All Things Fall Apart
How Achebe conveys Okonkwos sense of what it is to be manly
Okonkwos sense of what it is to be manly is portrayed throughout the novel. In Okonkowos view (through the use of free indirect discourse) it is someone who is hardworking, strong, lack of (showing) emotional attachment and passive to violence/bloodshed, respected social status in society, and someone who doesnt have much regard for women.
In chapter four Okonkwo is said to like his borrowed son Ikemefuna but refrained from showing it because to “show affection was a sign of weakness and the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.”
He never showed emotion openly unless it was anger and treated everyone with a heavy hand. The nouns and adjectives “strength”, “heavy handed” are all in the lexical field of power, masculinity which really portrays to the reader what Okonkwos viewpoint of manliness is about.
Later on in that chapter when Okonkwo and his son Nwoye, and Ikemefuna were preparing yams he knew that they were still too young to fully grasp how to do it yet remonstrated them profusely because he thought that “one could not begin too early.” To Okonkwo yam stood for manliness and anyone who could feed his family on yams was a great man indeed. The adjective “great” used showcases how good it is to be able to do that.
Okonkwos definition of a man certainly doesnt include laziness, in the same paragraph Achebe writes that Okonkwo would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness he saw in him. The adjective “disquieting ” portrays the quality of Okonkwos distress towards laziness and the dynamic verb “stamp” shows the aggression needed to have it taken out.
According to Okonkwo an attribute to being manly is one who isnt afraid of getting involved in bloodshed and should in