Okonkwo Weak

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Recommended: The negative impacts of colonialism

Strong Turns to Weak

Chinua Achebe’s main purpose in “Things Fall Apart” is to inform people of the negative effects of colonialism. During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Europeans came and colonized most of Africa. Because of this a lot of parts of Africa have not fully recovered from the effects. Overall, colonialism in this book had a negative effect because it forced the inhabitants to try and abide or adapt to rules that they never seen before while trying to keep their cultural values.In Things Fall Apart the character Okonkwo is impacted by colonialism in a negative way. Before colonialism Okonkwo was seen as a strong and confident man who was known as a fierce warrior whose barns were bursting with yams.“ His whole life was dominated by fear, the fear or failure and of weakness.”(pg 9) He had a fear of failure and being seen as weak which was mostly dominated by watching his father as a young boy who himself was a living embodiment of Okonkwo’s fear. Ultimately though Okonkwo suffered a fate very similar to that of his father.“Then everything had been broken” Okonkwo felt sorrow for his village after seeing what the white man did to it.Seeing his village fall under the control of the white man, his religion, and Government was one of the factors that caused Okonkwo to fall into a deep depression. Not only this but his son Nwoye betraying him and his cultural beliefs for the white man’s beliefs.Before
Nwoye betrayed their father’s religion for the white man religion he also changed his name to the white man Isaac. Okonkwo’s people abandon their gods and goddesses for the white man religion. “ Okonkwo head was bowed in sadness as Obierika told him these things.”(pg 129) Things have changed and Okonkwo was having a hard time understanding what was going

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    The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a story that opens the reader's mind to an entirely different way of living in a Nigerian village. Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930, perhaps this is why he writes a whole book on a Nigerian village and introduces to us the ways of life for the Nigerian people. From the first page of the book to the last, Achebe allows the reader to enter the mind of the main character Okonkwo. Okonkwo is the leader of his village and is very respected for his many achievements. Although Okonkwo means well for his village, the novel invites the reader to see him has a flawed character who eventually suffers from the consequences of bad "masculine" decisions he makes throughout the book.

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    Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, uses the changes in African tribal culture brought about by European colonization to illustrate the evolution of the character Okonkwo. As Okonkwo leads his life, his experiences, personality and thought are revealed to the reader. The obstacles he faces in life are made numerous as time progresses. Okonkwo's most significant challenge originates within himself. He also encounters problems not only when in opposition to the white culture, but in his own culture, as he becomes frustrated with tribal ideals that conflict with his own. The last adversary he encounters is of the physical world, brought upon himself by his emotional and cultural problems. The manner through which Okonkwo addresses his adversaries in Things Fall Apart creates the mechanism that leads to his eventual destruction.

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