“Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. At any rate, that was how it looked to his father, and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth.
Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in his household. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. His own hut, or obi, stood immediately behind the only gate in the red walls. Each of his three wives had her own hut, which together formed a half moon behind the obi. The barn was built against one end of the red walls, and long stacks of yam stood out prosperously in it. At the opposite end of the compound was a shed for the goats, and each wife built a small attachment to her hut for the hens. Near the barn was a small house, the "medicine house" or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal god and of his ancestral spirits. He worshipped them with sacrifices of kola nut, food and palm-wine, and offered prayers to them on behalf of himself, his three wives and eight children” (16-17).
Okonkwo is strong; therefore he fears weakness – this “anxiety” was caused by his father whom would always run away from fights and gamble away all his money leaving little food to supply his family. Because of this, Okonkwo hates weakness and because he finds Nwoye his twelve year old son to be lazy and weak, he’ll beat him indefinitely in order to make him stronger. Nagging and beating is Okonkwo’s way of making his family strong, he obviously has great wealth and power. With wealth and power, no one is going to stand against him because of fear. Notice how he has multiple wives, a common practice back in the day, however, his wife isn’t going to against him for beating their son because she can’t – if she does, she’ll be beat in return. This action demonstrates the high hierarchy where the head of the family is the husband. Since Okonkwo is the manifestation of strength, his family will also need to demonstrate this or his status will be looked down upon amongst the other 12 tribes that are interconnected. As a result, he plans to make Nwoye powerful. Nwoye is a symbol of Okonkwo’s father – who Okonkwo hates with a passion – Nwoye, who shows feminine traits clearly does not want to become like his father – a tyrant. Although, if he doesn’t, he’ll be repeatedly beaten and disowned causing his mother whom he loves to be in a terrible situation; thus he’s trapped in this cycle of remaining himself or a struggling conflict of following his father’s footstep.
Hierarchy is a classic example of inequality. The men in the family are higher up in which the women depend on them for money and basic survival. Even the sons who are supposed to have power as well when they take over the family are treated with disrespect because power engulfs everything. Okonkwo is an example of power and thus he brings forth inequality – for both genders. He sees Nwoye as weak because he shows no interest to become like him. As a result, he’ll beat him until Nwoye realizes that he has to become like his father – Nwoye is his eldest son; so he wants him to become strong. In reality, you can’t force someone to become like you – they want to create their own life, their own destiny, and their own path. Everyone is different in the world and has different views, trying to create a clone of yourself isn’t exactly a great idea. Inequality, is treating someone has inferior; but the important notice is that Okonkwo is beating his own son, who doesn’t want to become like his father; but rather like his grandfather. No matter how hard Nwoye tries, his father will always see him as inferior because he’s worthless to Okonkwo’s family if he continues to remain weak. In other words, he’s not the right candidate of being heir, but since the tradition of eldest son takes over remains, Okonkwo will continuously beat Nwoye until he becomes strong; however, what will this powerless cause Nwoye to do? Inequality will continue to cause problems as it’s basically a struggle between groups of people – one group discriminates against another just because their views, actions, religion, skin color, etc. are all different from their own views.
An example of hierarchy and inequality still remains in the Indian caste system, although it’s now as definite as it was hundreds of years ago. Each group who has little wealth are not allowed to marry, associate, be seen with, befriend, or live amongst those who are higher in the caste system. Although it’s now abolished, a reminiscent of it is still being used today; though not as bad. However, people are still being mistreated in India because of lower status.
In current day society, there are still parents who expect their children to become what they want. The high achievement is becoming a doctor or lawyer. However, their child doesn’t necessarily want to study these professions. It’s important that if you don’t like your job and what you do for a living, even if it provides wealth and status – that doesn’t mean anything, you have to like what you do or you’ll just be bored and tired of it in a matter of days. The child doesn’t want to upset their parents by simply disagreeing; but they’re not creating their own identity. This is a form of inequality because the child will be forced to either anger their parents or ruin their own path in life – demonstrating powerless – they’re parents nurtured them; thus they wouldn’t want to go against them.
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