What Is Okonkwo's Strength In Things Fall Apart

Pain and strength are ways of hiding the truth. Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart tells the story of Okonwo who’s name becomes tarnished by his actions. From him beating his wives during the “Week of Peace” to killing an innocent boy. The need to appear masculine can exacerbate deeper routed issues and cause more problems.
Okonkwo’s personality, attitude, and beliefs can all be traced back to his father. Okonkwo’s relationship with his deceased father shapes the majority of his aggressive and belligerent personality. “Unlike his father, he could stand the look of blood. In Umuofia’s latest war he was the first to bring home a human head” (4). Unoka was a coward, a man who only cared to have fun. Unoka lacked any trace of responsibility. He was poor, sluggish, and neglected his wife. Ukonwo’s hate for his father has made him the ruthless man he is today. He has strived his entire life to show that he is nothing like is

father. Yet, people look down on him the same way they looked down on his father.
Okonwo has distorted his own name, with his heartless actions and words being put on display, it isn’t hard to see how he’s ruined himself.

Ukonwo’s first step of destroying himself would be beating Ojiugo during the Week of Peace. Neighbors ran out of their homes to witness what had taken place. “Okonkwo's neighbors heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter. Some of them came over to see for themselves” (11). Okonkwo forgot it was the Week of Peace and he beat her. “Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess” (11). Okonkwo’s beliefs also impact his relationship with his daughter. Although, unbeknownst to Okonkwo, Ezinma is everything that he wants, just not a boy. Then Okonkwo makes the grave mistake of killing his son Ikemefuna, which could ultimately have been the down fall to Okonkwo. “Then something had given way inside him. It descended on him again, this feeling, when his father walked in that night after killing Ikemefuna”

(22).
Literary devices are scattered all through the book uses of similes are fairly common. “And his eyes were red and fierce like the eyes of a rat when it was caught by the tail and dashed against the floor” (22). Using rapid growth of fire the author compares Okonkwo’s success to a bush fire. “That was many years ago, twenty years or more, and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan” (1). The author shows just how drunk and depressed Okonwo really is by comparing him to mosquitos. “He felt like a drunken giant walking with the limbs of a mosquito” (23).
Things Fall Apart perfectly proves that the need to be masculine and angry can bring about deeper and more serious issues. Chinua really shows how much parental figure can impact someone’s life. A stable relationship is very important because in the end, it has the potential to change so much of one’s future.