Okonkwo's Ambition In Things Fall Apart

What if a person were to have all the success and riches a man could ever have in his life, but be constantly paranoid about the possibilities of the future? In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the readers see the protagonist’s thoughts as he struggles with many misfortunes, ironically due to his defensive actions to prevent the possibility of losing his reputation. Okonkwo, the protagonist, is a valued leader of the Igbo people whose life “falls apart”, when he brings a boy called Ikemufuma into the family. However, later he is forced to kill Ikemufuma even after forming a bond, because his tribe specifically “the elders” ordered him to. But in his depression he finds himself accidently shooting another boy, so he ends up being exiled

for murder along with his family. After being launched in a state of depression, he hoped return to earn back his position; he finds the majority of the village has accepted the idea of Christianity including his son Nwoye. He pretends not to be deeply affected by any of these experiences to preserve his masculinity; however keeping his feelings secret has caused him a lot of pain and anxiety about his success. A man’s happiness in life is not determined by his wealth or power.
Firstly, Okonkwo was always dissatisfied with his sons, because he feared his children not owning up to their father’s status in society. To see his own son showing signs of laziness during the planting system sent him to extreme measure of punishments. “At any rate, that was how it looked to his father, and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating” (13-14). The author was trying to illustrate Okownkwo’s paranoia by writing this sentence from a different perspective by saying “that was how it looked to his father.” Writing from Okonkwo’s son perspective shows how he tried to enforce good work habits over the smallest of things to shape his son into a model citizen. His obsessive behavior even when there are no problems illustrates that his overall joy and happiness is absent even though he has success. Instead, he spends his time worrying about maintaining the titles he has earned in the future through his family. Later in the novel, Nwoye converts to Christianity ignoring his father’s protests. Instead of accepting the fact that his son wanted something else, Okonkwo denies his son’s relation to him. “ How then could he have gotten a son like Nwoye, degenerate and effeminate? Perhaps he was not his son” (153). His treatment of his son has led him to abandon his father and customs. Okonkwo’s success means nothing toward his wellbeing, because he was subconsciously comforting himself hence the sentence “Perhaps he was not my son”. Denying blood relation was the only way he could forgive himself of letting his son leave him. Lastly, this quote shows that his vulgar description of Nwoye and his denial of blood relation were essential to his happiness. Okonkwo’s success never guaranteed happiness, because his obsession with success has cost him his son’s respect.
Secondly, Okownkwo had insecurities about how he turned out in comparision to his father.

Okonkwo’s motivation for working so hard was made by a humilitating experience he had with a friend when he was small. “Even as a little boy, he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him his father was agbala” (13). Achebe used native language instead of English illustrating how emotionally scaring his childhood was, since then he still recalled the specific word agbala meaning “man without a title”. His peer’s knowledge and teasing led to his paranoia of failure resurfacing in his adult life. Therefore, he took every precaution to prevent him from becoming an “agbala”, which resulted in the reoccurring memories of the past ruling his life despite his high titles. In addition, the readers find out how he deals with trauma in his life when his beloved “son” dies. “ His mind went back to Ikemefuma and he shivered. If only he could find some work he would be able to forget” (64). Unhappy about Ikeumfuma’s death, Okonwkwo immerses himself into his career, so “he would be able to forget” the entire thing. His coping mechanism with death and sorrow was always denying the problem, and in this case he did not honor Ikeumufuma death in any way. Therefore, success was never the reason for Okonkwo’s happiness in his life; in fact it was used as an attempt to draw himself away from emotional problems. Okownkwo’s

reputation in society was formed and used out of denial and fear.
Lastly, Okonkwo’s leadership position came with a price.

The only way to stay in power was to hide his emotions from the members of his tribe. “Okonkwo was also feeling tired and sleepy, for although nobody else knew it, he had not slept all last night” (112). His insomnia was an indication of future medical problems, however “nobody else knew of it.”For this reason, his success might be one of the roots to his depression, because he never shared any of his struggles to protect his titles. Furthermore, keeping things bottled up will take a toll on him in the future. In fact, his definition of a strong warrior was brutal. “To show affection was a sign of weakness the only thing worth demonstrating was strength” (28). His expectation of men like he was to never show any kind of emotion including love, so the only emotions he can express was anger or confidence. Moreover, asserting dominance was only allowed otherwise his position will be overtaken. Powerful men like Okonkwo who are only allowed to express strength and self-confidence are bond to be unhappier due to the unspoken rules of not allowing themselves to show love or joy. In short, a high position in Okownkwo’s village comes with the inability to show fear despite deep unresolved insecurities.
Success in Okonkwo’s life has never contributed to his overall happiness. Even after losing all his titles, he was upset over losing his family’s respect rather than the titles in society he had. In addition, his motivation

to be successful was due to his deep psychological fear of becoming a disgrace to society. At last having a high status, came with a big price of maintaining a “macho look” in his community. Okownkwo’s position in society was an ideal goal for many others due to financial stability, kbut Okowkwo was still much unhappier.