Character Analysis Of Okonkwo In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

In Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is an extremely complex character who experiences a variety of emotions which he has a difficult time controlling. He experiences a never ending battle of psychosomatic symptoms, starting with his obsession over the conflict of the past with his father, Unoka. Okonkwo portrays himself as a heroic, strong warrior, only to mask the feelings of intense anger, fear, and selfishness that provokes him, which inevitably leads him down the same path as his father. He feels a strong hatred towards his father because he believes that his father had no masculine qualities, he owed everyone money, and owned no titles. Achebe states:

‘…Unoka…In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite

Incapable of thinking about tomorrow…Unoka was, of course a

Debtor, and he owed every neighbor some money from a few

Cowries to quite substantia amounts…’ (p. 1604).

According to Okonkwo, his fathers’ characteristics were considered feminine, he believes that no man should ever hold such qualities. Therefore, Okonkwo decides never to be like his father and does anything in his power to avoid it from happening. Once Okonkwo makes that decision, the

compulsion he has to live a powerful, successful, brave and masculine life is engaged. In order for him to be the opposite of his father, he defeats Amalinze the cat in a wrestling match, gaining respect from those in his society. After, he becomes the great warrior of the Umofia infantry, a successful farmer, a husband of three wives and owns two titles.
Throughout the novel we realize that Okonkwo’s instincts of survival, satisfaction of his needs, his aggressiveness, murder and conquest are all provoked by one emotion he hides very well, fear.

Okonkwo fears failure and weakness because of his father, he also fears that all of his hard work and titles will be passed down to the hands of his weak feminine son, Nwoye who Okonkwo believes takes after his father Unoka. This instinctual drive becomes more visible when he portrays his aggressive behavior in multiple situations such as the beating of one of his wives which dishonored the week of peace, committing his first murder, and beating his children. His fear of being seen as week also drives him to cut down Ikemefuna despite his and his sons growing attachment to him. As Achebe puts

it:
“As the man… drew up and raised his machete,
Okonkwo looked away. …He heard Ikemefuna cry,
‘My father, they have killed me!’… Okonkwo drew
his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being
thought weak” (p. 1630).
Ironically, it is Okonkwo’s vile actions driven by fear of many things, in this case by fear of loosing his hard work and titles, that inevitably causes his downfall. Accidently, he murders a clansman’s sixteen-year-old son which results in his exile, causing him to loose everything he has worked day and night for. In order to once again portray his machoism and frustration, he murders the harbinger sent to the elders by the white man, which consequently brings about his flaws at the end of the novel when he commits suicide.
Okonkwo strives in every possible way to avoid being like his father that it ironically leads him to be even weaker than his father when he commits the act of suicide. He strives for a life of fame, wealth, dignity and respect which are provoked by fear, anger and selfishness which can be expressed through Okonkwo’s id, or pleasure principle. Since Okonkwo feels that all of his needs must be met, he saw that all of the traits Unoka had lead to misery, poverty and rejection in the society, therefore these traits must be abhorrently rejected. Although Okonkwo believes his father’s traits are what lead him to become miserable, poor and rejected, we learn that this is not the case. Okonkwo’s life eventually leads to the same life his father had, except Okonkwo was angry throughout most of his lifetime. Okonkwo resorting to anger and the obsession over masculinity inevitably resulted in him being even weaker than his father because he was vulnerable enough to let his feelings control and consume him.