Okonkwo Flaws

ENGLISH 210 E
AFRICAN FICTION AND DRAMA
‘THINGS FALL APART
DUE DATE: 12 MARCH 2013

This essay will endeavour to explore the flaws of Okonkwo that stem from his own sense of security and show us that he is not an embodiment of his society’s values and norms. Okonkwo in part one of the novel is seen as strong and a courageous man. He is part of the Ibo tribe in Umofia, which is a powerful village because of its fighters and warriors, such as Okonkwo. However, Okonkwo is not essentially an embodiment of his society’s values and norms. He is an individual with many flaws that stem from his own sense of insecurity. This can be seen in the main central themes: ‘the conflict between the African traditional cultures and the European Christian
In doing this, he disrespects everything that his father, Unoka, believed in and stood for before he passed away. Unoka was cowardly, idle, gentle, lazy, always borrowing money and never repaying it back and a skilled flute player who was interested in music. In light of this, “Okonkwo consciously adopts opposite ideals and becomes productive, wealthy, thrifty, brave, violent, and adamantly opposed to music and anything else that he perceives to be ‘soft’, such as conversation and emotion” (SparkNotes ,web). Okonkwo becomes a well known person around the villages because of being a great warrior who was feared by many. He is one that possesses great strength and courage, especially as a warrior. He is described “as a young man of eighteen who had brought honour to his village by throwing the Amalinze the Cat,” who was a great warrior and was undefeated for seven years from Umofia to Mbaino. (Achebe 1.) Okonkwo has three wives and several children. He had the capacity to decide for others in the village and achieved a sense of authority in the village, even though it was only temporary. He was determined and resolute with regards his eminent willpower and was determined to not be like his lazy father. However, just as Okonkwo’s father was at odds with the values of his community, so too does Okonkwo find himself unable to adapt to the colonial transformation of his
He returns and it is vividly seen that the welcome he gets is not the one that he was expecting. In the novel, Achebe elaborates, “Umofia had indeed changed during the seven years Okonkwo had been in exile.” (125). The church had led many of the people of Umofia astray. Not only the stray and outcast joined the church but even some of the worthy, noble men and men of titles had joined it, such as Ogbuefi Ugonna. There was no more militancy, instead there was a presence of the district commissioner, who was the new authority, and the connection to the church. This made Okonkwo very angry and aggressive towards the colonial domination which had infiltrated the village. These changes put a great deal of strain and psychological tension on Okonkwo to accept and adapt to the new colonial authority, especially having come from a background where he had been the authority, with the capacity to decide for others. Along with the Western colonial invasion came the changes of many of the peoples’ perspectives in Umofia and the Igbo culture. This was done significantly by the influence of the Church. With the succession of the Reverend James Smith, who was a man that “saw things as black and white. And black was evil,” came the crucial psychological breakdown and ultimate defeat and demise as well as suicide of the central character,