Things Fall Apart

Imagine your world starting to crumble and fall apart. The author of the book Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe has show many events of how things have fallen apart. The main character Okonkwo, is show as a masculine man, who in the end kills himself. There are many event that led up to Okonkwo’s fatal end, and those events are Okonkwo’s tragic flaws that got him banished from his village, and not respected by his clan. Okonkwo began to see things around him crumble into pieces, and began to fell he was the only one who wanted a war. In the event of Okonkwo’s downfall, Okonkwo becomes obsessed with the thought of going to war, possesses great pride in his masculinity, and fears becoming like his father. To begin with, Okonkwo was a man who was always looking for a chance to shed blood. In the book Achebe wrote “he turned to violence whenever he was angry and could not get his words out
quickly enough, and he would use his fists”(; pt. 1, ch. ). In this sentence of the passage it tells the reader of Okonkwo’s personality. Okonkwo possessed a one track mind, and feels that the only way to show feeling is to keep it in, or kill. The book tells of how Okonkwo got angry with his wife about a tree, therefore he beats her, before he knew the true facts. This has been a very big flaw of his, because Okonkwo pushes people away with every out burst of his anger. For example Okonkwo’s son Nwoye became very distant from his father when his “brother” Ikemefuna was killed by Okonkwo; by 2 strike’s of his michetti. After this Catastrophe Nwoye began to completely disconnected with his father, as Okonkwo completely disowned Nwoye as his son. When the white men came to their village, Nwoye joined the faith the men had brought with them, causing Okonkwo to be even more angry with Nwoye. After Okonkwo heard what Nwoye had done Okonkwo, without thought, decided he would go to the white man's village and kill everyone their. This event show Okonkwo's impulse and violent nature, that has pushed away many people around him. Altogether, Okonkwo’s actions express who he is. Okonkwo truly brings life to the saying actions speak louder than words.

In addition to Okonkwo’s suvire case of anger, Okonkwo feels that a man should be nothing but masculine, and he feels that showing any type of feeling is considered womanly.
As a reader reads deeper into the book Things Fall Apart they come to find out how strongly Okonkwo feels about being a very manly man. This is a major flaw of his, because wanting to seem masculine causes him to be blinded of want he is really doing and how it may affect others around him. For example, when Okonkwo’s adopted son Ikemefuna was set to be killed, Okonkwo heard him yell that some men were going to kill him, Okonkwo ran up and killed Ikemefuna himself. Okonkwo did this wretched act, so he would seem more masculine to the members of his clan. After he did this Nwoye disliked his father. In this action it shows how Okonkwo has affected someone around him. Okonkwo loves the feeling of being a man, and he feels that no one is as manly as him. Okonkwo feels that failing as a man means that he is not living up to his chi or his fate. Little does Okonkwo know that his fate is something
gruesome

In proportion to Okonkwo's beliefs in masculinity, Okonkwo's biggest fear is becoming lazy like his father Unoka. When Okonkwo was a child, his father was a lazy man who did not provide for his family. Okonkwo vowed that he would never be like the man who raised him. This is a tragic flaw of Okonkwo’s, because this thought of his father causes him to be more angry and only want to be seen more manly. Achebe said “Okonkwo was still young, he was already one of the greatest men of his time” (8; pt. 1, ch. 1). In this quote it proves how strongly Okonkwo felt about being seen by others as a great man. Okonkwo felt embarrassed and shameful of his father reputation, so his intent was to make up for the man his father never was. A reader might notices that the author never says if Unoka was really lazy or if this thought came from Okonkwo himself