The Inflexibility and Hubris of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

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 was popularly called the “Roaring Flame.” As he looked into the log fire he recalled the name. He was a flaming fire.”

The disparity between Okonkwo’s true motivations and his warped motivations lead Okonkwo to behave in ways which shocked other members of Umuofia with his apparent disregard for others, but which made sense to him as he saw weakness and Unoka in alternatives. When Ezeudu, a respected elder in Umuofia, informed Okonkwo that the village Oracle called for the killing of Okonkwo’s adopted son Ikemefuna, he asked Okonkwo not to take part. However, Okonkwo not only accompanied them,

”(114-115) This shows how mad Okonkwo was and how he was signifying himself to a flaming fire. He was outraged by Nwoye’s actions disclaiming him

Fire, the intense feeling that fuels Okonkwo, affects the way he thinks and acts. This symbol is revealed as Okonkwo is constantly harming his family members by beating them and even threatening them. To Okonkwo, fire represents his masculinity, his motivation, and his strength. Without fire, Okonkwo is weak. Although the fire in Okonkwo has brought success and fame for him in the land of Umuofia, it was also an addiction that clouded his mind, which eventually led to his downfall.

Okonkwo’s participation in the slaying of his adopted son, Ikemefuna is a pivotal moment in Things Fall Apart. It is a moment of horror that cannot please Ani, the great earth goddess, the center of community, the ultimate judge of morality for the clan. It is a moment that changes the course of events, a moment eerily paralleled in the death of Ezeudu’s son. It is a moment that ultimately causes Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye’s to abandon his ancestors and become a Christian. It is a moment when the center of community life, the need to honor blood ties and the need to respect the earth goddess, can no longer hold. It is a moment when things fall apart.

During the killing of Ikemefuna Okonkwo's fear of killing his son leads to him “[withdrawing] to the rear”(61). The significant amount of Okonkwo’s inability to appear weak appears when “dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut [Ikemefuna] down”(62). His downfall begins after Ikemefuna’s death as Okonkwo’s is constantly at odds with himself and his guilt, this is Okonkwo's catastrophe. His guilt is only overpowered by his anger of the village adapting as the British envelope Ibo culture. Later in order to abide by custom, Okonkwo during a funeral shoots his gun, and accidentally kills a child of Umuofia.

They say “If a man says yes, his chi says yes.” The Tribesman believes Okonkwo’s chi has blessed him because he has accomplished so much. Okonkwo accompanies a group of men who are going to execute his adopted son, Imekufma, and kills him his self when the other men fail to do so because he

Before all of commotion began, “Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness” (13). After the beginning of the imperialism, Nwoye converted to Christianity, so Okonkwo acted as if he had never known Nwoye as part of his family. It was as if Okonkwo never had a son, even though he worked so diligently on training him to be a good person throughout Nwoye’s childhood. Okonkwo’s reaction and change in identity contributed to Achebe’s overall purpose for writing the

Okonkwo the man of strength, represented by a raging fire has doomed his people. What was once a seething fire is now ash, cold and dark

The brutal and abrupt killing of Ikemefuna quite obviously has large consequences, as well as a major affect on Okonkwo’s life. As the relationship between Okonkwo and

Okonkwo is the beloved leader of the Igbo community of Umuofia in eastern Nigeria. Throughout the book there is a reoccuring theme that Okonkwo doesn’t want to be like his father, Unoka, who Okonkwo found to be weak. Unoka was a person throughout the community of Umuofia who was known to be lazy due to his antics of borrowing people's money and not wanting to work. Instead of using his money on appropriate things Unoka would squandered it not on particularly useful things.

When colonialism takes over and undermines Ibo culture, the events after lead to Okonkwo’s downfall. Using characters and figurative language, Achebe conveys the message that progress leads to the downfall

    A sense of foreboding envelops us from the first. We sense all will not end well for Umuofia. The chill of fear grips us as the world of Okonkwo and his clan truly falls apart. Okonkwo will need all of his power to fight the forces against his world, but tragically he is crippled by the most destructive malady of all, fear of himself. Achebe employs the form of classical Greek tragedy to tell his African tale of the rise and fall of Okonkwo.

Okonkwo is a man whose fame is spread throughout the nine villages as he wins a competition with ‘Amalinze the Cat’. Okonkwo is a man who fears weakness and failure. He hated everything his father, Unoka, did which by the way was being gentle and idle, so he tended to be harsh just to not appear like his father. He, on the other hand, is a very respected warrior and has a great family, but he tends to get too overconfident in his way of thinking and beliefs.