8/19/2019 things fall apart essay.docx
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The Destruction and Construction of Nwoye Through the
adolescent transition from
childhood to adulthood, personal realizations make growing up
hard. Diculties
arise when trying to nd oneself and all that can be done is hope
to come out
stronger on the other side. hen a child is faced with pressure
there are so many
di!erent possible outcomes. "ometimes there are failures, but
through these
defeats knowledge is gained on a personal le#el as well as on an
intellectual one.$ike a pressure on a diamond, through hardships
successful adults are made. The
death of Nwoye%s dear friend &kemefuna, 'konkwo(s resentment
towards him and
the realization in his mind of the instability of the &bo
faith plants the seed of
rebellion that later causes Nwoye to break internally, later
resulting in Nwoye%s
con#ersion not only to Christianity but also into becoming a man
or his symbolic
rebirth. &kemefuna(s death puts out the internal spark
within Nwoye that symbolizes
the death of his innocence and cuts the bond between 'konkwo and
Nwoye. )#er
since Nwoye was a young boy, his father resented him for the
person he resembles,
'konkwo(s lazy and inept father, *noka. Nwoye is ne#er truly
accepted by his
father, people, and e#erything familiar to him and slowly but
surely +was de#eloping
into a sadfaced youth+ -chebe /0. &kemefuna, a true
outsider, took Nwoye under
his wing and embraced the boy%s awkwardness in the cutthroat
ways of the &bo
society. Through the growth of their friendship &kemefuna
attempted to help Nwoye
1ourish into the man that would carry out his father%s legacy
long after he passes.
ith the support of &kemefuna, Nwoye was dri#en to pro#e his
'mar 2 worthiness to
his father, 3he knew that his father wanted him to be a man4 so
with the help of his
friend he pushes himself to make his father proud 5/0. -lthough
being Nwoye%s
closest friend, he was also his opposite6 a ri#al in the limited
a!ection of his father.
&kemefuna was e#erything 'konkwo wanted in a son whereas
Nwoye was a
reminder of *noka and e#erything he tried so hard not to be6
weak. Nwoye greatly
looks up to &kemefuna, but his nai#ety did not allow him to
see that he could ne#er
resemble anything close to &kemefuna until &kemefuna was
ripped from his life at
the beckoning of -gbala%s word. 7earing the news of the murder
of his best friend
broke Nwoye 3like the snapping of a tighten bow4 80. ith his
death, &kemefuna
also took with him the nai#ety of Nwoye%s childhood and se#ered
the trust and bond
between the father and son. &kemefuna symbolized the glue
that loosely held
'konkwo and Nwoye together. The blanket of innocence that
shielded Nwoye from
the world was taken away from him with one swift mo#ement of his
father%s blade.
&n the small world behind the red clay walls of his father%s
obi, Nwoye%s innocence
was the smoke that clouded his #ision from the cruel unfamiliar
outside, until that
outside world became his own dwelling. The bitterness
transferred from 'konkwo to
Nwoye lea#es him confused and e#entually becomes one of the
causes in his break
and con#ersion. The merciless cast system of *muoa was separated
into two
groups6 men that held ozos, titles or ranks, and sat with the
deeply honored elders
and the men that associated with the efulefus, or worthless men,
and sat with the
osus, outcasts. ithin the home of 'konkwo and his family, Nwoye
was similar to an
efulefu and 9ust like in the clan, 'konkwo was a re#ered man
that sat and drank
palm wine with the elders. *nlike his son, as a young boy
'konkwo was not fed with
a sil#er spoon, in fact he was rarely fed at all. 3ith a father
like *noka, 'konkwo
did not ha#e the start in life which many young men had,4 he
struggles to make up
for the unreliability of his father and to 3lay the foundations
of a prosperous future4
