Theme Of Fear In Things Fall Apart

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In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, fear plays a huge role throughout the main character Okonkwo’s life. Journalist Dorothy Thompson said “the most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness.” This statement has never be more true than it is when applied to Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo’s entire life is controlled by his fear, he is afraid of being a failure, afraid of looking weak, and afraid of letting down his clan. This fear dictates many of his actions and is a driving factor towards his eventual downfall. Okonkwo tries to manage his fear of failure in several different ways. One way he does this is by pouring everything he has into working hard and making a name for himself. He is deathly …show more content…

He commits many horrible acts not because he wants to, but because he is afraid of what others might think of him if he doesn 't. Although Okonkwo is extremely fond of his adopted son Ikemefuna, he does not even hesitate to brutally “cut him down” because he is “afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Once again this depicts how his fear makes him act impulsively and irrationally. He does not even think before he viciously murders someone he loves. Just like what Dorothy Thompson said, Okonkwo 's fear more often than not turns to anger at others. Okonkwo governs his house “with a heavy hand” and can commonly be seen beating his wife and children because he is insecure and “dominated by fear” (Achebe 13). He does not know what else to do so he hits his family members to try and assert his dominance and to prove to others that he is strong. The fear of weakness “lay[s] deep within [him]” and is another one of the multiple factors leading to his untimely end (Achebe 13). Okonkwo kills the christian messenger out of anger and fear towards the church. He acts impulsively because he is afraid being made to look weak like he was the last time he stood up to the Christians. After Okonkwo murders this man he finally reaches the conclusion that he is alone in his war like thoughts. In Okonkwo’s eyes Umuofia has become weak and he can not stand that thought. His fear and weaknesses that have been …show more content…

Okonkwo has seen first hand what it is like to be weak and lazy and knows what the clan thinks of men like that. Idle men who sit around and do not live up to the clans expectations are called “agbala” or women which is a huge insult in their culture which values masculinity greatly (Achebe 13). Extremely early on his life Okonkwo does everything he can to become a valued member in Umuofia. He works his very hardest so that he will be seen as a masculine figure that the clan will be proud of and will look up to. All throughout his life Okonkwo focuses on being accepted by others instead of doing things that make himself happy. Often times his fear of not being accepted causes him to make bad decisions while trying to impress others. When Okonkwo is dancing and shooting off his gun attempting to impress his clan members, he accidentally fires off his gun killing a boy. This results in his exile. When Okonkwo is banished he believes that his life is over. One of the things that he fears the most has come to pass and Okonkwo is almost unable to deal with it. Up until this point he has been driven by his passion to “become one of the lords of the clan” and now he is lost without that drive. (Achebe 131). The only thing that keeps him from ending his life right then is the drive to come back and regain his old title. After killing the messenger at the end of the novel, it is

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