Okonkwo's Failure

Weakness and fear of failure are rooted deep inside every person’s mind. It causes people to act through emotion instead of logic. In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is greatly affected by these emotions and makes horrible decisions that lead to his biggest failure. Okonkwo had worked his whole life striving for great success, however, with his mind on only the prize, he fell short by failing to maintain an important relationship with his son, letting his fear of colonization by the white man weaken him, and allowing his fear to lead to regrettable decisions.

Nwoye's relationship with his father was destroyed when Okonkwo put all of his energy striving to be successful. In order to not want his son to be weak, Okonkwo was
These missionaries had gathered up many of the Africans into their church and way of life, and the Africans were amazed at the power these men controlled in their brothers minds. For example, some of the Africans were starting to have questions on how these missionaries had the power to convert their once loyal men, so they decided to destroy the outlet. Okonkwo was part of this group who feared these men’s ability to control their friends so together they decided it was time to burn down their sacred church so they could feel power again, and in no time the “church which Mr. Brown had built was a pile of earth and ashes” (191). The men felt great justice after doing so, but there was still that little part of the mind where Okonkwo still felt manipulated. The church was gone, but now Okonkwo faced another challenge of the white man’s physical power. The men who commit the crime of the burning were thrown into jail and treated with no respect. For instance, they had to shave off their hair, give no food or water, and were abused. When these men were finally bailed out by their village, people saw the “long stripes on Okonkwo’s back”, and they were just as frightened as Okonkwo himself (199). These missionaries filled okonkwo with fear so much that he felt more weakness than ever
Ikemefuna was a boy who was given to Okonkwo’s village as a peace offering, and this boy lived with Okonkwo. Unfortunately, Ikemefuna was sentenced to death by the village’s God, but there was a problem for Okonkwo and his family had gained extreme fondness for this boy and thought of him as their own son. With grand despair, Okonkwo marched up the hill where Ikemefuna was to be killed, and when the men started to kill him, Ikemefuna started screaming for Okonkwo, but Okonkwo, “was afraid of being thought weak” so he delivered the last blow that killed Ikemefuna (61). As soon as he saw Ikemefuna he was sickened. He and his family had lost great respect for him and he felt beyond weak for many weeks after. Later on, the white men start to gain more power in the land. Okonkwo was ready for revenge on the white men. When their was a town meeting on whether they should go to war on the white men, a messenger from the missionaries came down and declared the meeting to stop. Since Okonkwo was beyond angry with the fear these men brought, he sliced the messengers head off and expected the village to back him up and kill the other messengers. The villagers stayed put. Okonkwo knew that was the end for him and a few hours later, when the missionaries came to take Okonkwo, they found “his body dangling” (207). Okonkwo’s fear of failing or showing weakness lead him to his