TFA+Essay+(EDITED)

Jonathan Layne Honors English November 6, 2009

Things Fall Apart: Okonkwo’s Manliness

//Things Fall Apart// by Chinua Achebe is set in the late 19th century, near and during the coming of the “white man” to Nigeria. The novel has much to show about the disharmony between the white colonies and the traditional culture of the Igbo people. Nonetheless, the book is more about a man’s rise to great prestige, which in the end led to his inevitable downfall. This character’s name is Okonkwo. His unfortunate fate is because of his obsession with masculinity. This is essentially due to the fact that his father was looked upon as a failure; he was a musician with no titles and only one wife in a society that exalted manliness, wrestling, and polygamy. The effeminate reputation of his father drove Okonkwo to embrace the values of manliness, though this desire led him to be haunted by great fear.

Moreover, one of Okonkwo's weaknesses was portrayed through his narrow-minded definition of masculinity. To Okonkwo, any kind of softness and affection was seen as a sign of weakness and femininity. There are men in the book with a more mature understanding of masculinity but Okonkwo was too ignorant to think carefully of his actions. His misconceived view of a powerful man was the primary drive of his actions. Consumed by this force, he was unwilling to accept the changes in his relationships resulting from his fading ability to control others. He wouldn’t accept that if he lost control over his wives and children, he’d be an average person instead of revered man.

For instance, this controlling attitude can be seen in chapter four during the Week of Peace when Okonkwo beats one of his wives, Ojiugo, because she went out to braid her hair without cooking dinner. This is exemplary of his fear because he doesn’t know any other ways to maintain control in a relationship without force. Consequently, he is punished for breaking the peace of the week by having to pay a fine and sacrifice two of his animals. Bad things always seem to follow when someone is involuntarily acted upon by Okonkwo.

Again, we can see this when he chooses to kill his son, Ikemefuna, in order to not look weak. It’s from this event that results in his weakness; he chose to kill his son based on the principles of Igbo culture and not his own compassion. Not only is he overcome with depression, but has spoiled his relationship with Nwoye because he was very fond of Ikemefuna. Nwoye’s confusion over this and lack of fatherly guidance led him to convert to Christianity (Okonkwo is not amused by this). This is a prime example of his inner conflict and the unfortunate events that follow.

By the same token, towards the end of the novel Okonkwo and his fellow clans men hold the meeting to wage war against the colonel rule in Umuofia. During the meeting they are asked to disperse by the commissioner ’ s messengers. At the site of the messengers Okonkwo goes into a fit of rage and kills one of them with his machete and leaves. He was later found hung on tree.

Okonkwo ’ s death was definitely something he brought upon himself. His death is mainly attributed to his various character flaws such as pride, masculinity and fear of weakness. He was so fearful that felt the need to kill the white messenger to not look weak in front of his clansmen. Then due to his pride he killed himself to be remembered as a brave man who took his own life instead of letting the colonialists take it instead.

In essence, Okonkwo tried to epitomize this deranged interpretation of masculinity. He was able to earn the reputation as a wealthy and strong man in society but in the end, his pride led him to arrogance, ignorance, and unfortunate suicide.

__Work Cited__

Achebe, Chinua. __Things Fall Apart__. New York: Anchor Books, October 1994.