Things Fall Apart

From the beginning of the text Okonkwo (pronounced Oh-Konk-Kwoh) is set up as the antithesis of his father Unoka. Where we see Unoka as outwardly driven and communal but also lazy and averse to manual labour, Okonkwo is inwardly driven and isolationist but also extremely hard working and constantly desiring progression. This dichotomy is set up to juxtapose one another and show the two paths men in Umuofia can take, but ironically, both men fail for the same reason.

Okonkwo is doomed to repeat the failures of his father as both men are unable to integrate into the zeitgeist of the tribe. Unoka never worked as hard as the others and was ostracised for it. Okonkwo always strives for hyper-masculine and violent values, but once he tries to exemplify them through killing the colonial messenger, he realises they are out of touch with the communal values of Umuofia and he is no longer supported by them. Okonkwo is always striving to assert himself on the top of the tribal hierarchy but Unoka’s own words ring resoundingly true where he proclaims that “it is more bitter when a man fails alone.”

Okonkwo is a typical tragic hero with a fatal flaw (also known as a hamartia), he is admirable as a bulwark against the destruction of his people, but his flaw in being unable to separate masculinity from violence and his obsession with upholding it leads to his own destruction. Part of the reason Okonkwo fails alone is due to his inability to accept his own emotions, as well as his way of tying together success and stature with masculinity and most importantly with violence. Once colonialists reach Umuofia, Okonkwo quickly realises that he will face his extinction. The titles he strives for are meaningless in European society, the religion he worships is being blasphemed, and the desire to fight in the tribe subsides. Okonkwo is unable to reckon with this, unable to see how compromise was the only option for his survival and therefore is committed never to live in a world where he cannot express his values and chooses to destroy himself. This is the essence of Okonkwo’s fatal flaw: if he cannot be violent, he cannot be masculine and therefore he cannot be successful, which is what his father never was.

Okonkwo’s fatal flaw being his irrational combination of success with masculinity and violence further acts as a microcosm for the greater fatal flaw of the irrational Igbo people in general. Where Okonkwo irrationally ostracises those he views as unsuccessful and womanly, Umuofia and the Igbo people irrationally ostracise those who do not fit into their norm (i.e. osu, obanje etc.).

There is a softer and complex side to Okonkwo’s emotions as well, brought out especially through his relationship with his children. Okonkwo’s total emotional shutdown that re- sembles feelings of regret after the death of Ikemefuna is one example of him grappling with his identity as a masculine tribal member. His pursuit of Ezinma through the forest after she is taken to the Cave is another example. He was careful never to allow himself to be seen by Ekwefi, nor did he tell her that he had been there multiple times prior, and only appears masculine to her with his machete in hand. However, we see that while Okonkwo is loving towards Ezinma he is only able to reconcile this by proclaiming her to be the son he always wanted, rather than admitting he sees effeminate traits like her deeper understanding of emotions, as admirable.