Okonkwo, the protagonist of things fall apart, had garnered respect for himself because of his warrior like qualities. He belonged to a lower Nigerian tribe that belongs to a nine membered villages. Okonkwo had a sense of hatred towards his father Unoka because he never had a good harvest and left Okonkwo and his family in debts and that is the reason Okonkwo disregarded laziness. He had a son called Nwoye, who he considered to be lazy and so he would beat and nag him constantly. The communities residing in Okonkwo’s village had a very particular way of living their life. Typically, the rights of women were suppressed and men had a greater control. The emphasis put on the wrestling matches shows the importance of physical strength in the …show more content…
Hence, when he died, he had achieved no title plus he was in severe debt. The debt was passed down to his son, Okonkwo. The piling up of debt has made Okonkwo into a stoic human. He believed that showing emotions would make him weak, a characteristic he blindly associated with femininity. He was always violent and used to act without thinking, which was against the Igbo culture because they believed in peaceful solution and thinking before doing something. He had a bad temper and often nagged his wives. He thinks his behavior is reflective of …show more content…
Okonkwo chases him away by giving him violent threats. To his surprise, not many take any noticeable interest in his return and he is disappointed to see the change in his once warlike clan. Mr Brown had actually emphasized that kids be sent to school since he knew the consequences of language barrier. But when Mr Brown was replaced by Reverend Smith, who is absolutely in-tolerant, lack of communication between the clan and Smith led to the converts becoming over zealous. Okonkwo had always dreamt of returning back to his village but the church had changed so much that he did not get the attention he had dreamt of getting. His violent desires take over and him and several villagers including Okonkwo were sent to the prison. When they were released, Okonkwo actually thought that the colonization was coming to an end, but only to his disappointment. A revolt like feeling rises in the crowd against the missionaries but not the kind that Okonkwo had hoped for. The villagers allowed the messengers to go and thus concluded the meeting.
Realizing that his clan would not go to war, Okonkwo takes his life by hanging himself to a tree. Committing suicide is considered as a grave sin in Igbo culture and no one was allowed to touch his body as they considered his body to be a bad spirit now and it was believed that only strangers could touch it. The way he chose to end his life was contrary to his belief
When the messengers come in and are prohibiting a meeting of the Umuofia people and their leaders, it breaks Okonkwo. “‘ The white man whose power you know too well has ordered this meeting to stop.’” (Achebe 204) The power had been taken from the village and when the people that toolkit tried to to force the power they to Okonkwo could not take it any more.After Okonkwo had killed the messenger he know that it was over and no one would help. “Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead.” (Achebe 207) His village was full brave people, but everyone in now afraid of the white man. The only person that tried to stop it acted up, but no one followed him and gave up on everything. Because of outside forces pushing in, the village fell apart, but it was not from the outside forces it was the people on the inside not pushing back.
Things Fall Apart chronicles the rise and fall of Okonkwo in the village of Umofia, Nigeria. The struggle between change and tradition is spurred by the arrival of Christian missionaries. With the Christian missionaries are followed by British colonizers. This new political and religious order will upset Okonkwo's social order. He works extremely hard throughout his life to achieve his status and be a better man than his father, Unoka. However, like his father he doesn't completely fit into the community. ...
When the missionaries arrive in Umuofia, Okonkwo’s conflict between fighting back and adjust to the changing society becomes even more extreme. Throughout the book, when Okonkwo feels like he has power, he desires more control and leadership over his community. For instance, Achebe writes, “Even in his first year in exile he had begun to plan for his return. The first thing he would do would be to rebuild his compound on a more magnificent scale. He would build a bigger barn than he had had before and he would build huts for two new wives. Then he would show his wealth by initiating his sons into the ozo society. Only the really great man in the clan were able to do this. Okonkwo saw clearly the high esteem in which he would ...
Okonkwo’s fear leads him to treat members of his family harshly, in particular his son, Nwoye. Okonkwo often wonders how he, a man of great strength and work ethic, could have had a son who was “degenerate and effeminate” (133). Okonkwo thought that, "No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man" (45).
