Emotional Stress In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
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Emotional Stress in Things Fall Apart
"Pride is the emotion reflecting an increase in stature, while shame reflects a decrease in stature. Because stature is often confused with status and is often considered competitive and relative, expressing our pride carelessly or unjustifiably may offend others" (“Emotional”). In Things Fall Apart by Achebe, Okonkwo was raised by an improvident father within certain customs to life. Over the years of living, Unoka, dies tireless and poor, with nothing to have Okonkwo inherit. Okonkwo builds himself the life that had everything his father didn't. All of that takes a turn for the worse when Okonkwo's pride gets in the way. Okonkwo oppresses himself; his pride essentially destroys him over time.
The first way Okonkwo oppresses himself is over his father. Unoka’s father, is raised to marry multiple women and have a successful crop supply. He is taught to live up to the tribal expectations but never does. He wastes his money on palm oil and the enjoyment of friends. However, Unoka dies a poor man with debts he never repays, and, as a result, “[Okonkwo has] no patience with unsuccessful men. He [has] no patience with his father”(Achebe 5). His father didn't have any of the…show more content… He wants to be a somebody. He wants meaning in life. Okonkwo feels the need to have to be better. Okonkwo achieves that by being harsh. Okonkwo’s passion and his pride are so far up into the air that he forces it onto his children and wives. He wants them to be better than they can. Okonkwo becomes so overbearing that he doesn't know how to handle himself, and he just keeps pushing and pushing. Even though "Okonkwo [knows] that the boys [are] still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing the seed yams, he [thinks] one could not begin too early"(Achebe 33). Okonkwo faces other problems within his life that have a bad impact on him but he overall believes that he's doing the