Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Essay Example for Free

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Essay In Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo plays the role of father to his son, Nwoye, and his daughter, Ezinma. Okonkwos fear of looking weak like his father, which can be interpreted as his tragic flaw, causes him to expect more from both of his children and to act rashly, similar to the behavior of my father. Although both relationships—the relationship between Okonkwo and his son and the relationship between my father and I—involve disagreements between father and son, I constantly aim to see eye to eye with my father, just like Okonkwo and Ezinma, whereas Nwoye does not attempt to fulfill his fathers wishes. The relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye is one of disagreement, contretemps, and failure; Okonkwos inflexible expectations are not reached which triggers tension. This conflict commences at the start of the novel but at this point it seems minor: Okonkwo is merely concerned that his son shows some characteristics of his lazy father, Unoka. He is trying to prevent this by all means but it starts to become somewhat undeniable. Okonkwos features being strong, hard-working, and somewhat misogynic conflicts with the impudent, weak, eccentric, and indolent characteristics of Nwoye. Though as the story proceeds, it seems likely that the relationship will be repaired: Ikemefunas involvement in Nwoyes growth puts Nwoye on the path sought by Okonkwo. Unfortunately, this period of healing is disturbed by Okonkwo taking part in Ikemefunas death which results in the fear of Okonkwo by Nwoye and the lack of trust between the two. This instability continues throughout the majority, if not the entirety, of the book. Ezinma, the only child of Okonkwos second wife, Ekwefi, has a relationship with Okonkwo that shows understanding and agreement, unlike Nwoyes relationship. Surprisingly enough, this relationship is rather implicit since Okonkwo doesnt speak to Ezinma a great deal of times, especially when compared to Nwoye. This may be due to the fact that she is a girl and she is generally not involved with masculine tasks that would bring her closer to Okonkwo. Still, Okonkwo believes that she should have been a boy (61) and she continually attempts to carry out masculine duties such as bringing Okonkwos chair to the wrestling match, which is said to be a boys job (45).  This form of complement establishes amplification of the bond that is made between Okonkwo and Ezinma. My father and I have a relationship that consists of clashing points of view, similar to the link between Okonkwo and Nwoye. We have frequent arguments, abundance of miscommunication, and we fail to see eye-to-eye. Both my father and Okonkwo seem to possess this stubborn feature which, in turn, results in senseless disputes. In fact, in chapter 5, Okonkwo initiates an argument about a dead banana tree which actually is alive; he ends up giving Ekwefi a beating because she merely cut off a few leaves to wrap some food (39). Another aspect they both share is their large amount of accomplishments; my dad being a successful translator who has traveled the world and Okonkwo being a famous wrestler and a leader of the Umofia clan has lead to higher expectations in their children, specifically Nwoye and I. This causes us distress while trying to reach that expectation and results in disappointment from our fathers when we dont attain it. This kind of pressure is not asserted on Ezinma because she does not have to meet any expectations, besides doing feminine tasks like cooking, cleaning, etc. Though, Ezinma and I do share the aspect of attempting to see eye-to-eye with our fathers, generally unlike Nwoye; Nwoye seems to make an attempt when he starts grumbling about women, building the walls of the obi, and doing other masculine actions but in reality, he just trying to fit in with the patriarchal clan. Therefore, Ezinma is similar to me when it comes to intention, but different to Nwoye and me when it comes to the circumstances. In conclusion, the novel emphasizes the importance of parental influence on the child, whether positive or negative. The analysis of Nwoye and Ezinma has taught me to generally stay on the path made for me by my ancestors and my parents in order to avoid conflict and I believe that I could teach them that although that path may be tough, the end result will be satisfying to both them and their parents. Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Fawcett, 1985.