Okonkwo’s determination to succeed in life and to not fail leads to his fatal downfall in the end of the novel. His inability to adapt to colonization and his failure to follow the morals of many of the morals of the Ibo culture also are an important key leading to his downfall. Okonkwo was willing to go to war against the missionaries, with or without the clan. He made it clear that he believed the missionaries were in the wrong for trying to change Umuofia. Since the clan wanted no part in the war with the missionaries, Okonkwo took action into his own hands and murdered the head messenger. During the killing of the messenger, Okonkwo had a moment of realization: “He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action” (Achebe 205). Okonkwo finally understands that he doesn’t have support from his fellow clansmen anymore and he feels as if he loses his place in society. Instead of backing up Okonkwo and his decision to murder the messenger, the clan stood in both confusion and disorder and questioned, “ ‘Why did [Okonkwo] do it?’ ” (Achebe 205). Okonkwo’s impulsiveness causes the clansmen to question Okonkwo’s violent actions against the messenger. Throughout the entire novel, Okonkwo struggles to accept the missionaries and the changes that they
Okonkwo is not all that he may seem; as there is more than what meets the eye. Okonkwo is the primary protagonist within the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo is a cruel yet kind man who has everything yet has nothing, which in turn creates a sympathetic character. A character such as Okonkwo has many facets; or masks if you will. Then we have his many influences: the Ibo culture; his father Unoka and of course his own personality. Then there is a staggering list of achievements. Okonkwo is a strong character but thinks only inwardly - especially towards his father - which will be discussed further in this essay.
Okonkwo is depicted in the story to be a very strong and fearless man, ruling his household with a firm hand. He stifles any emotion that would make him seem weak or like a woman. He shows little affection toward his children and his wives.
Is Okonkwo a tragic hero? To answer that question one must start by defining the term 'tragic hero' first introduced by Aristotle. Aristotle defined a tragic hero simply as being a character fulfilling three different requirements. The character must be larger than life, and must have a high social standing. The character must also have ordinary human qualities, and must have a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall. In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, all these characteristics are found in Okonkwo of Umuofia.
In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is portrayed as a respected and determined individual whose fatal flaw eventually works against him. Throughout the novel the readers are shown that Okonkwo has many of these Characteristics because he is obsessed with the idea of becoming just like his father. This becomes his flaw in the novel that puts him into exile and makes it hard for him to adjust to the changes that were made with in his village.
The character of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was driven by fear, a fear of change and losing his self-worth. He needed the village of Umuofia, his home, to remain untouched by time and progress because its system and structure were the measures by which he assigned worth and meaning in his own life. Okonkwo required this external order because of his childhood and a strained relationship with his father, which was also the root of his fears and subsequent drive for success. When the structure of Umuofia changed, as happens in society, Okonkwo was unable to adapt his methods of self-evaluation and ways of functioning in the world; the life he was determined to live could not survive a new environment and collapsed around him.
Okonkwo had dreams, some of his dreams were fulfilled while others weren’t. Okonkwo's dreams were to be successful and better than his father which happened because he was one of the greatest, well known and respected men in the tribe of Umuofia. His other dream was for his son Nwoye to be just like him which didn’t happen since Nwoye was not happy with the way he was being treated and he went and joined the white men church in spite of his father.
Okonkwo is one of the most powerful men in the Ibo tribe. In his tribe, he is both feared and honored. This is evident by this quote, "Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on the solid personal achievements. He brought honor to his tribe by throwing Amalinze the Cat" ( Achebe 3). This suggests that in Okonkwo's tribe, making a name for yourself in any way possible, even if that means fighting and wrestling to get your fame attains power. Okonkwo wanted to be one of the highest leaders in the tribe, and was willing to do anything in order to achieve that goal. He loved his tribe, and they defined him.
Through most of the novel, Okonkwo, his family, and the villagers all experience this struggle. As the missionaries continue to live in the Evil Forest, they repeatedly gain village converts as a result of the Igbo beliefs constantly being proven inaccurate. Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye converts because of confusion in what his people believe, and Okonkwo changes drastically as a person because of the missionaries’ arrival and actions. There are many themes evident throughout Things Fall Apart, but one of the most prominent is the struggle between change and tradition, in the sense that some people change, but others don’t; that clearly takes a toll on
...village. The damage was done before the British even arrived. His society was complacent to change, content to surrender its traditions to a different culture. In killing the messenger at the end of the novel, Okonkwo was looking to save the culture that had fell apart long before that moment. And like his culture before him, he fell apart when no one else resisted. Whether or not he had hanged himself, under British rule, he would have still been dead.
Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, uses the changes in African tribal culture brought about by European colonization to illustrate the evolution of the character Okonkwo. As Okonkwo leads his life, his experiences, personality and thought are revealed to the reader. The obstacles he faces in life are made numerous as time progresses. Okonkwo's most significant challenge originates within himself. He also encounters problems not only when in opposition to the white culture, but in his own culture, as he becomes frustrated with tribal ideals that conflict with his own. The last adversary he encounters is of the physical world, brought upon himself by his emotional and cultural problems. The manner through which Okonkwo addresses his adversaries in Things Fall Apart creates the mechanism that leads to his eventual destruction.