Okonkwo's Failure

The protagonist, Okonkwo demonstrates his sympathetic character solely to himself, personally, and infrequently not in the eyes of others. During the plotting of Ilemefuna’s death, Okonkwo was hesitant to make the boy aware of his fate and also hesitant to take part in his death. “‘I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy,’ he

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.

African praise songs often simultaneously praise and criticize the intended person. The same is true of Things Fall Apart. This novel presents both positive and negatives aspects of Okonkwo. Since we tend to see Okonkwo as representing his society, we can say that Things Fall Apart both celebrates and critically appraises the culture whose tensions and contradictions he embodies.

The last decision that Okonkwo made that affected his life and the lives of others was when he killed the messenger during his meeting and later decided to commit suicide. During his meeting, Okonkwo and other men were speaking about a war against the Christians when a messenger sent by the white man went to stop the meeting. Okonkwo quickly took out his machete and killed the messenger hoping that the people of Umuofia would support him, but they did not and let the other messengers escape. From this quote we see that Okonkwo killed the messenger to make a statement against the white invaders and was hoping for the whole clan to support him. Since the clan did not go to war and believing that it was now too late, he commits the ultimate action

fter helping the murder of Ikemefuma. Okonkwo is unable to sleep at night. Although he tried not to think about him, thoughts occurred frequently of Ikemefuma. One time he tried to walk around his room. However, he was so weak he could not carry himself. Despite his tendency to act on impulse, his decision to aid in the murder of his foster son may tarnish the confidence Okonkwo had previously in the story. Okonkwo’s refusal to be seen as weak ultimately had made him weaker as the story

Iguedo (the village Okonkwo inhabits) receives two sacrifices from a neighboring clan, a young man and a virgin, to compensate for the murder of a daughter from Iguedo. Ikemefuna, the young man, stays in Okonkwo’s household, where he indirectly bestows Nwoye with the opportunity to communicate (without fear) with his father. However, when Okonkwo returns to his household after partaking in the murder of the sacrifice, “a vague chill had descended on [Nwoye] and his head had seemed to swell, like a solitary walker at night who passes an evil spirit on the way” (62). The murder of Ikemefuna decimates the chance of Nwoye and Okonkwo having any form of closeness, especially because Nwoye—having grown up and acquired intelligence and insight—senses evil in Okonkwo. Because Okonkwo tenaciously refuses to express his feelings of remorse (to him, masculinity triumphs morality), the damage imposed on their relationship has no way of fixing itself. His self-absorbed mind fails to realize that Nwoye sees him in a different light; Didato elaborates that parents “are often oblivious to the most important signals of

With the help of a boy by the name of Ikemefuna, who is taken to live with Okonkwo as a result of a deal with another clan that is soon turned around. Ikemefuna began “to feel like a member of Okonkwo’s family” and he and Nwoye “had become so deeply attached to each other” due to the fact Ikemefuna seem to know everything (41). With the help of Ikemefuna, Nwoye soon changed into the liking of his father and grew “into a tough young man” (57). Things then take a turn for the worst when the village of Umuofia decides that the fate of Ikemefuna is death. When Nwoye's father got back from walking Ikemefuna “home”, Nwoye already knew what had happened and “something had given way inside him” (Achebe 66). He questioned everything that haunted him, like the “twins crying in the bush (which he questioned ever since he saw twins in a little basket in the forest) and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed”

Things Fall Apart is an example encompasses the life, nature, and traditional culture of Africans. Chinua uses Okonkwo, a fierce and champion fighter, to show how Africans led their life with regards to the way they observed traditions, lived in harmony with each other and worked hard to provide food for their families. For instance, when the gods desire the life of Ikemefuna, the village boy whom the Umuofia village had been given in a debt settlement

Okonkwo’s actions, for example, when he killed Ikemefuna and then the messenger for the Christians, shows the reader that Okonkwo cares more about his image. Ikemefuna was a teen that was taken from his family in a neighboring clan and brought to Umuofia as a sacrifice. “Dazed

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe tells the story of Okonkwo, an African man of great importance in his clan, being forced to face a loss of his titles and prestige in exile, and the arrival of British colonists. Things Fall Apart focuses on a central idea of change and coping with it. In the beginning of the book Okonkwo is established as a character who is very capable of overcoming adversity, as shown by his becoming a man of great titles even though he had a lazy father and started with nothing. All of part one of the book is dedicated to establishing what is normal for Okonkwo and his clan and just how important and high ranking he is. In this part he also faces an important change in his life. He is given a child to look after

Okonkwo achieves respect and high social status through his own heroic efforts despite being left with nothing but the dishonorable reputation of his “lazy and improvident” father. Toiling in the fields, enduring droughts, exhibiting fearless on the battlefield, and fueled by a burning desire to succeed, Okonkwo becomes a hero in Umuofia. Okonkwo’s success stems from his hard-work and perseverance, which he achieves in spite of his father’s shortcomings. He “lay[s] the foundations of a prosperous future” by slowly and painfully working like “one possessed” in order to escape “his father’s contemptible life and shameful death.” Okonkwo, so “possessed” with escaping the lingering reputation of his father, does anything in his power to earn

The main character is so focused on becoming a great man, the opposite image of his father, that he forgets to be a good man. He is an abusive husband, beating his wives unnecessarily. He proves to be a cruel and calculating father, playing favorites with his children, and dismissing them when they displease him. He does everything with a heavy hand, and these methods work for him until they cease to. That day comes when he accidentally kills someone and is banished from the village. But, of course, problems had arisen even before this incident. When Ikemefuna dies, even Okonkwo’s best friend, Obierika warns him against his own clear folly, saying “If I were you I would have stayed at home. What you have done will not please the Earth. It is the kind of action for which the goddess wipes out

Okonkwo’s family have to open their doors to the boy and soon enough Okonkwo becomes fond of him, and the boy looks up to Okonkwo and considers him as a second father. It is eventually pronounced by the Oracle of Umuofia that the boy must be killed. The oldest man in the village, Ezeudu, warns Okonkwo that he should have nothing to do with the murder because it would be like killing his own child. But Okonkwo participates in the murder despite the warning from Ezeudu to avoid seeming weak, and in fact, Okonkwo strikes the killing blow even when Ikemefuna begs him for protection. Okonkwo feels guilty and saddened by this for many days after killing

Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, portrays the significant characteristics of a powerful leader who has yet made some decisions that lead him to his inevitable self- destruction. Okonkwo, the protagonist of the story, ended up losing everything that ever mattered him. He saw no need to keep living an empty life which was once full of joy, wealth, and family. Through his leadership, fear, and exile Okonkwo is portrayed as the stereotypical Tragic Hero.

"Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have- and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up."- James Belasco and Ralph Stayer. In the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the main character, Okonkwo, commits suicide because he cannot cope with the changes taking place within his tribe. His decision came from feeling trapped because he not only feared change, but also failure and weakness.