Okonkwo's Influence On Things Fall Apart

The novel by Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart portrays a very determined leader of the Umuofia clan named Okonkwo. He lives in a culture that seems to be changing in a fast-paced manner right before his eyes. An important and reoccurring theme that I had noticed within the book was the role of customs and traditions. While people outside of the country of Nigeria would not generally accept a few of the things they do, they are perfectly normal in their world. For example, the tradition in which the spirits of the dead must be subdued or when a child should be murdered may bring upon one too many consequences for some people. “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 … it
I can depict this as Nwoye’s own way of showing revenge to his very own father for taking the life of his adoptive brother. While the missionaries spread their message of God throughout this tribe, they seem to have a high influence on Nwoye thus successfully converting his traditional religion. With converting to Christianity, it seems to have grown onto Nwoye every day. A certain hymn that the missionaries mentioned about brothers living in “darkness and fear, ignorant of the love of God” touches him deeply. He also learns from the missionaries’ word what he had never known prior to now, that life being a Christian did not show that their fathers killed their adoptive sons. Knowing this, Nwoye immediately wanted to change sides of religion; he didn’t want to be on the same side of Oknonkwo. He knew that by changing sides would cause Oknonkwo to become furious and that’s exactly what Nwoye aimed to do. Because Nwoye knew that Oknonkwo had killed Ikemefuma he has now resented him and will never forgive him for what he has