Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel full of individuals, within a tribe, as they deal with the often tragic and disappointing events of their lives. Okonkwo, the protagonist, and his son, Nwoye, are two such individuals who must learn to cope with these difficulties and pains. The murder of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo's adopted son, is a crucial event in Things Fall Apart and the use of repression by both Okonkwo and Nwoye gives us a better understanding of Okonkwo's characterization through the desperate desire for masculinity and of Nwoye through his desire. to alienate his father and their tribe. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Okonkwo constantly felt an unconscious fear of failure and weakness resulting from the anxiety of becoming like his father Unoka. One of the first things we learn about Okonkwo is that “he had no patience with men who were unsuccessful. He had no patience with his father” (Achebe 4). His father, “Unoka… was a failure. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat” (Achebe 5). As Okonkwo grew up, he wanted nothing more than to be successful and masculine, the complete opposite of his father. “His whole life was dominated by fear, by fear of failure and weakness…and so Okonkwo was governed by one passion: to hate all that his father Unoka had loved” (Achebe 10). According to Peter Barry, “All of Freud's work depends on the notion of the unconscious, which is the part of the mind beyond consciousness that nevertheless has a strong influence on our actions” (Barry 96). Despite the fact that Okonkwo is not consciously aware that all of his actions stem from the fear of becoming like his father, these fears drive him in his ongoing quest for confirmation of his masculinity. Related to this idea of ​​the unconscious is that of repression, “which is the 'forgetting' or ignoring of unresolved conflicts... or traumatic events from the past, so that they are forced out of conscious awareness and into the realm of the unconscious” (Barry 97). ). The unresolved conflict Okonkwo has with his father, as well as the trauma and humiliation of growing up in poverty with an effeminate father, have taken a toll on Okonkwo's psyche, and we can see the effects throughout the novel. Okonkwo was particularly struck by Ikemefuna's presence within the tribe. Ikemefuna is a young man from a nearby tribe who is sent to live in Umuofia and then cared for by Okonkwo. He lives with them for three years and becomes an integral part of their family and community. “He was by nature a very lively boy and gradually became popular in Okonkwo's family, especially among the children. Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, who was two years younger, became inseparable from him because he seemed to know everything... Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless Okonkwo was particularly affected by Ikemefuna's presence within the tribe. Ikemefuna is a young man from a nearby tribe who is sent to live in Umuofia and then cared for by Okonkwo. He lives with them for three years and becomes an integral part of their family and community. “He was by nature a very lively boy and gradually became popular in Okonkwo's family, especially among the children. Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, who was two years younger, became inseparable from him because he seemed to know everything... Okonkwo never openly showed any emotion, unless it was the emotion of anger. Showing affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength” (Achebe 18). Ikemefuna comes to represent the kind of son Okonkwo would like to have, a younger version of himselfbecause she sees many masculine traits in him that would make him strong and powerful. However, at the same time, he also possesses some traits that are reminiscent of his Okonkwoko father, Unoka. Both Unoka and Ikemefuna “had an endless supply of folk tales” (Achebe 20). Ikemefuna's fusion of traits that can be seen as masculine and feminine make him the ideal character, someone who Okonkwo, subconsciously, wishes to be like. After three years the tribe decides to kill Ikemefuna. Okonkwo is warned by an elder in Umuofia that he should not join in the killing because Ikemefuna saw him as a father. However, when the moment comes and Ikemefuna is struck, he cries out, which prompts Okonkwo "stunned with fear, [to draw out] his match and strike him down" (Achebe 38). F. Abiola Irele states that “We are told that he is 'stunned' by fear at the time of the boy's appeal, but it is fear that has been fostered in his unreflective mind by the image of his father...Indeed, for the fact that Okonkwo to be reminded again of his father's image by Ikemefuna's artistic gifts and lively temperament is to be pushed into a violent act of repression” (Irele 471). This can also be considered sublimation, another theory belonging to Freud. The repression of his feelings towards his father and those who are more feminine, pushed him to sublimate his feelings by going to the opposite extreme, acting with intense masculinity instead of seeking balance. This desire for masculinity is an important part of Okonkwo's characterization. Ikemefuna's murder not only allows us to see more into Okonkwo's character, but also into the character of his son, Nwoye and his desire to separate from his father and son. their tribe. F. Abiola Irele states that “the killing of Ikemefuna represents a crucial episode in the novel not only as a reflection of Okonkwo's disturbed mental state but in its resonance throughout the novel as a result of its effect on his son, Nwoye. It marks the beginning of the boy's disaffection with his father and, ultimately, his alienation from the community that Okonkwo has come to represent for him... Ikemefuna has come to embody for Nwoye the poetry of tribal society, which is erased for him for always by young people. the ritual killing of the boy, an unnatural act in which the father participates” (Irele 471). The killing of Ikemefuna marks a sudden change in his life for Nwoye. In the novel it is described that “something seemed to give way within him, like the breaking of a bow” (Achebe 38). As Irele says, this is the moment when Nwoye began to distance himself further and further from his father and the culture that he believed condoned the murder of a boy he considered an older brother. Without Ikemefuna's example, Okonkwo sees Nwoye as weak and effeminate. He tells his friend Obierika, “I tried my best to make Nwoye a man, but there is too much of his mother in him” (Achebe 40). Both Okonkwo and Obierika then recognize that he has too much of his grandfather in him. This is another reminder to Okonkwo of his father, who to him is the embodiment of weakness and failure. This leads to both repression and sublimation on the part of Okonkwo and Nwoye. When white Christian missionaries enter the tribe and begin converting people, Nwoye is one who joins them. This essentially becomes an act of sublimation and rebellion for Nwoye, a way to turn his back on his father and the culture that betrayed him when it sanctioned Ikemefuna's death. His repression essentially distances him from the culture he has known all his life and he sublimates it by joining a group completely opposite to what his father values. As part of his Christian conversion he changes his name to Isaac. Irele states that “the particular name that.