Okonkwo Character Analysis

Making Okonkwo into a real person would result him to being similar to Alfred Jodl. Alfred Jodl was a German general in World War 2 and a staff officer in World War 1. From history records it was said that he planned and conduct most of Germany’s military campaign. No matter what he did, what Alfred Jodl was most known for was being very dedicated and loyal to Adolf Hitler and Germany. Even when he died, he did not admit to any of the crimes committed by him because of this dedication and actually stubbornness. Okonkwo was similar to Alfred in this sense. When Okonkwo noticed that nobody could stop the white men from expanding in power, he preferred to take his own life than submit to them. He knew that he would be miserable if he had let the white men rule him.
In chapter 7, when Ikemefuna was killed, Okonkwo did not think of it as a mistake but it was more along the lines of his stubbornness taking over. He thought about how he would look in front of the men rather than keep the one he cared about close to him. The fact that he does not want to let go of his father’s image of being weak and turning out to be similar to Unoka is what drove him to kill Ikemefuna. Even though Okonkwo and Alfred Jodl share these similarities, they both have their differences too. Alfred Jodl was not a man of action. He actually liked to work behind the scenes. For example, he would not physically kill people or hostages during the war. Alfred was more prone to sentencing and signing orders for a person’s death. On the contrary, Okonkwo liked taking action and was much more extreme. At the end of chapter 22, the people of Umuofia had burned down the church. Continuing onto the beginning of chapter 23, Okonkwo was described as being happy for the first time in many years. Even though his idea was more extreme, like killing the missionaries, he was satisfied for now with the destruction of the