Chinua Achebe begins "Things Fall Apart  by comparing a young man to his dad whom the young man, Okonkwo, considers weak and cowardly. The book gives one the impression that the dad is a merry person with no sense of responsibility, a description that applies to a good portion of our society today. The book also describes man who is taking the world by the throat, a man who is truly a man. The book, however, doesn't take a stand on which man is better, it, rather, summarizes the dad as a man who lived care free and died happy but a coward by society's standards, and plays on the Okonkwo's life. It describes how the young man, Okonkwo, was driven by the "fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father  (Achebe, 13). He wanted to be a hero in his tribe, someone that would never be linked to his dad. A hero in Umoufia is someone who has the respect of his fellow tribesmen and whose words are heeded in tribal matters. To gain that kind of respect in Umoufia, one has to have several attributes. First and foremost, a man in Umoufia has to be strong both physically and psychologically, there is no place for the weak in Umoufia. As we can see in "Things Fall Apart,  Okonkwo initially gains recognition in his homeland from throwing the cat in wrestling, displaying great physical strength. He also gains respect as the number of people he stalks and kills grow, showing that, in Umoufia, respect is paid to the bravest and most fearless warriors. To be highly regarded in the clan, one must also be of great wealth and must be able to provide his family with everything they need. This was generally focused on having a large harvest, especially yams. A hero in Umoufia is, therefore, by consensus, a strong, fierce, self-sufficient warrior who shows his potency by having several wives and children. Umoufians are a quarrelsome people, they consider actions that feed the natural animalistic testosterone fueled nature of men to be the true acts of heroism. They believe that acts that show bravery, defiance and fearlessness and di