Why Do You Think Okonkwo Killed Himself

“To show affection was a sign of weakness” (Achebe 28). Some of his actions were out of his control but the murders he committed were his own choice and apparently his reputation and ego meant more to him than mercy and human decency. “People who want to feel better about themselves make decisions that meet their needs”. All of the decisions he made like beating his wife, killing Ikemefuna, the missionary and accidently Ezeudu’s son decided his fate, the way the tribe ended up was Okonkwo’s view of a tragedy. The village did not want to go to war with the missionaries that religiously destroyed their clan so Okonkwo became miserable with life. He could not believe that the villagers were okay with the new religion being forced upon them so he decided to take his fate into his own hands and take his own life so he does not have to face what tragedy is to him; his clan failing and falling into the enemy's arms. Okonkwo could not bear the burden of this mental and emotional pain his failing village caused

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

He forced his family to adapt with him, and although it was bad at first, the move helped me change into the man I am today, a Christian. If Okonkwo hadn’t killed anyone, he may have stopped me from learning Christian ways in our village. Also, even though the religion still came to our village, he used all of his power to try to stop

The destruction of Okonkwo was revealed slowly throughout the books. He started to make some poor decisions, which became the beginning of his downfall. He killed Ikemefuna just because he didn’t want to be thought weak. He made unwise decisions to only appear to be strong and manly to others in the village. He did not realize how he lost so much from living that way. When, Okonkwo kills Ogbuefi Ezedu’s son, the real tragedy begins. Other tragic heroes usually have a steadier downfall, but Okonkwo had a direct fall in society due to this event. This puts his family into exile for seven years. After a short period of time, white missionaries arrive to Umuofia. When “The

Okonkwo ended up in exile due to his behavior as a consequence during this time he refused to get intoned with a more feminine characteristics because to him that was not the way things were and views his ancestor’s way of doing things as wrong. Okonkwo tries his masculine leadership once more by trying to start a war until he realizes that villagers are not standing behind him in his idea to go to war. Soon after the District Commissioners find Okonkwo dead in his compound, he had committed suicide by hanging himself, which is one of the biggest sins of them

Prompt five, Argue who is/ are the most admirable and/ or despicable character(s) in the novel and why.

“He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. And now he was going to take the Idemili title, the third highest in the land” (12). Okonkwo was a successful man in his culture and lands far beyond Umuofia. He was prideful of what he had accomplished from a very young age, his culture meant everything to him as he had made his way to the top. He had everything he ever needed, the honor, he was a warrior, and he had made it to the top from absolutely nothing that his own father did for him. Sadly, towards the end of the book, Okonkwo had broken clan rules on purpose and killed himself. “Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead.” (Achebe 207). In this quote, it explains that Okonkwo had hung himself on the tree killing himself even though it went against everything he believed in; bravery, customs, and masculinity. Okonkwo’s personal pride was his response to the cultural collision because he was to stubborn to change his culture. He had shown resistance but also went against the clan rules. Okonkwo’s response to the colonizers shapes the meaning of the work as a whole by his suicide signifying things falling apart since it was the first time he purposely had broken the clan law. This shows that he had been struggling with any type of change in the book and finally he couldn’t adapt to any change. He was a

Okonkwo lost himself after losing everything he had. He didn’t have a real enough sense of self to adapt to all the changes that hit him like a whirlwind.

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.

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.

Still unable to accept and adapt to the change he encounters, Okonkwo uses a method of violence by killing the messenger from the Christians and at last kills himself. Okonkwo’s suicide marks that he finally meets his fate. He stands for his power, strength, and masculinity and has great pride for his achievement. After realizing that he cannot conquer his chi and escape from miserable events, he gives up his life by

Okonkwo is a prideful man who does not like admitting when he is in the wrong, because he is like this he decided he would take his fate into his own hands. Okonkwo was so upset that he killed himself. He thought that by killing himself, he would control his own destiny instead of letting the Europeans control him. “I will never let a white cheeked man control my life.” (Achebe 96). This is ironic, because suicide in the Ibo tribe is known as sin, and is a cowardly way to die. Okonkwo's life ambition was to prove himself as a man and to show the clan and tribe members that he was nothing like his “lazy feminine father” (Achebe 18) but when he killed himself nothing that he did his whole life really mattered,

Okonkwo’s story portrays the major differences between African culture and the idea that the Western society had on the African culture. Okonkwo is native to the Umuofia tribe and represented this oversized human being who with holds no emotion. All this makes Okonkwo seem very unrelatable and unfriendly, but this is what makes his relationships with the characters in the book so entertaining. For example, Okonkwo had a very negative connection with his father that affected him so much that it brought him to the point where it changed his life and is also the reason why he is so strict with his kids. With the introduction of these missionaries into the tribe, it completely changed the way the tribe acted and ended up bringing Okonkwo to a point where he had to pay the ultimate price. It was all because they couldn’t get along.

     This accidental death is just one of many crushing incidences Okonkwo has to deal with. He serves out his seven years as he is supposed to, with grand ideas of his return to his village. When the seven years are up Okonkwo does not necessarily return in triumph. Though his daughters are beautiful and worthy of marriage to a king, he is unable to immediately induct his sons into the group that he wishes.

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.