Okonkwo's Violence

In order to not become like his father, Okonkwo consciously strives to be prosperous, violent, resourceful, unable to show “soft” emotion, and denies music orientation. “And no Okonkwo was ruled by one passion—to hate everything that his

Okonkwo thinks he is the owner of his household and he shows no mercy to anyone who angers him. “He ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives…lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness.” (Achebe, Chapter 2, p.8). Okonkwo beats his children and wives because of his temper which is influenced by the Igbo society; he puts on a hard exterior because he is afraid of being weak and unsuccessful. At one point, he attempts to kill his second wife with a gun because he thinks she is the cause of a tree’s death. In order to prove his power and strength, without thinking of the consequences, Okonkwo beats his youngest wife during the week of peace - a week when the village celebrates peace and who ever disrupts the peace will be punished by Ala, the earth goddess (Lycos, online). “His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for the fear of a goddess.” (Achebe, Chapter 4, p.21). Okonkwo lives in a male dominant society where men are pressured to be strong and successful; because of these influences, Okonkwo develops an inner

Okonkwo, the tragic hero in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, is tormented by his fear of weakness. He allows this fear to overtake him and manipulate all of his actions. Fear of weakness is known for being the driving force that keeps us alive, but in Achebe’s novel this trait tends to lead more towards destruction. Okonkwo occasionally beats his wives. Typically, it ends up being a short-lived burst of anger that helps him clear his mind of the rage he experiences.

In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, the character Okonkwo drives and develops the story through his violence. Okonkwo is a complex person, characterized by his violence and reputation. But how impactful is his persona? Okonkwo is a bottle of soda, shaken, ready to explode at any moment, looking for any means to empty. This is evident in the instance of when he beat his second wife ekwefi for something that was not even true, “‘Who killed this tree?

Okonkwo’s merciless violence gave him the appearance of being impenetrable. His brutality in the book categorized him as emotionless and callous. His drive to become greater than his father meant he cared only about himself and his own success. Okonkwo beat his own son, Nwoye, for fear he was growing lazy like

All of Okonkwo behavior is stemmed from the desire to be the polar opposite of his father. Okonkwo becomes a monomaniac of the male stereotype. He never shows any emotion, other than anger, he is severely hard on his children, constantly threatens death by his hand to his wives, is so strong that he overtook the Cat, and is one of the wealthiest men in the village (1-31). The fear of being anything like his father fuels Okonkwo’s hard work throughout his entire

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

These factors ultimately led to deep moral dissonance within Okonkwo, as he realized that everything that he has ever lived for or strived for is now futile in this new, upcoming era in time. Even though Okonkwo has shaped his own life to avoid any imitation of his father’s life, in the end, he embodied the thing he feared the most,

Okonkwo was brutal among his family members to show them he was not weak. “Whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists” (Achebe 43). In order to look strong and powerful, Okonkwo decides to kill Ikemefuna and beat his wives. This not only destroys his relationships with Nywoe and his wives, it affects his own mental health. His impetuous and vicious acts draw him to kill a court messenger during a clan meeting which brings Okonkwo to soon find his tragic

According to Achebe, the main character detested his father at a very young age, “Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala.”(28) The Igbo tribe in Things Fall Apart uses the term an “agbala” which is used to describe “woman”. Okonkwo considered his father to be weak, effeminate, poor, disgraceful, and always in debt to his fellow tribes people. Okonkwo’s life revolves around the deep fear of becoming a failure and adopting the image of his father. Due to this self rooted perception of failure there are indications that he tries to rise above his father’s legacy.

Culture is not an excuse for domestic violence. In the novel, “Things Fall Apart,” by Chinua Achebe, the character, Okonkwo, deserves no sympathy whatsoever. From beating his wife and kids, to making a fool out of every man in the village who crosses his path, he simply does not give the reader the excuse to understand the actions he makes. Okonkwo should not be pitied upon, he is a brutal man due to his father.

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.

As stated in Chapter Two on pages 13 to 14, Okonkwo ruled his household with a hand so heavy that his entire family lives in perpetual fear of his fiery temper and impatience. Okonkwo is a very rash person and, when in a fit of rage, does not think about the consequences of his actions, which inadvertently leads him to his own downfall. In committing these actions, it is not ludicrous to believe that Okonkwo will later receive consequences due to the immorality of these actions.

Okonkwo was known for his valor in war and his victory against Amalinze the Cat, Okonkwo believed that masculinity can only be shown through his violent action, in order to express his power, he often hit his wives and children, even during the Week of Peace. Nothing seemed to be able to stop him from being violent, because nice or caring personality is considered as weak or feminine. First case was when Ojiugo left without feeding her kid, and such action to Okonkwo was Ojiugo not doing her duty as stated “‘Did she ask you to feed then before she went?’ ‘Yes,’ lied Nwoye’s mother, trying to minimize Ojiugo’s thoughtlessness. Okonkwo knew she was not speaking the truth. He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo’s return. And when she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace” (Achebe 29). The word “beat heavily” implies that Okonkwo did not just beat Ojiugo, instead, it is in the form of domestic violence, the

Chinua Achebe unfolds a variety of interesting connections between characters in the Novel Things Fall Apart. Relationships with parents, children and inner self are faced differently, however the attitude that Okonkwo gave them determined what kind of outcome he generated from these relations. Okonkwo looks at everything through his violent and manly perspective and is afraid to show his real feelings because he thinks that he may be thought out as weak and feminine this paranoid attitude lead him to self-destruction.