How Does Okonkwo In Things Fall Apart

Okonkwo Character Analysis
Madison Stewart
Blue 2

To help you, my dear clan, learn the importance of not letting your personal flaws be the reason for your downfall, I must tell you about our former clansman, Okonkwo. I watched as his weaknesses and pride brought him down to the point of suicide, which is the escape of cowards. He killed himself because he felt like he had nothing left to live for. Instead of facing a new, changed life in Umuofia, he escaped by taking his own. Before his downward spiral, Okonkwo was known as a self-determined and hard-working man who worked hard to earn many titles amongst our clan. Listen as I explain Okonkwo’s character.
Okonkwo’s father was Unoka, who was loved by all amongst the clan. “He was tall
Okonkwo thought of Ikemefuna as the perfect son. Okonkwo liked that his biological son Nwoye and Ikemefuna were getting along because he was afraid of Nwoye’s lack of manliness. Okonkwo felt that Nwoye hanging around Ikemefuna would make him more of a man. Trouble arose when the Oracle in his village decided that Ikemefuna had to die because he was interfering with Okonkwo and his oldest son, Nwoye’s, relationship. Okonkwo was warned in advanced not to participate in the killing of Ikemefuna, but he did anyway because he was afraid of what the other men in the tribe would think of him if he didn’t participate. Okonkwo was too worried that he would be viewed as weak. His pride drove him to help kill a boy he loved as a son and this greatly harmed his relationship with Nwoye. Okonkwo was also too worried about Nwoye becoming “womanly” like his father, Unoka, and he didn’t realize how he was hurting his family with his violent and stubborn nature. Later on there was an instance when Okonkwo’s carelessness leads him to accidently kill a woman from our village. The custom in our village is to exile a man for seven years for such a crime and therefore Okonkwo went to his mother’s village, Mbanta. “As the elders said, if one finger brought oil it soiled the others”
When Okonkwo came back to Umuofia he expected his wealth to place him in the same circumstances as before his exile. “The clan had undergone such profound change during his exile that it was barley recognizable” (150). You see, the missionaries had come into the church and attracted many of our people to it. This changed our clan remarkable with all the new people. “He knew that he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan” (140). In addition to the new religion that is to this day so different and odd to us, they built a government. In his pride, Okonkwo figured that he could go to war with the new white people, but this turned out to be harder than he expected. Once he went to war he kept being defeated and eventually Okonkwo’s anger got the best of him and he actually killed another man. “It was useless. Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body” (168). Okonkwo felt worthless, like his life meant nothing any more. Instead of facing the new changes in his clan, he went the cowardly way out through suicide. This man of our clan who had worked hard to become great in order to overcome the shame from his childhood and who had built wealth in our village allowed his pride to be his