The Real Deal Out In The Field :: essays research papers

The Real Deal Out in the Field   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Being that this will be a very opinionated paper I concluded that I should begin this piece with an opinion. According to myself, there is no such thing as a just war. War is war no matter how much you try to justify it. You can’t escape the fact that with war comes loss of life. This brings up the idea of â€Å"who are we to eliminate someone’s life.† No man should have such responsibility. Naturally those that cause war or instigate war are those that will not be fighting in the trenches. To say that George W. Bush has total and complete passion for every man fighting this â€Å"new type of war† is nothing but ignorance at its finest.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A day after the horrible attacks on the World Trade Center the pope released a statement to the press. In this statement he said, â€Å"Let us beg the lord that the spiral of hatred and violence will not prevail (sept. 12)† then later on the catholic church serves and ordinance allowing the use of a â€Å"just war†. How could it be that after the popes praises for peace the same church virtual gives its ok for a war. This is extremely contradiciary. The only conclusion one can derive from such an act is that the pope used his speech as a political ploy to downsize the visual size of involvement that the church has in all of this.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With this said we now look at our own government for which I have nothing but disgust. If you were to watch a baseball game, they now make it mandatory (not written in stone but very highly ‘pushed’) that during the seventh inning stretch a guest will appear and sing God Bless America. To me this is a cheap ploy at instigating patriotism and forcing it upon the American people that what we are doing is right and if you don’t agree with out actions then you’re not a true American. What kind of a â€Å"kind and caring† government is this? I am a true American. I also recognize BS when I see it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If you have been alive for the past 2-3 weeks you will realize you are hearing a lot about an anthrax scare. This again is governmental tactics. I choose to use the phrase â€Å"silent weapons for quiet wars† to better describe this abuse of power by our almighty government.

Upon reflection of my conversation Essay

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine regarding his out of control gambling habits as well as the level of debt he is quickly finding himself in. My friend hasn’t approached anyone else about this issue and thought because of my current study that I could help. I explained to my friend that I am not qualified to deal with issues such as these as I am not counsellor yet and only a student but would hear what he had to say as a friend. I listened to what he had to say with empathy and understanding while he told me his problems. After he had explained his situation to me I assessed what was going on and uncovered that he is suffering from depression, loneliness, helplessness and has thoughts of suicide. I told my friend that I think that he should talk to a counsellor about his problems and he told me that he didn’t want to and wanted me to tell him what he should do. Knowing that he wouldn’t seek professional help worried me greatly and I was finding myself trying to find solutions. Reflecting Upon reflection of my conversation with my friend I realized numerous things I shouldn’t have done such as: Find solutions for his problems Give advice as to what actions he should take Telling him the consequences of his actions Going through the Possibilities of his future without professional help Pushing my own point of view across The things I thought I do right in this situation were: Advice professional help Give support Showing empathy and understanding Explore possibilities Conceptualising After my friend had told me that he would not seek professional help and I knew there was no way I could persuade him to I started to give advice which felt like a lecture. After sometime I saw that he was losing interest in the discussion which made me feel helpless in helping him and was not the way I wanted the conversation to go. Planning In the future as a counsellor faced with this situation I think it would be much different given the client has already taken the first step in seeking help. In addition to dealing with this similar situation as a counsellor I feel I would be better equipped being fully qualified as a professional counsellor in a counselling environment, felling more confident in my ability’s in using a variety of skills and techniques. Given the same situation again with my current level of counselling I feel that I would still be understanding and caring but maybe less pushy in trying to help when all other options fail. I think what brought out this pushing of my own point of view across was my friend talking of suicide then refusing help so it felt like a matter of life and death to me.

Is Racism Over - Values Of An African American Life

Is Racism Over? Topic: Values of an African American life Throughout the paper we will be exploring if has racism come to an end or just evolved as time went along. Im Going to explain the values of an African American lives throughout history till modern days. Explain the physiological abuse African American went through from back far as the middle passage. People never pay attention to the mind abuse and try to put themselves into the same circumstances. Can you imagine being in a boat in pitch black? Do you have any idea what that would do to a human being? As human beings certain events can trigger a nervous breakdown and cause you to lose sanity. Certain Events that African Americans had to go through†¦show more content†¦The ability to place another human being through the abuse and try to justify it with religion shows how they felt about the blacks. Using pigments to treat people in certain ways and to classify them as property. Then throughout history they start treating them a little better but never truly equal. In most situation people decide to ignore this and sweep it under the rug. Life as an African American in the United States is a constant struggle. African Americans had to endure more in their life than anyone can ever imagine. They had to fight for everything they had including natural human right everyone is born with but it’s a battle they had to fight. Never feeling like you belong can really mess with someone’s mental status. How could humans dehumanize other humans? From the moment their being born, their born into a world of no acceptance. A world where they will never be accepted. Having an empty feeling through out your whole life is going to have such an impact on how you see everything else. Never going to feel normal. But then again what was normal? Was being normal slaving over a white family, or watching your mom gets treated like she’s nothing? This affects your mind and the way you think for the rest of your life. You’re never going to think normal because their normal is always going to be different. Whether we like to consider it or not, racism and slavery is associated