Paper 2 Okonkwo

Children often inherit their values from their parents. Explore to what extent this is true of Okonkwo.

Throughout things fall apart, characters are motivated by the fear of becoming anything like his father, hence they resent anything that resembles their fathers’ values. Chinua Achebe from the beginning of the story creates a flashback to introduce the reader to Okonkwo’s father. Through the imagery of the flashback, and diction of words such as laziness and debt. The reader is given the impression that the Igbo people viewed Okonkwo’s father as a failure. In a culture where work and titles would move you further in life, Okonkwo’s father had nothing. As such Okonkwo given nothing by his father was determined to become everything his father wasn’t, in order to prevail in his society that was devoted to the Igbo culture. Resulting in him resenting anything that his father stood for and valued in his life. Throughout the entirety of the book Okonkwo is consumed in his love of excessive masculinity and resents anything that he deems similar to his father or feminine. This is seen in the abuse of his wives throughout the story including the week of peace and the killing of his adopted son Ikenefuna in order to uphold his masculine principles. Additionally, Achebe metaphorically compares Okonkwo to the raging fire, which is symbolic of masculinity, strength, and power, but it also destructive and violent as well.  This shows how Okonkwo goes to great lengths to maintain his masculine principles, defying everything his father was. Though this extreme masculinity would be Okonkwo’s hamartia, which would lead to his eventual suicide. Ironically dying in an abdominal way like his father did. What is also ironic is the relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye. Okonkwo throughout the book has immense tension with his son, as Nwoye is represents more feminine attributes than he does masculine. Through this inner conflict in Nwoye he opposes his father and the culture he represents, joining Christianity as it is more adherent to Nwoye. Okonkwo realizes this was in due to fault of his forceful values he placed onto Nwoye in the quote “living fire begets cold incompetent ash”. Nwoye has abandoned the values in which his father espouses. In contextual terms abandoning a culture he deemed as unjust for one he sees as justifying the flaws he sees in the Igbo culture. Such as coming to terms with what his father did to his brother Ikenefuna. In Chinua Achebe’s Things fall apart, characters are motivated by the fear of becoming anything like their father, hence they resent anything that resembles their fathers’ values. Okonkwo strives to revolve his entire life around masculinity, resenting anything feminine which reminds him of his father. Similarly, Nwoye resent the violence and ruthlessness that his father displayed top him and his family.

Okonkwo Character Analysis

Okonkwo being the protagonist of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, holds large significance throughout the story. Achebe begins the book by introducing Okonkwo as a strong, well-earned man in Umoafia, and immediately introducing us to his lazy father and how his incompetence drove Okonkwo to the man he is. Achebe does this to immediately create the tragic flaw of Okonkwo, the fear of being anything like his father. From this the reader can see that Okonkwo represents masculinity, everything his father wasn’t Throughout the story we see that this through Okonkwo representing everything masculine and resenting anything that is related to his father or I his terms feminine. Similarly, throughout the story Okonkwo is stated to be like the “roaring fire”, which is seen as being symbolic of everything masculine. It is apparent that Okonkwo is the embodiment of masculinity throughout the entire story without any shift to his character until his tragic ending. The purpose of this significance was for Achebe to use the tragic hero archetype on Okonkwo, in order to get across an important message to the reader. Okonkwo’s extreme masculinity is present throughout the entirety of the story by Achebe. The reader is constantly shown how Okonkwo attempts to uphold his principles of masculinity throughout his life. He beats his wives to assert his dominance over them, he kills the adopted son he loved in order to show he was still the masculine man everyone saw him as, He beat and disowned his son for being too weak and feminine, and lastly he killed the Christian messenger. Achebe purposely makes these actions by Okonkwo brutal, so that as naturally from the point of view of the reader, we almost resent Okonkwo having a negative perspective of him in general. This links to his overall downfall, as in keeping his masculine principle his eventual actions causes him to hang himself to avoid the imminent consequences that he would face for upholding those principles, exemplifying the irony of Okonkwo dying a death like the man he resented the most, his father. The message Achebe intends to get across is the dangers of hyper masculinity and how holding onto flawed principles or any principles without the fluidity to change will destroy a person. The other significance Okonkwo has in the story is his representation of the Igbo culture and people throughout the story. Okonkwo is a representation of a man who is devoted to his culture’s values and practices. Throughout the story we can see the values and believes of the Igbo people through Okonkwo. The purpose of this being Achebe’s way of exploring the strengths and flaws that the Igbo culture has. Throughout the story Achebe is exploring and coming to terms with his dual identity of being part of the Igbo and Christian culture. As a result, he uses Okonkwo to explore the Igbo culture, while also expressing the conflict between the Igbo and Christian through Okonkwo’s interactions with the missionaries. The Igbo culture through Okonkwo is presented with strengths of being a heavily collective society, having remembrance of their ancestors and history, and most importantly a civilized culture. On the contrary through Okonkwo Achebe highlights the flaws in the Igbo culture, such as: The treatment of Igbo women, the killing of twins, the over importance of titles, and the killing/sacrifices of the innocent. Achebe is able to successfully explore the Igbo culture in way that lays out the strengths and flaws without outwardly criticizing it, but rather leaving it for the reader to make their judgement. Overall this connects to the overall ideas of religion and culture throughout things fall apart.

Key Moments of Things Fall Apart

Okonkwo kills himself

Okonkwo killing himself is one of the most significant parts of the story. It shows the downfall of a character who was over obsessed with masculinity. As throughout the story Okonkwo is seen as hating anything that resembles feminism and only allowing Masculinity into his character. Also, it shows how Okonkwo and symbolically the rest of Umuofia have lost the external conflict against the European Colonizers. As with Okonkwo dying, we see that the Igbo culture is presumed to have been conquered. Tying into two of the themes of the book of colonization and masculinity. Lastly it demonstrates the extent of the effects of colonization on Africans, showing the severity on the context in which the book was written in. For these reasons I believe that this is the most significant event in the book.

Ikemefuna is killed by Okonkwo

This moment outlines the theme of masculinity in Okonkwo. It shows how the character of Okonkwo has killed a boy whom he loved as his son, just to show his fellow townsmen that he has his masculinity still intact. As Ikemefuna was the son Okonkwo always wanted, obedient and masculine, something he never got from any of his own children. As such, it shows the reader the inner conflict that Okonkwo experiences regarding his masculinity. Lastly it comments on the Igbo tradition and how it has its flaws. Throughout the story we see Achebe comparing both Igbo culture and Christianity and showing the flaws in both of them. Clearly the event of killing an innocent boy shows one of the flaws the Igbo culture had

Nwoye joins the Christian community

This moment serves to ignite Okonkwo’s outer conflict against missionaries and colonization. As prior to part two of the book, the readers and Okonkwo only hear rumors regarding the “white man”. As such his son turning to join the Christians is a realization of the present situation for Okonkwo. In response he associates the missionaries to the thing he hates most softness as his son has now joined them. Additionally, it begins to establish the theme of colonization and the conflict between the two cultures. As we begin to see the Igbo culture and Christianity clash with one another.