Fear In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.” Many people believed that Okonkwo was such a cruel man because of the wall that he put up. This affected his family because he still continued to act tough with his wives and most of his kids, there was only one of his children that saw his soft side and that was Emzina, his daughter. He also thought a lot about one of the people he killed, which showed that he wasn’t the tough guy that everybody thought he was, but no matter what he refused to show any signs of weakness to avoid being like his

Okonkwo becomes furious, kills a messenger, and then commits suicide in order to avoid being captured by the white men. Okonkwo cannot accept the evangelists, as they have made him lose his power and control over the community and his son. The change in Okonkwo’s life is negative as it makes Okonkwo desperately look for solutions, although there are none. His internal struggle with change leads him to kill another human and himself out of inability to do

All Okonkwo ever wanted was to be better than his father. Not to prove to himself that he was better, but to prove it to the other villagers. As a way to achieve this, he hardened himself at young age and took lead role in his homelife. Okonkwo was never complacent until Ikemefuna came only. Okonkwo had plenty of children, but none of them to ever be just right. Nwoye reminded him too much Unoka and put the fear of repetition in his heart and Enzima was perfect, she knew Okonkwo like the back of her hand but she was of course, a female. Ikemefuna took up the son role.

Furthermore, Okonkwo’s fear of being weak and resembling his father, forces him to act without compassion, and he suffers the “loss” of his son, Nwoye. Like Unoka, Nwoye is effeminate and sensitive. After Ikemefuna dies, Nwoye notices that he feels the same as when he saw twin babies left to die in the Evil Forest, “Then something had given way inside him [Nwoye]” (62). Nwoye is an innocent child who is baffled by the cruel rituals of his clan. He loses respect for Okonkwo and the traditions of his clan. He is unable to forgive his father for killing his adopted brother and unable to forgive his clan for allowing Okonkwo to do so. When the missionaries come to Umuofia Nwoye is intrigued by Christianity, a better way of life, where he feels relief. Strict and inflexible, Okonkwo is angered by Nwoye when he finds out that he converted to Christianity, because Nwoye abandoned their ancestors and he thinks the missionaries are effeminate. Later, Okonkwo tells his five other sons of Nwoye: “You have all seen the great abomination of your brother. Now he is no longer my son or your brother. I will only have a son who is a man, who will hold his head up among my people” (172). Okonkwo disowns his eldest son, Nwoye, because he betrays the clan. Okonkwo’s inability to be compassionate and understanding, drives Nwoye away, and he loses his eldest son.

Okonkwo strives all of his life to become a stronger, more powerful, and a successful individual. He wants to do this because his father was a slack and lazy person who lived most of his life in debt and had no titles to his name. People often looked at his father as a women figure for the few achievements he redeemed. Okonkwo never wanted to be like his father and it eventually got to the point where he became fearful of becoming like him. Achebe uses the power of fear as a theme of to show how much it can devastate one’s

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.

Fear could appeal to many aspects such as fear of one’s self, fear of another being, or fear of failure. Even the most ruthless and short-tempered characters contain a fear. Okonkwo’s fear, though he may seem unbreakable, is losing the opportunity to become leader of his tribe by being seen as weak or unmasculine. Okonkwo’s tribe is sent a boy, Ikemefuna, as redemption after a woman from Okonkwo’s tribe is killed in Ikemefuna’s village. Ikemefuna is given to Okonkwo to live so the elders of the tribe determine what to do with their new addition to the tribe. Okonkwo takes Ikemefuna in and trains him like he would his own son, harshly and unsympathetic. Gradually, Okonkwo begins to like Ikemefuna and grow fond of him once Ikemefuna becomes closer to Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye, while exploiting a masculine effect on his adoptive brother. It comes time for Ikemefuna’s fate to unravel and Okonkwo learns that the boy will be killed. Fear of showing emotion, Okonkwo, while disobeying a friend, follows the tribe into the forest and kills Ikemefuna. Okonkwo is shattered on the inside, yet chooses to hide these emotions for fear of showing weakness. When Okonkwo hides these emotions, “he would use his fists” to relinquish his anger (Achebe 4). The resentment and grief of killing Ikemefuna drives Okonkwo to do inhumane things like killing a clansman which results in Okonkwo’s exile from the

After Ikemefuna’s murder ”My father, they have killed me!” …” Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.” (61). Okonkwo was scared to be weak, it seems like he associates weakness with felinity. Nwoye becomes closed and understands that he is forever changed. When the missionaries arrive Nwoye joins their side and converts into Christianity. Okonkwo hates that he has a rather feminine son and disowns him. Finally in the end Nwoye gains peace and forgets about his father’s terrible and violent atmosphere.

To begin, Okonkwo is shown to be a self made, well respected member of the Umuofia clan. Though, he seems stern, most of his life is dictated with fear. For example,the passage states “ And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death.”(Achebe,18/1). This helps the reader understand that Okonkwo faces many challenges in life to prove to his village and the people themselves that he is nothing like his father, Unoka and is haunted by the fact that one day he will become a man whom he promised he will never become. The passage states “ Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.”(Achebe,61/1). This helps the reader understand the reason why

First, Achebe reveals that Okonkwo's fear goes deeper than his fear of weakness or failure. Achebe states, “Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father” (Achebe 13). Okonkwo focuses on not becoming a man who doesn’t have a title (agbala) like his father. This leads him to failure; he compares his success towards his father’s failures. He makes the wrong choices in his life. For example, the death of Ikemefuna (the boy he allowed to stay in his home), a boy who he treats like a son and Ikemefuna thinks of him as a father. Okonkwo kills him, because he is afraid of  other’s thinking that he is weak. This ties into the fear of not being similar to his father because he is able to kill someone that made a positive impact on his

One of the main causes of Okonkwo’s downfall is his fear of being like his father, who was weak and considered a failure. Okonkwo is told that Ikemefuna,

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, takes place in Umofia, consisting of a group of villages on the lower Niger. Okonkwo’s tribe is named the Igbo. The Igbo tribe is a strong and mighty clan. They have great skills in war and have a good population with strong traditions. However, though they may be a strong and mighty clan, fear plays a huge part in their lives. Fear is shown all throughout Things Fall Apart in a negative way and leads to some of the character’s downfall; whether it is fear in a single person’s life or the clan all together, one can easily identify the fear these characters have.

In chapter two, the author describes Okonkwo as a man who is viewed by the villagers as someone with no fear and isn’t afraid of anything but little do they know that Okonkwo’s whole life is full of fear. For example, “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear

Fear played a big role in Things Fall Apart. Mainly fear was seen ruling Okonkwo’s life, but also a couple of the other inhabitants of Umuofia. It was seen in many situations dictating the characters’ actions. Each of the character’s actions then led up to the understanding of the theme in Things Fall Apart, fear can dictate choices.

Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was the opposite person that Okonkwo wants to be. He was poor, only had one wife, had no titles, and hated fighting. By being born into Unoka's home Okonkwo had to start completely from scratch: “Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young