Gadi Borovich

Essay Language: Discuss the depictions of Okonkwo in the three different

parts of Things Fall Apart
Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Albert Chinua Achebe and
was first published in 1958. This novel is set in the 1890s and
portrays the traditions of an Igbo clan in Nigeria and how the process
of colonization by the British took place. The story is divided into
three different parts. The first part is the longest of the book and
basically shows the traditions of the Igbo people and the life of
Okonkwo, the main character and protagonist. From his childhood
until he accidentally kills a boy in a funeral and is exiled from Umuofia
for seven years. The second part (chapter fourteen to nineteen) is
after Okonkwo is exiled from Umuofia and went to his motherland,
Mbanta. In this second part is when he first listens about the
Christians and how they start taking control of the different clans in
Nigeria. In the third and last part (chapter twenty to twenty-five) is
when Okonkwo returns to Umuofia after seven years in exile.

The objective of this essay is to discuss the evolution of Okonkwo

throughout the story and how the changes of the environment
affected him and led him to an unexpected and unwanted outcome
for him.

Okonkwo is a character ashamed of his father, his biggest fear is to

become like him and all he tries to do is to be the complete opposite.
Unoka never paid his debts, didnt know what hard-work meant.
Throughout the novel it can be seen that Okonkwo pretends to be a
ferocious person on the outside but actually has plenty of fears.
Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even
beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young
man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing
Amalinze the Cat. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven
years was unbeaten, from Umuofia to Mbaino (Chapter One), this
shows that Okonkwo gains the respect of the clan by himself through
the strong physical strength attitude he has. As a consequence of the
fame he got, he manages to get some borrowed yams and a plot of
land to start his own farm. To be successful regarding farming is
crucial for him as his father was never able to have a farm full of
yams for himself, as stated before the fear of becoming as his father
hunts the main character and is a factor in his decision making. This
shows that Okonkwo is afraid of following his fathers example and
that he pretends to be the opposite in his actions that becomes a
factor in his personality and way of thinking: Perhaps down in his
heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated
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by fear, the fear of failure and of weaknessAnd so Okonkwo was

ruled by one passion to hate everything that his father Unoka had
loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.
After some few years, he paid for all the debts that his father
possessed and was seen as a respected, hard-working and a strong
man that respected above all the traditions of his clan, he became an
elite member of Umuofia proud of his strong reputation: I think it is
good that our clan holds the ozo title in high esteem, said Okonkwo.
In those other clans you speak of, ozo is so low that every beggar
takes it. (Chapter Eight)

In this first part, Okonkwo is not only portrayed as a strong character,

he is also shown as someone that is very vulnerable to his own
feelings, that cannot be seen as weak and this leads him to do one of
the harshest things in the novel, killing his adoptive son, Ikemefuna.
At the beginning, the boy was afraid of Okonkwo but then he even
considers him as a father; Okonkwo, eventually ends up having a
special kind of affection towards Ikemefuna even though he does not
show it to the other characters. He even prefers Ikemefuna to Nwoye
(his biological son) as he considered him to be weak. However, after
three years he is told that Ikemefuna has to be killed but advised that
he should not be present when this was done; but he cannot be seen
as a weak and sensitive person, when it comes to decide between a
person he loves or be seen as weak he is driven by the passion and
fear of becoming like his father and decides to go with them and in
the end even kills Ikemefuna due to this fear. Nevertheless, this has a
great impact on him as he is then depressed, does not leave his hut
and stops eating; this aspect of him that cannot express emotions is
also seen in the first part as he loves Ezinma but does not show it:
Okonkwo was specially fond of Ezinma. She looked very much like
her mother, who was once the village beauty. But his fondness only
showed on very rare occasions. (Chapter Five).

