships and his surroundings. In comparison, in Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo battles with his relationship with his father due to cultural ideals. In The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, and Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, both authors repeatedly establish the relationship between father and son to prove that a fathers life decisions negatively impacts the development of a son. Whereas Amir looks up to his father and strives to be like him, Okonkwo does everything in his power to disassociate himself with his father. Ultimately, both characters are…show more content… The Igbo culture prioritizes male power and masculinity over emotion and sentiment. Despite the prioritization of masculinity in Igbo society, Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, refuses to conform to the norm and ultimately becomes the failure and embarrassment of the village. Okonkwo mentions a time when a playmate referred to his father as “agabala” or a woman and even as a child he “had resented his fathers failure and weakness”(13). Okonkwo harbors a grudge against his father’s failure, causing him to react defiantly and form his own morals and intensions, yet the reappearance of Unoka’s past cast an unwanted shadow on Okonkwo. As a result, Okonkwo exhaustingly works to gain respect and admiration from the community of Umuofia but Okonkwo’s interpretation of respect deprives from excessive violence. Okonkwo kills Ikemefuma because “he was afraid of being thought weak” reassuring the idea that Okonkwo fears weakness and most importantly becoming his father (61). Okonkwo finds satisfaction from being violent but the reckless decisions that he makes deteriorates his aspiration of being seen as admirable. Despite the aversive characteristics, Achebe leads both Okonkwo and Unoka to failure to confirm the interconnection of father and
POINT OF VIEW : The point of view is based on Okonkwo and his journey throughout the novel and how his actions take over and how he is told that he would have severe consequences