Okonkwo Character Analysis

Okonkwo life is “dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13). When Okonkwo was a boy, his playmates teased him calling, saying that his father was agbala. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was lazy. He did not work on his farm; he died in great debt. He did not acquire a single title. He did not have a barn to pass down to his son. Unoka is a type of man who is scorned in Umofia. He is seen as weak and effeminate. As Okonkwo grows older, he is determined not become a failure like his father. His father was weak; he will be strong. His father was lazy; he will be hard-working. Okonkwo earned his fame by defeating the reigning wrestling champion. Okonkwo diligently plants yam, building a successful farm. He builds himself an obi, has three wives and many children. His fame “rested on solid personal achievements” (Achebe 3). Okonkwo will not let one womanly trait sully his reputation. Therefore, he “hate[d] everything that his father Unoka had loved” (Achebe 13). One of these was gentleness. Okonkwo refuses to show any signs of emotion, except his temper. He

Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected warrior of the Umuofia clan. Umuofia is one of the nine clans that are connected. The village consists of Igbo people in the African country of Nigeria. His fame became solely from personal achievements. Okonkwo was much unlike his father who was poor, a debtor, and basically a failure to his people. When his father died all, he took with him was debts that were never paid. In the village of Umuofia, a man is judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father. Okonkwo had great things planned for his life and wanted to be the nothing like his father whom he was so ashamed of. He had to start from scratch because his father wasn’t able to leave

He is the greatest wrestler in the land and has four wives and a large land size and farm all of this and no thanks to his father Unoka. Growing up his father was poor and gave him no land and no wife and Okonkwo was forced to start his adult life from scratch. Because of his father Okonkwo fears laziness and everything his father enjoyed. “Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness,[...] a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken to title” (Things Fall Apart 12). If he see a sign of laziness in his children a punishment is followed. Because of his father's laziness it motivates him to succeed. This flaw of the fear of weakness and being like his father is one characteristic that makes him a tragic hero. He is a dedicated to the tradition of the Ibo culture and follows the traditions of his culture(reword this). Okonkwo is also ill-tempered he tends to beat his wife's if they do something wrong, once he threaten to get his gun. This can be seen from a statement in the book “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper” (12). Okonkwo can be described as a tragic

Chinua Achebe depicts a head strong warrior, Okonkwo, who holds his beliefs to be self-evident despite the evolution taking place right in front of him in ‘Things Fall Apart’. Since Achebe never clearly paints Okonkwo as purely good or evil, Okonkwo can be viewed as morally ambiguous because his brutal actions come from a place of hurt and he is gung-ho on his culture’s traditions. Moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole because Achebe is communicating all people fight an internal battle between good and evil.

For all of his desire to be strong, Okonkwo is caught up by the constant fear of being perceived as weak. He is afraid of failure and afraid of being considered weak. This fear drives him to do whatever he can to not become a failure like his father which ironically contributes to his death. While Okonkwo was a strong and important figure in his tribe, he had to keep his reputation that way by making some hard decisions. One of them was when he had to kill Ikemefuna, a young boy from the neighboring tribe. Okonkwo started accepting the decision to kill Ikemefuna because he started to call Okonkwo father. He had to keep his own valor intact and kill the boy to prevent himself from showing any weakness, but deep down, Okonkwo was really upset because of what he did which was ironic, “’When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'" (Achebe 65). He continued to roll downhill when the white man comes to try and convert Okonkwo’s tribe. Okonkwo responds by killing one of the messengers that were sent. This cause Okonkwo's own tribe to question his actions. “"Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape.

Okonkwo is initially introduced as a proud, hardworking, successful warrior. He is described as "clearly cut out for great things" (6). But he is the son of a ne'er-do-well father; though genial and inoffensive, Unoka must certainly have been considered a failure. He is lazy and does not provide for his family. Not only is this disgraceful, but life-threatening as well. He is dependent on other members of the clan and must have been considered unsuccessful. Okonkwo chafes under such disgrace and his success is a consequence of his desire to be everything his father is not; society's vision of an exemplar citizen. The fact that Okonkwo is able to rise above his poverty and disgraceful paternity illustrates the Igbo's acceptance of individual free will. But Okonkwo's fate and his disharmony with his chi, family and clan are shown to cause his ultimate disgrace and death.

