Okonkwo's Anger

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

Okonkwo also tries to show himself as an unsympathetic character to show that he is not a weak man, like his father, Unoka. (Being a weak man is a very degrading quality for the culture of Umofia.) An example of Okonkwo’s unsympathetic personality is Ikemefuna’s death. Although Okonkwo treasured the presence of the adopted buy, Ikemefuna, Okonkwo contributes the last and fatal blow to Ikemefuna, causing him to die in the Evil Forest. Okonkwo, regardless of his love for the boy, killed Ikemefuna ultimately to prove his manliness and strength to the tribe, a valued aspect of the culture. “Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body.” (Achebe 146) Okonkwo is also very unsympathetic in regards to his father, Unoka. Unoka was a poor man who was always in debt; he had an interest in music and enjoyed talking.

Okonkwo’s violent behavior escalate to the point in which he attend to shoot his own wife just because she mumble some words in his back. This doesn’t mean he is a bad person. Later in the chapter is found that he is very fond of his daughter Ezinma, display feelings of love and affection but he consider those emotion as weakness to himself

Okonkwo's fear of being perceived as weak tragically leads to him to be unnecessarily violent and excessively prideful. These two fatal flaws lead to Okonkwo’s own emotional isolation, and his inevitable downfall. Driven by the fear of being seen as weak and emasculated, Okonkwo exhibits hyper masculinity and rage. Although this behavior initially leads to success in the patriarchal society of Umofia, rage is his greatest bane: it masks his compassion and pusillanimity. Onkonkwo’s obsession to never appear feminine is driven to the extreme. He denies affection even to his own family, “never show[ing] any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To [Okonkwo] show[ing] affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.” (pg. 28). Okonkwo whose “whole life [is] dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.” (pg. 13) suppress his compassion in order to appear important and manly. Ironically this creates a stark juxtaposition between his own fear and his position as an alpha male. Rather than being masculine and courageous, Okonkwo just creates tension within his family and within himself. The pinnacle of this extreme hypermasculinity is when Okonkwo ignores the wisdom of the elder Ezeudu, and violently kills his “son” Ikamafuna: “As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete, Okonkwo looked away. He had heard Ikamafuna cry “My father, they have killed me!”

Okonkwo showed great interest in Ikemefuna and treated him like his son. However, Ikemefuna was boy from another village sacrificed to keep peace, thus soon there came a time when Ikemefuna had to die. The narrator shows that Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna, The pot fell and broke in the sand. He heard Ikemefuna cry, My father, they have killed me! as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak. (Chapter 7 Pg. 61) Although Okonkwo loved Ikemefuna and had much affection for him, Okonkwo was forced to leave all of his emotions behind in order to kill Ikemefuna and not be seen as a weak man who could not kill another man. Okonkwo showed no mercy as he was blinded by his fear of his fathers submissive attitude. Oknokwo had to protect his status as a true warrior in his clan and if he was not able to slay Ikemefuna, then Okonkwo fears that he might be called an agbala just like Unoka, Okonkwos father. This quote also shows that Oknokwo is willing to sacrifice virtually everything in order to keep his high rank among his tribe.

First, Okonkwo is a controlling gentlemen. He wants to be nothing like his father, him and his father are very different. During the week of peace Okonkwo beats his wife. He beats his wife up because she was braiding her hair instead of

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.

He believed that his father’s actions were feminine and therefore worked hard to become a warrior. Along with not wanting to appear feminine, Okonkwo does not think his actions through. When Ikemefuna was brought into Okonkwo’s family, he accepted him and the two became very close. But after three years Ikemefuna was sentenced to death and Okonkwo was sent out with him. As the man raised up his machete Ikemefuna run to Okonkwo, “My father, they have killed me!” as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak”(Achebe 61). In this split second Okonkwo lets his emotions and fears of appearing weak win and did not allow himself time to think. Achebe utilizes Okonkwo to display the principle of cause and effect. Okonkwo is very proactive and does things on a whim. By doing so he makes hasty decisions that will be regretted in the long run. Okonkwo’s suicide was caused by a hasty decision and the responses of the tribesman. “He heard voices asking: “Why did he do it?”(Achebe

When Ikemefuna came to Umuofia, Okonkwo “became very fond of the boy- inwardly of course… He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else- with the heavy hand. But there was no doubt that he liked the boy” (24). This establishes that Okonkwo loves Ikemefuna but because he wants to look strong and demonstrate power he shows little to no emotion of love towards him. Correspondingly, when Ikemefuna is facing his death, he runs to Okonkwo asking for help. As this happens Okonkwo, acting on impulse, slays Ikemefuna with his machete. Okonkwo try’s to act like he does not have affection for Ikemefuna, but the reader sees the reality when, after Ikemefuna’s death, “Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days…He drank palm-wine from morning till night…[and] did not sleep at night” (55). In other words, Okonkwo is mourning over the loss of Ikemefuna and. Though this is the case a close reader might see that Okonkwo’s impulse of killing Ikemefuna was because he wanted to seem strong but the evidence shows the reality of his emotion. One might conclude that Okonkwo can be loving and compassionate, but because of his need to look masculine his relationship with Ikemefuna is

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

Okonkwo's violence in this novel says a lot about his character. The acts of violence keep the story interesting and also aid the development of the theme. There have been numerous occasions of violence that clue us, the readers, what kind of man Okonkwo is as well as how their culture is. Not only do these acts make this story one worth discussing, it makes it one worth reading.

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,

Things begin to fall apart when Okonkwo kills a young man and is exiled for seven years. Throughout the seven years, Okonkwo thinks only of his return to Umuofia and how he will rebuild his fame and fortune and how much he must have been misssed by his people. Upon his return,

In a time of need, Okonkwo decides to improve his exterior image, instead of being the true father that Ikemefuna thought he was. A true father would have put his son before anything else and would have tried to keep Ikemefuna out of such a fatal situation. Lastly, Achebe states, “Obierika, who had been gazing steadily at his friend’s dangling body, turned suddenly to the District Commisioner and said ferociously: ‘That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself’” (208). Okonkwo knows his clan won’t go to war and he does not want to continue to be a part of such a weak clan. Though his life’s purpose was to be nothing like his father, he is viewed as even weaker than Unoka. Since, suicide is “an abomination for a man to take his own life” (207). Through Okonkwo’s actions, the theme is clearly highlighted.

Ikemefuna, a boy given to Okonkwo by a neighboring tribe, became very close to Okonkwo's son. Okonkwo too becomes very fond of Ikemefuna, who calls him “father” and is a perfect clansman, but Okonkwo does not demonstrate his affection because he fears that doing so would make him look weak. One day Ikemefuna was ordered to be killed and okonkwo and another man the boy out and the man started killing Ikemefuna: “He heard Ikemefuna cry, "My father, they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (pg 61). Okonkwo's personality not only leads him to suicide but even leads him to brutally murder a child that has been living with him. The words “cut him down” really describe how merciless Okonkwo was when it came to not being weak. One other thing that should be put in consideration is that Okonkwo was traveling with a random stranger and although he did not know him he still decided he did not want to look weak in front of him. This quote is linked with how Okonkwo fell because it shows how far he will push himself and with this level of dedication comes comes huge punishments if he fails. Okonkwo’s son Nwoye starts going to a christian church where he is taught by white men about christianity. Okonkwo is furious about this and discusses it with his family: "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. If any one of you prefers to be a woman, let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him. If you turn against me when I am dead I will visit you and break your neck” (pg 172) Okonkwo has no respect for his son’s decisions at all. He is so embarrassed that one of his own sons decided to learn a different religion apart from