Hussein Onyango Obama Character Analysis

Onyango was Barack’s grandfather, a Kenyan man of the Luo people. Most remember him as an exacting, mean, and difficult man—he carried heavy wooden sticks with which to hit any misbehaving people, adults and children alike. He also kept two machetes, each with its own name, sharpened at all times. Born in 1895, Onyango was the first in the family to adopt Western ways of dressing and working. His father, Obama, disowned him for this. Onyango worked for white colonizers in various capacities, served in the first World War, and eventually learned Western farming techniques, which made him a renowned and admired farmer. He had several wives, including Granny, and was considered both a good husband (in that he stayed married to his wife Helima, who couldn’t have children) and a difficult one (he had impossibly high standards that many wives weren’t able to meet; many returned to their birth families). A man who wanted what he wanted and wouldn’t take no for an answer, Onyango took a woman named Akumu as his second wife, despite the fact that she was already promised to another man. Akumu became the Old Man and Sarah’s biological mother, although after many attempts, she succeeded in running away from her husband. Throughout the Old Man’s childhood, Onyango encouraged his son to be the best in school while ignoring Sarah’s desire to receive an education; he didn’t believe in educating women. He consistently shamed the Old Man for any mistakes, real or imagined, that the Old Man made. This led the Old Man to be secretive and unwilling to ask his father for help. Onyango kept this up to the end and never got to know his son. Auma suspects that the family’s troubles started with Onyango, since Onyango was the only person the Old Man feared.