Things Fall Apart Critical Lens

In the novel, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is a sympathetic character and unsympathetic character in regards to his family relationships with his adopted son, Ikemefuna, his daughter, Ezima, and his father, Unoka, as a result of he appears to genuinely care about his family; but, the pride within himself prevents his expression of such pride and concern openly.

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.

Okonkwo’s Acts of Violence In the novel, “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, many themes of violence are displayed. One being that violence, whether it is intentional or not, can have consequences. One instance this theme is shown is when Okonkwo murders Ikemefuna- who he considers a son.

Okonkwo had grown to love Ikemefuna, but in the end he could not choose to be weak. Ibo tradition states that men are warriors and that there are certain prices to be paid. Tradition did not account for Okonkwo’s love. Love was a weakness for men, they were meant to be stoic and strong. Throughout the murder of Ikemefuna Okonkwo has an inner struggle between choosing to breakaway from what is expected of him and save the boy or what is the tradition of the Ibo culture (61).

Okonkwo, as presented by Chinua Achebe in the novel Things Fall Apart, wished to be revered by all as a man of great wealth, power and control--the antithesis of his father. Okonkwo was driven by the need to exhibit utmost control over himself and others; he was an obsessive and insecure man.

Okonkwo cutting down Ikemefuna is the beginning of his downfall and the turning point in his course of events. Ikemefuna is a sacrifice from the neighboring clan, Mbaino, for killing a woman in Umuofia. He’s been living with Okonkwo’s family for three years and Okonkwo is very fond of Ikemefuna despite never showing any affection towards him or anyone else. He treats him as his own son and favors him more than his biological son, Nwoye. Okonkwo adores Ikemefuna because of his manly characteristics.

Oberika tells Okonkwo that nothing good will come from participating in the killing of Ikemefuna. Oberika warns him that “what [he] have done will not please the Earth [and] this is the kind of action for which the goddess wipes out whole families” (67). Despite being warned by a friend to not participate in the killing, Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna, a boy that called him father, to show his dedication to the Ibo tribe and to prove a point that he is nothing like his father. Almost instantly after killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo felt grief. Okonkwo didn’t eat for 2 days and had restless nights trying not to think about Ikemefuna.

as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak,” (Achebe, chapter 7). His fear of looking weak in this scenario relates to the upsetting father-son relationship that Okonkwo experienced with his dad Unoka, a village coward. Okonkwo quickly decided that killing ikemefuna himself would boost his reputation as a strong leader in the tribe.

However, in Okonkwo’s circumstances his reasons for killing Ikemefuna were self centered and he had no good reasoning behind his actions. With having such a high title within his tribe, Okonkwo felt as if he was superior to all people. During their Peace Week, Okonkwo’s actions were not justified by the Ibo tribe when he killed the young boy at the funeral of the boy's father.

These stories lead him to be strong outside, but weak in the inside. For example, when Ikemefuna cry out “ My father, they killed me” as he ran toward him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.”(61) . He loves Ikemefuna as his son, but was scared and in fear of being thought as weak, he ended up killing Ikemefuna. The story of weakness took control of his action.

This change in perspective develops the theme in the way of respect and reputation. Okonkwo was a respected man who only wanted to have a better reputation than his “weak” father did. However, his violent means of showing “strength” only made people resent him. When Okonkwo was told of Ikemefuna’s fate, he still decided to participate to not show weakness. In the end it was him who violently killed Ikemefuna causing his son Nwoye to resent him, to lose respect for him.

In the novel, Okonkwo was the epitome of manliness because of his athletic prowess and his position of power within the clan, emphasized on page 26 of Achebe’s work, “ “He was talking about Okonkwo, who had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of the clan”.

Okonkwo shows many judgmental weaknesses. The clan demanded for Ikemefuna to be killed so when it was time, “...Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him

Okonkwo is strong and scruff on the surface and wants to be viewed in such a manner as a person, but to the reader Achebe uncovers Okonkwo’s more friendly side and begs the reader to understand, sympathize, and relate with Okonkwo as he is not as harsh as he first comes across. Okonkwo portrays constant anger in order to show strength. He works as hard as he can to maintain a steely mask. Achebe states, “Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy--- inwardly of course.” (Achebe 28) In that line the author shows that Okonkwo does have love and care for others in order to relate him to the reader. Of course he immediately states that it is “inward” emotion in order to clear up the fact that Okonkwo will not drop his emotionless disguise. Okonkwo is also connected and made less rough through his religious belief.

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