Okonkwo's Downfall

Okonkwo's downfall was predicted from the beginning. The book Thing Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is about the great warrior Okonkwo who builds his life in the Igbo tribe from the ground up. After adopting a child named Ikemefuna, Okonkwo's life goes downhill. Many things in Okonkwo's life could have caused his own destruction, but there are a few things that could have been bigger than others. I think that Ikemefuna's death played a big part, as well as Nwoye's betrayal, and his father's failure.

Although Unoka and Okonkwo never had the greatest relationship, they are still father and son. Unoka had brought shame to his family. Never wanting great things, only borrowing and relying on others. Okonkwo always thought of

Unoka as a lazy man who didn't work for anything he had. He promised himself he would never turn out like his father. He had lost all compassion and worked for what he had gotten. Through his Okonkwo had no patience for failures, "He had had no patience with his father"(Achebe4). Wanting to be nothing like his father, Okonkwo solved his problems with his fists and fury.
Three years after adopting Ikemefuna as one of his own, Okonkwo had taken a liking to the boy. He was a good influence on his son Nwoye who reminded him so much of Unoka. When the Oracle decided his death Okonkwo had been asked to not take part in any of it because Ikemefuna had called him "father". He went against those wishes and "Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak"(Achebe27). Okonkwo had landed the finishing blow that killed Ikemefuna and in doing so felt like he killed his own child.