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Professor Lehman ENG 214W The Cross-Generational Parallel Between Father-Son Relationships in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Within Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the complex thematic of father-son relationships is utilized to depict a cross-generational parallel between Unoka, Okonkwo, and Nwoye and how the interconnectedness of these propel the underlying narrative peppered with tragedy and irony. The vivid mirroring represented within Unoka and Okonkwo’s unstable relationship is later transduced to reflect Okonkwo and Nwoye; wherein the turbulence that catalyzes the ultimate rupture between each father-son relationship stems from their contrasting personalities, these poignantly influence the similar falling-out that each generation encounters. Thus, the father-son relationships depicted within the novel through Unoka, Okonkwo, and Nwoye serve as a mirrored representation of each other and are decisive constituents in effecting the circular structure that the author employs to bring the novel’s underlying father-son discourse to a resolution. Unoka, as an Igbo man that deviated from the traditional system, conflicted with the predisposed, authoritative nature that rose in Okonkwo; because of the related perception he formulated of his father with failure and effeminacy, he [Okonkwo] developed a warped perception of masculinity and grew to showcase a threatening, almost menacing, psychology that contrasted the “effeminate” characteristics he perceived in Unoka. As Irele explains, Unoka’s upbringing and artistically inclined personality were decidedly “repudiated by his son, Okonkwo, who wills himself into becoming the antithesis of all that Unoka represents” (10); Okonkwo’s

2 forceful ambition to be unlike his father is then a direct by-product of and explicitly shaped by the presence of Unoka in his life-course. Their father-son relationship held a complex, intrinsic influence over Okonkwo’s persona as an adult; it formatted his hostile demeanor. “And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion – to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness” (11). Such unrelenting fixation with his father’s failure as a man cause him to wrongly associate vulnerability with weakness and incompetence; hence, adamantly opposing “gentleness and idleness” merely because he interrelated these concepts with his father drove Okonkwo to become a highly odious, obscure character. More so, the pervasive control that endowed Okonkwo in refuting the behavior he saw in Unoka lead him to “lay the foundations of a prosperous future […] he threw himself into it like one possessed. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father's contemptible life and shameful death” (13). That erratic, irrational “fear” that encircled him propelled Unoka’s erasure from the household, including the suppression of music and anything else that Okonkwo perceived to be soft – such as conversation and emotion. From these misconceptions does Okonkwo’s jarred illusion of masculinity arise, adamant to eradicate any trace of Unoka’s tendencies within his family. He even goes as far as to question his own paternity over Nwoye because the latter demonstrated tendencies that reflected those of effeminacy and “weakness;” “How then could he have begotten a son like Nwoye, degenerate? Perhaps he was not his son. No! he could not be. His wife had played him false. He would teach her! But Nwoye resembled his grandfather, Unoka. He pushed the thought out of his mind” (122). Okonkwo thus strives to dissociate from Unoka’s influence, as he seemingly avoids the subject matter and “pushes the

3 thought” farther so as to not acknowledge his father’s existence and clear effect on him and his behavior. Thereupon, the father-son relationship illustrated through Unoka and Okonkwo readily entrenches the archetype to be emulated by their next-generation counterpart – Okonkwo and Nwoye. Wherein these relationships that “on the one hand, destabilize accepted notions of masculinity” (Lipenga Jr., 29) further serve to propel and deepen the underlying narration that is traversing throughout the novel; the characterization of each [relationship] holds incredible momentum in the formatting of the characters that compose it. Thus, the duality that exists between Unoka and Okonkwo, and later on Okonkwo and Nwoye, can be observed as a measure of completing a circular end that “affect the narrative structure” (29). The control that each character’s relationship with their respective father holds over their personal evolution and biography seem to cater a resemblance as well; as Ken Lipenga Jr. denotes, “Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity is because of action taken by his father, just as Okonkwo’s fierce personality is a result of the supposed effeminacy of Unoka” (34). Thus, despite Okonkwo’s ceaseless struggle to be the antipode of Unoka, the extremist, antithetical personality he undertook begat the same illfated consequences in his relationship with Nwoye – the latter’s conversion to Christianity and a rampant end. The ironic, fateful revelation of Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity is introduced to showcase how Okonkwo’s menacing upbringing prompted Nwoye to dissociate from the family and escape his father’s legacy, resembling a parallel to Okonkwo’s own ambition to erase Unoka from his life. It is pertinent to emphasize how Okonkwo’s unrelenting pressure for his son to fit the archetype of an Igbo man was driven by his inherent passion to rid Nwoye of his grandfather’s “weak and effeminate” tendencies. Nonetheless, the brute, violent nature with

