Introduction
Okonkwo is the protagonist of "Things Fall Apart." There are several facets to his personality, and they can all be interpreted differently. Okonkwo's outward demeanor exhibited his roughness as well as his tough shell, which was essential to survive even with relative poverty. One of the most well-known and widely debated pieces of literature deals with the complicated topic of Okonkwo's character. His plan to gain acceptance from his society paid off handsomely. He has an extremely cynical viewpoint on virtually every part of existence. At the same time, by taking on certain traits that his culture instills in him, Okonkwo struggles to establish his identity. Okonkwo's narrative offers a glimpse of these topics for philosophical contemplation.
One of the first things to note about Okonkwo is his intense courtship of manliness and success. Okonkwo was desperate to outperform his lazy father, and, promising to enjoy wealth and a decent existence as a separate man, he does in fact become energetic and hardworking. Meanwhile, Okonkwo, a traditional man of his powerful constitution, firmly believes in human identity. Okonkwo is, in fact, haughty and often exceptional. Growing up, he makes almost year-round commitments to bring in as much clan money as possible. At that moment, the patriarchal community is teaching and pressuring young people to match the system's values. Just before his adolescence, Okonkwo aims to act more muscularly male than his own father, strong enough to defeat the wrestling champion. Okonkwo would have had devious motives to use nastiness as support in pursuing high values and merely trying, on the other hand, to build a deserving character just to score points. Laying corrupt plans contradicts his brusque, angry physicality and self-assured conduct on his travels.
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Okonkwo’s Fear of Failure
Okonkwo has a profound fear of failure during his life. That terrible fear shapes the core of his character and even drives his harshness to both himself and others. This primordial fear is deep-rooted in his experiences: his father is labeled as lazy and unsuccessful, which gives birth to Okonkwo's unconscious stubbornness to achieve better than him. Additionally, there is also the fact that in Igbo society, traits that Okonkwo wishes to free himself from are associated with women, which is a shame to every man. Okonkwo becomes proud and haughty. His overwhelming fear of failure also makes him harsh to himself – he has a highly critical and demanding self-audience. Okonkwo can neither understand nor respect the differences between himself and others. Okonkwo's greatest tragedy is his own misunderstanding of his 'others'. He is in conflict with himself, and this drives him crazy. Okonkwo's psychological traits emerge partly from his divisive view of his neighbors. He never acknowledges the existence of any other better traits in people who are different from him. The awareness of the existence of better traits elsewhere, we call self-knowledge. Okonkwo cannot see the good in others; he must first see it in himself. We call this self-respect. His blindness is what this text tries to expose. A destiny fulfilled through stubborn bondage is a curse in a world of conflict and change. Fear curses Okonkwo's destiny psychologically and culturally. This condition sets the stage for the tragedy that Okonkwo becomes.
Okonkwo's Actions and Consequences
In "Things Fall Apart," Okonkwo is driven by his fear of being viewed as weak. As a result, he finds everything that would easily prove his 'soft' nature and destroys it. For Okonkwo, his family and even his fellow clansmen are targets of his repressed attitude. This blatant display of power culminates in disastrous results. Blamed for multiple acts of misconduct, his inability to adapt to the times leads to the loss of his wife, children, and eventually his own life. Okonkwo's strict, unforgiving lifestyle creates a cycle of violence, and many people are subject to the confined ways of his own beliefs and actions to shape his identity. By refusing to fully accept these parts of life, people suffer the consequences. Coherence within society is an obvious concern of Okonkwo's, as his efforts are primarily centered upon his attempts to secure a legacy of his ability to resist colonialism. His tragic flaw arises from his resistance to cultural change. Over time, it becomes alarmingly evident that Okonkwo does not have the patience to accept anything other than his own values—and those of his fierce warrior kin. While it is clear that Okonkwo's decisions contribute to his own demise, they also have extraordinary consequences on other characters in the novel, as well as the way his own community perceives him. His violent dominance over domestic relations has ultimately rendered him utterly alone, although it was his initial objective to re-establish the reputation of his father. He has attempted to shape his own destiny in the face of external societal influence by begetting numerous children, many destined to die, but those destined to grow are destined to perish—the never-ending cycle.
Society’s Influence on Okonkwo
Society and culture play an active role in shaping an individual's personality, ultimately characterizing the importance of community and union as products. The traditional values, social standings, and summons of the society and culture he is born into influenced, nurtured, and constrained Okonkwo into the many quintessences, beliefs, attitudes, and actions of his character. The influence of Igbo culture as a part of Okonkwo, and the ways in which Okonkwo fulfills and vigorously struggles against the essence of being Igbo, are particularly highlighted. Okonkwo's predicament is that the society and culture in which he lives require acts of one form, while his heart and soul require acts of a different form.
As the Igbo culture dictates what the society expects of the individual, Okonkwo faces stringent requirements of the society. The culture of the community requires success, as defined through the traditional artistic performance in the gifts of the soil and community. The image of the ideal man who is wealthy, successful, prominent, and powerful is the standard by which everyone in detail, including Okonkwo, is measured. Okonkwo is unable to hide from the societal call for validation and affirmation, which is the heart of the Igbo culture. To be denied by one's own culture is a terrible piece of informational and existential loneliness imposed on an individual, affecting him or her because it substantially diminishes and redefines the genuine worth and identity of the denigrated or rejected individual.
Okonkwo's Tragic Fate
In our pity, then, how are we to evaluate Okonkwo and his tragic fate? The narrative seems, finally, to condemn him. But expecting our condemnation of Okonkwo, it brings us to the point where we must at the same moment pity him. Yet, finally, in the presence of Okonkwo's end, our mixture of feelings suggests that something is askew in the conception of the tragic. If Okonkwo's implacable repetition of his father's mode of life evokes our pity, if we can say "serves him right" of his violent end, where does this leave us in relationship to the story? The oxymoronic nature of tragedy is not so much to call forth our condemnation as to elicit a strange mixture of feelings in us. If the kind of life Okonkwo lives seems sordid and depressing, we still feel, judging by the narrative, that he should be pitied.
In the end, a fuller moral judgment against Okonkwo becomes impossible if he lies as a fearsome reject of the way of Umuofia. The pathos of Okonkwo's end is entangled in layers of ambiguity all compacted in the ironic narrational tie between Okonkwo's aspirations and accomplishments. The concluding irony of Okonkwo's end lies in his failure to displace a regime with which he sympathizes. Okonkwo is trapped in his paradox by what he hates. Form and content converge, both telling us in what sense Okonkwo's rebellion is self-defeating. His own manhood requires conquest, as it represents his becoming male and thus, his striving to be his own man, and to be his own man is in itself evidence of being a man. This paradox is rendered even more tragic as it is ironically ensconced in the happening of the narrative. In the end, Okonkwo's fall marks the failure of his world.
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