Okonkwo Being Exiled

Edward Said states being exiled is often “un-healable” and “enriching” for people. Although it seems ironic to use these words to describe the feelings one experiences while being exiled, Said’s descriptive words are accurate. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the author sheds light on being exiled as both destructive and augmentative as Okonkwo is forced out of his homeland. During this punishing period, Okonkwo realizes having sympathy towards people is not foolish and breaking traditions should not be seen as a crime.
Okonkwo stands by the principle that one should not show his or her weaknesses to others. After seeing his father die lonely and powerless, Okonkwo makes a vow to never become like his father. For him, this means never wasting a day not working or showing sympathy for people, including his family members. “Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through” (30). Even though it is Peace Week, a week when no one is supposed to inflict harm on others, Okonkwo still chooses to beat his wife Ojiugo because he does not want to show mercy to his wife as he believes it would make him look weak. His thoughts on being manly and merciless shifts slightly after he is exiled to Mbanta, his motherland, after
his gun accidentally explodes and pierces a young boy’s heart.
As Edward Said states, Okonkwo’s exile is alienating at first. He feels like he does not fit in with his mother’s people because they do not think or behave similarly to him. For example, the men are more compassionate and sympathetic towards their wives and children instead of acting tough and rough. Another sign that shows Okonkwo’s exile is alienating to him is he feels like working does not bring the “pleasure it used to have” (131). This is critical for him because working on his farm is one of the few activities that he believes makes him look powerful and productive. However, after being exiled, it does not anymore because he is starting to question why he should work arduously when he has already lost all of his power and status. This period of unproductiveness does not last long, fortunately, as Uchendu confronts him by saying Okonkwo thinks he is the greatest sufferer in the world, but he should look at Uchendu’s daughter whose twins are thrown away; Okonkwo’s situation does not look as awful as he thinks it seems anymore.
Even after being exiled, Okonkwo does not fully learn or understand that breaking from customs or traditions is not a crime. The main protagonist is known as a character who follows traditions and customs with no exceptions. This is portrayed when Okonkwo disowns his son Nwoye after he converts to Christianity. Since it is unacceptable to break from the tribe’s religion to convert to Christianity, Okonkwo quickly disowns Nwoye. Even though he is Okonkwo’s biological child, since Okonkwo despises the missionaries because he perceives them as people who are trying to break apart his tribe, he has no patience to change his son’s mind back. Plus, Okonkwo sees his son as unmanly, so losing Nwoye is not a tragic loss in Okonkwo’s eyes.
Although Okonkwo believes following his tribe’s traditions is a must, he learns after he is exiled that one cannot always follow them. A situation that exemplifies this is when Okonkwo’s pride and misjudgment leads him to kill one of the missionaries’ messengers. Okonkwo knows the white men are going to come after him and his tribal members, so he decides to commit suicide even when he knew it is “against their custom” (207). One would not expect Okonkwo to do this because we know he would never break his customs. However, Okonkwo realizes he needs to push his pride and status aside to save his members and family. The missionaries are going to kill his tribal people if they try to protect Okonkwo, so he must sacrifice himself in order to save them. Had Okonkwo not been sent to exile, he would not have learned how to put his pride aside to help other people. During his exile, he does not agree with his mother’s people’s sympathy towards people, but he later learns being prideful of his status does not matter if the existence of the tribe is at stake. Had he not have sacrificed himself, Umuofia would have been wiped out in an hour.
In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the main protagonist Okonkwo experiences the feeling of being alienated and enriched during his exile.
Although he feels out of place because he has to live in a new home surrounded by new people, he also learns how to become more lenient about following his customs or social norms. He realizes if he is in a situation where he can save his tribe from falling apart, and it requires him to against his tribe’s customs, he will do it because it does not matter how many titles he earns during his lifetime if his tribe will become extinct. Although it is easy to assume Okonkwo’s tribe is wiped into almost extinction a couple of years after his death, his suicide allows his tribe to exist a little
longer.