In the second part, things start to fall apart in Okonkwos life as he is

forced to leave his fatherland losing everything that he worked hard
to get. He believes that Mbaino (his motherland) is a weak clan and
falls again into another depression. This is the second time that he
touches bottom, the first being Ikemefunas death and both times he
cannot manage to control his desperation to overcome the situation.
His unkle, Uchendu realizes that he is depressed and since he is
concerned, questions Okonkwo and explains to him that with that
attitude he is being selfish towards his family and their future:
[Uchendu]: Is it right that you, Okonkwo, should bring to your
mother a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you
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may displease the dead. Your duty is to comfort your wives and
children and take them back to your fatherland after seven years. But
if you allow sorrow to weigh you down and kill you, they will all die in
exile. (Chapter Fourteen) Moreover, Uchendu tells how he also had a
difficult life in which he lost many children but as he says and I never
hanged myself. This can be seen as a forshadowing of the end of the
story in which Okonkwo is not able to deal with his failure and hangs
himself. Another episode in this part that is also a factor in the falling
apart of the main characters life is that he lost his bloodline son,
Nwoye. With the arrival of the Christians to Nigeria, his son is one of
the seduced by this religion that was convinced that their customs
were better than the Igbo culture. It is said that he decides to follow
the Christians because of how they spoke: But there was a young lad
who had been captivated. His name was NwoyeIt was the poetry of
the new religion. It is important to take into account that after
Ikemefunas death, Nwoye was left with many unanswered questions
and through Christianity he was able to answer them. Nevertheless,
from Okonkwos point of view he can only see that he is betrayed by
his own son. So, he is not only forced into exile to a weak clan losing
what he has fought for but also he lost not only Ikemefuna but also
Nwoye. His goal in life was to be a respected clan member and he
was driven by his fear of failure; however, in the second part of the
novel he starts to lose everything. In this second part he still has
hopes as he believes that Umuofia was a warrior clan and once he
returns from his exile, everything would go back to what it used to be.

The last part of Things Fall Apart is once he returned to his

fatherland but this was not the same as the one when he left before
the exile, everything changed, the Christians were already settled and
have established a government with many rules that went against
Umuofias tradition. Once he arrived he was focused on making his
fellow clan members to realize in what situation they were in, that the
Christians were destroying their culture and that they had to fight
back: He [Okonkwo] knew that he had lost his place among the nine
masked spirits who administered justice in the clan. He had lost the
chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion, which, he
was told, had gained ground. He had lost the years in which he might
have taken the highest titles in the land. But some of these losses
were not irreparable. He was determined that his return should be
marked by his people. He would return with a flourish, and regain the
seven wasted years (Chapter 20). Enoch, who was a man of the clan
that joined the Christians unmasked an Egwuwu, this was considered
to be a great offense against Umuofians traditions: One of the
greatest crimes a man could commit was to unmask an egwugwu in
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public, or to say or do anything which might reduce its immortal

prestige in the eyes of the uninitiated. And this was what Enoch did
(Chapter 20). In reaction to this offense, Okonkwo and other leaders
destroyed the White mans church but they were imprisoned
afterwards. However, that was not enough for Okonkwo, he wanted to
kill the missionaries but the clan did not listen to him and only
retaliated by destroying the church. This was another factor that
generated Okonkwo to be more scared about the possibility of his clan
not fighting back the white people, the last hope he had of the
possibility to make everything right was vanishing. While
imprisoned, Okonkwo was beaten separately from the others, he
realizes that Umuofia was falling apart from the inside and that
people were not going to fight back, the fate he had on the clan was
lost. The missionaries had been disrespectful towards Igbo tradition
and the clan members remained still. However, Okonkwo was not
ready to give up yet: [Okonkwo to Obierika]: How do you think we
can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white
man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion.
We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he
has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has
a put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen
apart. (Chapter 20)

In a meeting regarding war against the white man of the clan

members, a messenger of the District Commissioner is killed by
Okonkwo. The messenger who was killed also belonged to the clan, so
the people of the reunion instead of bowing what Okonkwo did they
were against it as they felt empathy and pity for his fellow clan mate.
This is when Okonkwo realizes that his fear became a reality, that the
clan was in control of the white man and that they were not going to
fight back. He was not afraid of fighting alone, his warrior attitude is
shown in the whole novel: Afraid? I do not care what he does to you. I
despise him and those who listen to him. I shall fight alone if I
choose. (Chapter 24) What he is really afraid of is to see his clan fall
apart once his family has already been broken apart. He had two
expectations in life, to have a big family and to be respected member
of a warrior clan, both failed. After he becomes aware of the reality in
which he is standing, decides that it is not worth it to keep living and
hangs himself.

As a conclusion, Okonkwo since the beginning of the novel clearly

shows that due to his behavior that he wanted to be the complete
opposite of his father, he wanted to be successful and highly
respected among the clansman, however this fear of changing his
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past drove him exactly to the same place in which his father ended,
complete solitude, surrendered without being able to adapt to the
changes in Umuofia.

Nevertheless his objectives never change in the novel, as the title of

the story says, his life starts to fall apart since he was exiled to his
motherland until he finally commits suicide. Moreover, his family
starts to decay after he kills Ikemefuna. He is also betrayed by his son
Nwoye that was not able to move on after Ikemefunas murder as he
could never understand what really happen leading him to join the
Christians. Therefore, instead of getting closer to achieve his
objectives, it was the other way round and the fear of being a failure
drove him exactly to that.