What Is Okonkwo's Passion In Things Fall Apart

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

“Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure” (Achebe 4). As Okonkwo grows up, he realized his biggest fear and fatal flaw is the fact that he desperately did not want to end up like his father, disrespected and very emotional. Therefore, Okonkwo fears weakness and open shows of emotions, so he contains himself and only shows anger, as he associates it with manliness. He is so scared of becoming his father and changing his ways that he resorts to beating people to show his dominance. “And when she returned he beat her very heavily” (Achebe 19). In this quote, Okonkwo beats his youngest wife, Ojiugo, for not returning soon enough to cook the afternoon meal. Since he decided to act without thought, he beat his wife in the Week of Peace, where no one is to be harmed. This causes a great unrest between Okonkwo and his chi, or his inner spirit, and gradually leads to his downfall of luck and

Okonkwo gains great achievements because he’s always ambitious and works hard. He’s demanding to himself, and he drives people around him to work as hard as he does. Organized household and big family bring him fame and a source of pride. He appears to be a good father and a good husband, but in reality, his excessive requirements are not always appreciated by his eight children and three wives. Okonkwo’s endeavors to his household, farming and family are often just a prove of

Okonkwo, is not a man of thought but rather a man of action. This means that he hardly thinks on what he does before he does it and does not see the consequences of his actions. Okonkwo “ruled his

The decision that Okonkwo made when he was younger was that he decided he was not going to be a failure like his father. He got on this as soon as he could and he eventually did some great things, as stated in the book “His fame rested on solid personal achievements, as a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat.” This is how Okonkwo first gets his “fame,” he beat the Cat in a wrestling match and everyone began to realize that this man isn’t at all like his father. The people of the clan began ot thing that maybe Okonkwo had a chance of being someone special. He also did some other great things which earned him titles, which were like

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

Achebe Says “Okonkwo was deeply grieved”. Now when people aren’t listening to him he gets mad. He wants to prove that he can still contribute to the clan. Okonkwo doesn’t understand how to adapt to the

Okonkwo is a tragic hero who has fatal errors in judgement, shows weakness that leads to a catastrophe. Okonkwo is a tragic hero because he shows strength and power throughout his village. He was a great warrior and “brought honor to his village (pg. 3)” By working hard, and striving to do his best. But Okonkwo struggles with being a hero because “his fame rested on solid personal achievements (pg. 3).”

When the white men come to abame and Okonkwo is frustrated he says “ They [have] been warned that danger [is] ahead. They should [arm] themselves with their guns and their machetes even when they went to market” (Achebe 140). This violent attitude is still with Okonkwo and does not get away from him he is very aggressive and thinks they should have been ready for the white men to come. Okonkwo’s violent tendencies toward his son Nwoye after the news that he is spending time with the missionaries “Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father, suddenly overcome with fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck.” (Achebe 151)

Okonkwo’s fear of becoming weak, leads him to act brutally towards his wives. During the Week of Peace in Umuofian tradition, being peaceful and kind to everyone is important. Okonkwo breaks this sacred rule by beating his youngest wife Ojiugo, because she “did not come early enough to cook the afternoon meal”, Ojiugo had just “gone to plait her hair at her friends house” (Achebe 30-31). By Okonkwo beating his wife, it demonstrates his efforts of showing his power over her, even the village priest thought it was a “great evil to beat her” (32). Luckily, the next time he displayed his power over his wife, she was just “shaken and frightened but quite unhurt” (39).

This is an example of the difference in personal beliefs among family. Some may say that the book is about the differences in beliefs between the Africans and the colonizers, but it is more than that. It is clear that it was Okonkwo's personal beliefs and not necessarily the views of the people of Umuofia which guided him in what he did. One of these is his reliance in the strength of anger. Although he felt strongly in the beliefs and customs of the Ibo people, there are several occasions in which Okonkwo made a decision to disobey the customs in order to live out his own personal beliefs. For example, in chapter four, Okonkwo is yelled at by Ezeani, the priest of the earth goddess, for beating his wife during the sacred week of peace. Okonkwo did not feel remorse for his actions and probably thought of it as a sign of strength and manhood. Okonkwo was always worried about being seen as weak. One good

Okonkwo’s life long goal was to be a man with many tittles and very respected but when he is exiled from his homeland he knows all his work has been washed away. “ As soon as someone left, someone else rose and filled it. The clan was like a lizard, if it lost its tail it soon grew another.” (Achebe 171). Okonkwo always had a hard time looking out of the clans ways of being

Okonkwo’s life revolves around a vicious circle. “He was a man of action, a man of war. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood”. (10) Early on in the novel we are enlightened on how Okonkwo is ashamed of his father Unoka’s weakness and that his goal to be the opposite of him. Spurred by resentment Okonkwo is driven to want to be masculine and powerful and instil these values upon his son.

In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace.(p.25). After this incident, Okonkwo lost much respect from the clan because it was the first time in many years that anyone had committed an nso-ani as Okonkwo did. Okonkwos final violent action caused by his temper was when the messenger for the missionaries proclaimed that the tribal meeting being held must stop. Okonkwo cut the messengers head off, He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew it because they had let the other messengers escape.(.178). Okonkwo did this out of fury and frustration that his tribe was changing so obediently. This was Okonkwos final action because it basically forced him to kill himself or be hung. Okonkwos raging temper was a trait that caused life to be harder for him. It may have made him be seen as a strong, powerful man, but it worked against him at critical times to cause things to fall apart for him.

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