Key quotes and analysis
“Unoka was like that in his last days.
His love of talk had grown with age and sickness. It tried Okonkwo’s patience
beyond words.”(3.36-37)
Analysis:
Unoka became inclusively less to
a role model when he was sick and in his last days. Okwonkwo could not handle
him before because of his regular laziness, but now it was more extreme and it
was ending with his patience. As we know, Okonkwo wasnt a man of words, he
preferred actions, and that was exactly what his father could not give him
especially at this stage of his life.
“Every year,” he [Unoka] said sadly, “before I put any crop in the
earth, I sacrifice a cock to Ani, the owner of all land. It is the law of our
fathers. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku, the god of yams. I clear
the bush and set fire to it when it is dry. I sow the yams when the first rain
has fallen, and stake them when the young tendrils appear…” (3.6)
Analysis:
Unoka was also a man who shared
beliefs within his culture. As you can see he also made animal sacrifices to
the earth goddess when planting crops, as he believed that the harvest was
going to be more successful if he followed those steps. It was also a way Unoka
used to express respect through this ritual to the mother earth and goddess.
Visual representation of your character
(clothing/objects..)
When thinking about the visual
appearence of Unoka, one is able to recognize a thin and tall man with “a
slight stop” that sometimes appeared, as the novel cites "haggard and
mournful . . . except when he was drinking or playing his flute." This character
has a “different” passion tan the other members of the Igbu culture, he is extremely
passionate about music. Unoka finds his greatest joy when he i sable top lay
his flute and perform music for the people that surround him e.g in festivals.
This character’s priorities were focused on living a peaceful life and enjoying
it to the fullest, which he was able to achieve when he had the opportunity of
playing his flute with the village musicians after the harvest. Although he
seemed like a person who’s worries were far from noticed, sometimes one was
able to notice the grief and sadness in his music. Overall, Unoka was
represented as a different individual between the chauvinistic culture that he
was part of, most of the time we could catalogate him as an optimistic dreamer.
Discuss your character and its relationship
with others in the novel
This character plays the role of
Okonkwo’s father in the novel. In comparison of other stories where fathers are
seen as a role model, Okonkwo was actually ashamed of his father since he was a
child. This happened due to the fact
that Unoka used to be irresponsible and lazy in a lot of ways, and although he
was a talented musician, he seemed to reject everything that did not have
anything to do with festivities and leisure. Unoka was never willing to work
hard for his family, which brought them to the close line of starvation and to
many owing debts. All of these actions brought shame upon his family, who could
not find a way of feeling proud of their father or husband. Okonko seems to be
continuesly hunted by the presence of his dead father in everything he does for
his people; he went to bloddy encounters and harvested triple tan the others
just to proof that he was not at a lower level like his father. Despite the
shame he brought to his family, Unoka used to be a loved man, he was gentle and
generally a good person with a unique musical talent, characteristics that made
him more appealing. Unoka believed in the Oracle as his son did, but he did not
follow the oracles instructions and neither did he take its advice.
Discuss character in relation to major events
in the novel
One does not experience Unoka
alive in the novel due to the fact that it starts ten years after his death. Still, one can recognize a prototype of Unoka
along the novel build by actions like he never going to war or becoming a
warrior because of his fear to blood. Characteristics like this throughout the
novel build a less masculine image of Unoka to Okwonko’s eyes as his son. When
Unoka died, he left a big amount of debts due to his laziness and cowordy to
his family and Okwonkwo, who ended up paying them. Once again we can see how
Unoka’s priorities were not the wellbeing of his family. This character died of
illness above ground in the Evil Forest, he suffered from a swelling of stomach
and limbs .
Establish your character within the setting
of the novel
Unoka is very present throughout
the novel, taking into account how his presence is always there following his
son Okonkwo in everything he does for his community. The major fact haunting Okonkwo is the
irresponsibility and lazyness of his father, which he is now trying to reverse
and proof that he is nothing like that. Although one is not able to say that
Unoka had a bad reputation because he was appreciated for other things, one can
recognize that he was indeed irresponsible by never taking the time and effort
to take a title in his life. Due to this, he was never able to gain respect or
higher standards from his community, in fact he was called the loafer of the
village. Instead of helpings his family out whenever he received money for any
effort, he spend it in something of less importance like palm wine. A character
like him showed a contradiction to the typical and traditional Igbo individual;
brave and hard-worker, characteristics that he did not show at any time
throughout the novel.
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