In the development of Okonkwo’s character, he a hard time coping with the fear of being a failure and weakness and knowing himself although he continue to make bad choices. “The wife who had been beaten murmured something something about guns that never shot. Unfortunately for her, Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun, ra out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. He pressed the trigger and there was loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children. He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn, and there lay the women, very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. He heaved a heavy sigh and went away with the gun.”(Chapter 4,pg.28) Despite, the fact Okonkwo tried to kill his wife at one smart remark, he was in a fury. However, Okonkwo says he doesn’t want to be like his father and have weakness, although beating your wife makes him lesser than a man; weak. I think that beating a woman is weak,especially over a weak point and during “The Week of Peace”. “But his whole life he was dominated by fear,the fear of failure and of weakness”-- “It was the fear of himself,lest he should be found to resemble a father. Even as a little boy he had resembled his father’s failure and weakness.”(Chapter 2,pg.10) When will Okonkwo stop letting his dad leave a mark in his life to bring back old memories and worries? It may hurt him in many ways where he can’t control what he do/say, but it’s time for him to

Throughout Okonkwo’s youth, he had a very troubling life. His father, Unoka, was a failure in every sense of the word. Unoka was a drunk and had an enormous amount of debt to his name that he never paid back. The only things that Okonkwo's father had going for him was his music. He was a tremendous flute player and that's all he really was known for other than being a poor, cowardly

Okonkwo has a tragic flaw, dark downfall, but does not recognize his flaw as the cause of his downfall. This conveys the theme that one’s insecurity will lead to their demise, regardless of their intent. First, Okonkwo’s flaw is his insecurity rooted in his need for masculinity. Okonkwo fears the idea that “he should be found to resemble his father” and was a “man of action, a man of war. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood” (13, 10). Given how Okonkwo’s father was a man of no wealth or status, he was seen as feminine. Refusing to resemble his father, Okonkwo becomes a strong, masculine man. Additionally, Okonkwo’s downfall was the result of multiple events that threaten his masculinity. Okonkwo’s first major offense was killing Ikemefuna out of fear of weakness despite being told to “not bear a hand in his death” (57). Additionally, the crime that forced Okonkwo into exile is when his “gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy’s heart” (124). Furthermore, Okonkwo’s need for power causes him to kill a messenger as his “machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body” (204). As a result of his need to appear masculine, Okonkwo makes one foolish decision after another that culminate to his downfall. His refusal to not kill Ikemefuna was done out of fear of seeming weak, his crime that sent him to exile was deemed

Okonkwo, the strongest man in the village was raised by his father Unoka who is known to be lazy and lacks responsibility. His father was looked

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (FDR). President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said this during his inaugural address to the American people. He said this during the Great Depression, which was a dismal time in America’s history. People were poor, hungry, and most of all afraid. During that dark time some people acted on their fears, and these people committed heinous acts they never would commit if they were not afraid.

Life as a kid was hard for Okonkwo. People would laugh at him and his family because his father Unoka was poor. Unoka and his family would live off money he had borrowed knowing he could never pay it back. "Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. People laughed at him because he was a loafer, and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back." His father was known as agbala, another name for a woman. For these reason okonkwo viewed his father as a coward.

He has barns full of yams, has many wives, and owns many titles. Okonkwo is very industrious and courageous. A lot of his motivation comes from his father Unoka, who was poor and weak. Growing up with such a father, Okonkwo becomes determined to build a reputation of himself that is the exact opposite. This also leads him

Okonkwo adopt a put of ideals that are entirely opposite to those of Unoka in an try to discriminate himself from his sire’s undesirable legacy. Umuofia does not judge an special on his or her forefathers; rather, discernment is base on the actions of the individual. Umuofia’s leniency concede Okonkwo to follow a reform energy, and he in the end effect his goal: “Although Okonkwo was still inexperienced, he was already one of the top man of his period. Age was regard among his kindred, but accomplishment was venerate. As the elders before-mentioned, if a brat washed his work force he could board with kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his custody so he ate with kings and elders” (pg.8). Through perseverance and limit, Okonkwo is efficient to enact himself as one of the “top man of his season.” His character differs fully from that of Unoka; Unoka was recreant, lazy and of insignificant frame. In foil, Okonkwo was the top wrestler in all nine villages, constant in his product ethic, and deference throughout the commonness. Okonkwo is said to have “washed his men” suggestive of the event that he has dissociated himself from the bad name of his sire and has befit a revered member of Umuofia. The endeavor that Okonkwo faces can be categorized as an superficial one, in that it is largely societal affliction which incite Okonkwo.Adichie modify the underlying sense for contention accomplished in

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