The Values and Beliefs of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart

The Values and Beliefs of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart is a novel, which is directly focused on the tribes

and the local life of the native people. The protagonist in this novel

is a proud strict and tough man with the name of Okonkwo. Okonkwo was

born in the mid-nineteenth century, in the Igbo village of Umuofia,

(which we now know as southeastern Nigeria). Okonkwo's life was "dominated

by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness". His father was a man

who had no titles and was called a woman.

One main thing we learn in this novel is that these tribes hold great

respect for men who had a title. One man who didn't have any titles

and was referred to, as a woman was Okonkwos father. We are informed

of Oknokwos character with the following words "He had a slight

stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out

quickly enough, he would use his fists. He had no patience with

unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father".

This point is proved many times in the novel and one of the recurring

examples is the

Striking of his wives, where at on e stage he could have killed her by

shotting at her. The honour and beliefs Okonkwo follows are the same

as any other man in the tribe except that Oknokwos beliefs are to an

extreme extent.

One thing we have to keep in mind is the fact that "his whole life was

dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper

and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of

magic, the fear of the forest, and the forces of nature, malevolent,

red in tooth and claw. Okonkwos fear was greater than these. It was

not external bu...

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...d see what had happened to the clan was a great shock to him.

During his time in exile he had heard of the missionaries come into

his village but he had never expected it to be that bad. In other

words unlike the other people who had remained in the clan he never

had the process of adjusting and accepting what had happened to his

clan.

The fury burning inside Oknkwo was increasing as they are deceived and

captured. During the imprisonment he is said to have been" chocked

with hate." This is understandable considering "he was a man of action

a man of war.

Okonkwo was so proud to an extent that he takes his own sorrow to die

in dignity. The cause of his death was sorrow. The pain of coming back

to a clan and realising that most of the men in there were no longer

real men was too much that Okonkwo couldn't handle.