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

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

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