Answers for Things Fall Apart

Nicole Fuerstnau

March 20, 2010.

English 9, Mrs. Lang.


Answer’s about my Topic.

1. Some topics talked about in the additional notes that I did not have before was
the night when Chielo took Ezinma. Okonkwo arrives with his machete and has the role
of a strong, manly protector. However because affection is a sign of weakness in
Okonkwo’s eyes, he forces himself to wait before following after Chielo. One topic that I had in my notes but I didn’t see in the additional notes was what had happened at the marketplace. Here, Obierka asked Okonkwo if he was afraid that Egonwanne would convince the clan not to fight. Okonkwo was very offended when Obierka thought he was afraid and so Okonkwo said that he would fight alone if he chooses. 2. The additional notes explained more about Okonkwo’s fear of looking weak or becoming less masculine and they also explained to me how Okonkwo is both physically and emotionally destructive. The additional notes helped me too fully understand the true meaning of the theme fear of failure in Things Fall Apart, which in the end helped in writing my essay.
3. My notes and the additional notes that were provided are alike in that they both explain how Okonkwo doesn’t want to be anything like his father and in doing so he
shows no emotions except anger. Both of the notes also show Okonkwo taking part of
Ikemefuna’s death and how that incident leads to two things. The first thing is that
Okonkwo and Nwoye will become father apart form each other. The other thing that
comes out of it is Nwoye’s heart breaking for the second time and he goes to join the Christians. The additional notes and my notes aren’t different from each other.
4. To improve my notes, I could have used sticky notes and referred back to the page after or when we had free time in class. In doing that I would have had more notes of better quality to use for my essay. Or I could have written down the page number and what the sentence started with and look back on it to find it. That way I could still pay attention when we were reading instead of messing around with trying to get all of the notes.
5. I found ten quotes in Things Fall Apart. The first quote is “Afraid? I do not
care what he does to you. I despise him and those who listen to him. I shall fight alone if I choose.” This happens in the marketplace and means that Okonkwo was mad that Obierka thought that he was afraid of Egonwanne since he is afraid to look weak to others. Another quote is “My father, they have killed me!” “Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down”. This is Okonkwo, walking with his clan, afraid of being looked at as weak and so helps kill his son. I also found one that said “He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father.” This is basically saying that men with no titles and who were lazy he didn’t like and in this case he was talking about his father. The quote “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand.” This means that his family was afraid of him and in Okonkwo’s household he ruled by fear. The next quote that I found was “It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” The quote is saying Okonkwo had a great fear of becoming like his father. The sixth quote is “Okonkwo was especially fond of Ezinma. She looked very much like her mother, who was once the village beauty. But his fondness only showed on very rare occasions.” Okonkwo is afraid of showing his emotions, unless they are feelings of anger or aggression because he is afraid people will look at him as weak and so he doesn’t show any affection for his favorite child. The next quote is “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.” Okonkwo didn’t want to be anything like his father, so he lived in a world of the fear of failure his whole life. Another quote is “When did you become a shivering old woman. How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because they added a boy to their number?” This is Okonkwo asking himself, after he helped killed Ikemefuna, how he has become so weak, weak like a woman. The quote that’s next is “We should have killed the white man if you had listened to me.” Okonkwo’s talking to the other people in jail and believed that killing the white man would have shown strength but instead they failed and showed weakness. The last quote I found was “Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead.” Okonkwo always felt that he didn’t want to die and end up failing alone like his father; however, he ended up committing suicide and died alone like his father and he also failed alone.
6. The story that I am reading for non-fiction March has a similar theme. In The
Lost Boy, Dave had a fear of not being able to do anything correct because of how he was treated when he was a young boy. However, instead of having aggression like Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, Dave had the feeling of loneliness and hopelessness. In both books the theme is the same as both characters had to try to overcome their fear of failure throughout life and that there was someone who had contributed to their fear of failure.
5c. Fear of failure does connect with my philosophies about life. I do share fear of failure but I do not express it with anger neither depression nor do I hide it form my friends and family. I feel that if you express it with bad emotions it can ruin your life and the lives around you, as seen in Things Fall Apart. Unlike Okonkwo, I don’t let fear of failure hold me back from trying new things. I think that it’s good to not let fear keep you from experiencing life. When I do have fear of failure I strive to overcome it by trying to do the best I possible can. I believe that you can’t overcome anything unless you try. These are some ideas why Fear of failure connects with my personal ideas.