Okonkwo Analysis

Okonkwo’s journey towards a prosperous life sprung from his desire to be unlike his father. During his childhood, Okonkwo suffered when he saw people begging for his father to return their money. Because of that, Okonkwo makes a promise to become a hardworking man. His first step is achieving greatness through wrestling. The moment he defeats Amalinze the Cat, who used to be an undefeated warrior up until then, is the moment clansmen realize how different Okonkwo is from his father: “His [Okonkwo’s] life had been ruled by a great passion-to become one of the lords of the clan. That had been his life-spring” (131). In comparison to Unoka, his father, who had nothing but debts, the protagonist decides to focus on work and living a superior life.
Since he doesn’t have any financial support from his family, Okonkwo is forced to build his household from scratch. This represents another aspect which makes him such a respectable man. Due to all his accomplishments, Okonkwo doesn’t only create a sense of pride, but shows little to no emotion regarding any events in his life. However, hidden underneath this stone cold self, there is a fearful side awaiting to be pursued. Although he was a tough man, Okonkwo is afraid of being thought as weak or compassionate. Even in the hardest moments of his life, he still chooses his pride over emotion: “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him [Ikemefuna] down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (61). The warrior is asked to stay out of this conflict, but chooses to show how powerful he is once again. Okonkwo knows that the men will kill Ikemefuna, who has been like Okonkwo’s son for a couple of years, but he doesn’t want anyone to believe he cannot do it by himself. This event marks the first moment in the novel when Okonkwo reveals his fearful side. He is not only afraid of losing his status as an indestructible man, but afraid of being left without a
Thinking that he has almost reached his full potential in life, the warrior is surprised with being banished to his motherland which meant losing everything he has ever worked for. At this point, Okonkwo hits rock bottom and starts blaming his chi by saying that “Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things. A man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi” (131). Despite his many strengths, Okonkwo takes this event as a sign that he was in fact from Unoka’s blood and will never achieve what he desires. He believes that no matter how hard he will try, he won’t find the happiness he is searching for, which ultimately proves to be wrong. When Uchendu sees how depressed Okonkwo is, he offers the warrior a lesson about the role of a mother in a person’s life: “When there is sorrow and bitterness he [a man] finds refuge in his motherland” (134). After this significant lecture, Okonkwo opens his eyes to the true meaning of sympathy and learns to be a more relaxed man. The protagonists restarts his life in his motherland by building another home and working on a new farm. Seven years later Okonkwo’s banishment expires which leads to his return home. To his surprise, his clansmen haven’t forgotten him, but there is another challenge which he has to face. This time, a conflict between his country and Christian strangers intervened with