Okonkwo, Things Fall Apart

Free From His Blemishes
A Nigerian tribal hero is a man who has achieved a well-known victory and who is highly respected among his people. The book, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe tries to be sensitive with the traditions and culture of an Ibo village, Umuofia. Okonkwo, a man who has captured fame with the act of wrestling, received the title of a hero. Okonkwo fears his lifestyle would become the idle and improvident custom like his father, Unoka. “Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with Kings and elders.” As Okonkwo raises a family with many wives and a plentiful of children, he also grows flaws of his own that gives his son, Nwoye, a reason to question the culture of the tribe altogether. Both the hands of Okonkwo and Nwoye are eventually unsullied, only for Okonkwo’s to become drenched with pure dirt in the end.
Along with most of the villagers, Okonkwo is a man who does not stray from the traditions of his culture. A man who possesses a wealthy amount of yams, women and power is typical. But, Okonkwo’s eyes are pierced when they see the images of his father’s grave. The vivid memories believe Unoka was a failure. Okonkwo committed his life, to avoid the debt of his father’s grave. Okonkwo’s hatred of Unoka’s flaws, the inability to pay off his debt, leads himself to hate his entire father. Unoka did not acquire the will to earn the most yams, women and power. Instead, he loved the sight of pure nature, obtained the love for music and could not bear the sight of war. But, Okonkwo and the rest of Umuofia, who thought of him as a nuisance to life, blinded themselves to the whole good Unoka actually possessed. Furthermore, avoiding what he believes is weak and conforms into a man who is narrow minded and over prideful. To this day, hopefully we can question Okonkwo’s motive of washing his hands of his father. Just because an individual carries germs, does not mean they are all erroneous. There are germs that weaken the body and many that are vital to ones survival. Ultimately, washing the hands of Unoka’s flaws also perishes the pleasant qualities Okonkwo desperately needed in order to survive.
Nwoye, the son of Okonkwo, is immediately penalized because he is unlike Okonkwo and more like his father. Nwoye wandered the grounds of Umuofia with more emotion and sympathy than most men of the tribe. Ikemefuma, the adopted son from beyond, fills the void for Nwoye and Okonkwo who were both searching for a companion. But, with the unjust murder of Ikemefuma contributed by Okonkwo, Nwoye began to summarize all of the unjust situations of the Ibo tribe. Nwoye was a glitch to Okonkwo because he was different from him and many others. Okonkwo’s fear of not knowing of what would become of Nwoye extensively leads him to let go of his son emotionally. Not only did Okonkwo release the hold, Nwoye began to resent his father altogether. Nwoye, different from the Ibo tribe, has a mind that questions the traditions of his tribe. Eventually, the missionaries became a threat to Umuofia, but not to Nwoye. Indeed, he seeks his comfort with Christianity and indulges his time and humanity with the missionaries. Clearly, Nwoye washed the hands of his father. But, to wander away from the comfort of their culture is thought as a colossal defect to the society. Okonkwo’s inability to accept the difference of his son Nwoye initially, leads to a much larger change to his village altogether. The fault of Okonkwo’s failure to expand the fabric of his culture leads to a fatal termination.
Okonkwo is a tragic hero. He was oblivious to all the flaws that followed closely in his shadow. He saw his father as a failure, in the end, Okonkwo becomes the failure. Sadly, his life consisted of fear, in which he would become weak like is father. But in the end, all of his weaknesses sink deep into the roots of the tree that Okonkwo hangs dead upon.