Okonkwo's Suicide

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.

Going back to the novel, we see Okonwo, who is extremely shocked by the twists which take place in his tribe as a cultural revolution. He sees their ancient religion giving its place to Christianity, and their father’s culture and traditions, which his life was based on, fall apart. To make things even worse, his own son turns his back to him. Okonkwo can not stand this as a result he tries to fight against the people who were the creators of this disaster. But as he fails, he commits suicide, preferring to kill himself, rather than let those strangers kill him.

The decision that Okonkwo made when he was younger was that he decided he was not going to be a failure like his father. He got on this as soon as he could and he eventually did some great things, as stated in the book “His fame rested on solid personal achievements, as a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat.” This is how Okonkwo first gets his “fame,” he beat the Cat in a wrestling match and everyone began to realize that this man isn’t at all like his father. The people of the clan began ot thing that maybe Okonkwo had a chance of being someone special. He also did some other great things which earned him titles, which were like

Throughout the novel, we see Okonkwo struggling to deal with the constant changes that take place in his tribe. Before the introduction of the white missionaries, he is known as one of the strongest, most honorable tribesmen many have seen. Affected by his father’s weakness, he works to remove the title that was passed on. His actions and display of strength quickly gains him the respect he desired from the other tribesmen. However this benefit does not fall through later effecting Okonkwo, whom has lived a life of power. When Okonkwo kills the colonial head messenger near the end as an attempt to 'save' his tribe from the influence of the white Christians, no one backs his attempt. Okonkwo, realizing that all is lost for what he once called

Okonkwo has become determined to climb his way back up the social ranks after have been knocked to the bottom. “He was determined that his return should be marked by his people. He would return with a flourish, and regain the seven wasted years. Although this determination took his mind off of things, he still remembered the tragedy of Nwoye. “At first it appeared as if it might prove too great for his spirit. But it was a resilient spirit, and in the end Okonkwo overcame his sorrow. He had five other sons and he would bring them up in the way of the clan (172).” Okonkwo goes as far as to say “Now he is no longer my son or you brother (172).”

In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo was focused on his own opinions and success which lead the people in his village to see him as heartless. He faced many challenges while struggling to be seen as strong and not weak like his father. When Okonkwo is no longer able to deal with the consequences of his violent actions he chooses to commit suicide. In okonkwo's story not dealing with the problem can hurt in the end. The first is focus is Okonkwo killed a white man and he know what was going to happen so he commit suicide by hanging himself.

Okonkwo soon learns about this and confronts his son, Nwoye about his secret meetings, Okonkwo soon becomes enraged and disowns his son after hearing about his experience not before abusing him of course. This action causes an effect which ultimately leads to Okonkwo’s downfall. Okonkwo enraged by the spread of Christianity within his own village self-proclaims war on the “white man”. Okonkwo eventually was detained as a result of his actions towards the “white man”. After he was released from detainment Okonkwo killed a courier and began to truly understand he was a rebel without a cause as his fellow Tribesmen would not help him with his internal struggle. Okonkwo knowing, he would be caught and executed for his crimes, instead decided to ultimately end his own life by hanging himself. Okonkwo’s major downfall in the story was his inability to co-exist with the white man and began his own personal vendetta against the Christian missionaries. Throughout the story the main essential theme Achebe tried to relay to us would be the fact that even though individuals may be of different religions, skin color, and have different personalities there is a realization that

First, Okonkwo starts off as a poor child, as shown when the book states, “Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had, he did not inherit a barn from his father. There was no barn to inherit” showing that Okonkwo and his family were penurious, compared to others in the Igbo tribe (Achebe 16). Eventually, through his hard work and effort, he became a noble leader, which emphasizes his role as a tragic hero. Throughout the story Okonkwo goes through many challenges, but “In the face of futility, however, he maintains his nobility of character”(Gaydosik).

No, because throughout the novel Okonkwo struggles with the changes taking place within the tribe. He tried to remain strong when the missionary took over; however, when the missionary was coming to take him, he killed himself. Okonkwo would rather commit suicide then to be turn in to the missionaries because that would had shown a side of

The idea about free will and fate is still unsolved and debatable throughout the world. Some claim that humans have their own power to create their own destiny, however, others argue that they are inescapable victims of fate. The novel, Things Fall Apart, portrays the relationship between human’s determination to succeed and his or her own fate by describing Okonkwo as a tragic figure. While Okonkwo believes that he can overcome his fate through his hard work, Chinua Achebe reveals that fate is a powerful, inevitable event in the novel.

In the beginning, Okonkwo feared being like his father, he raised his family and built up his life by his self because he did not want to be like his father. “He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had had no patience with his father.” (pg. 1 TFA) the book said. He wasn’t very fond of his dad; his dad did not own much and had a lot of debt with everyone. Okonkwo did not want to grow up like his father; “In his

In this day and age suicide is not an effort usually perceived as manliness. Suicide is an effort to end problems without putting an effort to solve them. In the book Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the character named Okonkwo is obsessed with becoming his own definition of manliness, and prestige; Okonkwo then got fed up and surprisingly committed suicide. Okonkwo’s decision to commit suicide was a cowardly act, because he wanted an easy way out from the ordeal he was going through, he is selfish he rather have his friends and family suffer over him than to suffer himself, and he gave up his hopes and dreams.

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.

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

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.