4 which Okonkwo raised Nwoye ultimately led the latter to resent him; Nwoye found solace in the company of the missionaries’ church, for it provided him with a judgment-free space far from his father’s aggressive grasp. “Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, he kept it secret. He dared not go too near the missionaries for fear of his father” (118); it was such repression and “fear” that Nwoye felt from his father in every facet within his life that propelled him into estrangement with the latter. Further, having been beaten into complacency throughout most of his life-course, Nwoye felt that innate motivation to be the antithesis of his father, mirroring Okonkwo’s past relationship with Unoka; Nwoye desired to salvage the rest of his family from the obtrusive, vicious claws of Okonkwo as well. “But he [Nwoye] was happy to leave his father. He would return later to his mother and brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith” (120, 121). Said example displays the decisive parallel that surfaces between both father-son relationships that occur within the novel; not only did Nwoye yearn to be liberated from his father’s torment, but he further wanted to alleviate his family’s submission to Okonkwo. In an utmost ironic manner, the underlying plot comes “full circle” in the wake of Okonkwo and Nwoye’s fallingout. Nwoye’s erratic, implosive determination to abandon the legacy Okonkwo had viciously perpetuated was thus a by-product of his father’s aggressive demeanor, which once again contends to the notion that Okonkwo had unconsciously become an echoing illustration of Unoka when analyzing his own father-son relationship; Okonkwo’s upbringing and diverging personality to Nwoye were primary factors in shaping his son’s history and a prominent catalyzer in the downfall of their relationship. In sum, the manifold father-son relationships that take place throughout the progression of Things Fall Apart are utilized to demonstrate a cross-generational parallel that exists between

5 Unoka, Okonkwo, and Nwoye. The stark mirroring that is decisively showcased between Unoka and Okonkwo to their next-generation counterpart elicits the paramount importance that these father-son relationships hold in the novel. Because of the rampant distinction that existed between Unoka and Okonkwo’s personalities, these were the utmost critical factor in deciding their rupture, wherein Okonkwo erroneously linked his father’s artistic incline and gentleness with qualities devoted to a coward and weakling. Such fallacious perceptions on the notions of “being a man” had an essential impact on his development of a hypermasculinity, and fomented his aggressive, brute behavior. Nonetheless, Okonkwo’s fervent desire to be the antithesis of his father resulted in deleterious, implosive repercussions that altered the entire family dynamic and shatter his household. Such an unstable father-son relationship is then illustrated through Okonkwo and Nwoye, where the former is increasingly adamant in ridding his son of the same “effeminate and degenerate” characteristics he shared with Unoka. The violent sparring that results from Okonkwo’s tough upbringing catalyzes Nwoye’s radical conversion to Christianity; herein lies the ultimate act of defiance and dissociation from his father as he [Nwoye] wholly transforms his ideologies to represent those which were the extreme opposite of his father, adopting an almost antithetical personality to that of Okonkwo. Hence, with these extremist characterizations taking place, Unoka, Okonkwo, and Nwoye establish a cross-generational correspondence that vividly depicts the intricate influence these father-son relationships exerted over each character; these which bring the root storyline of these relationships and its circular structure into completion.

Works Cited

6 Irele, F. Abiola. "The crisis of cultural memory in Chinua Achebe’s things fall apart." African Studies Quarterly 4.3 (2000): 1-40. Lipenga Jr., Ken. "The (un) making of a man: fathers and sons in the African novel." Journal of Humanities 25.2 (2017): 26-44....