When Okonkwo was “angry and could not get his words quickly out enough, he would use his fists” (Achebe 2). Okonkwo’s violent personality traits cause him to make very irrational decisions that would later have future consequences. Despite that, his less than perfect tendencies did help him to achieve many goals throughout his life. However, the instances where they worked against him outweigh all other factors. Okonkwo is seen as a very painfully structured man and when something doesn't go according to his structure, it causes him to make irrational decisions.
Okonkwo’s worst fear was to be the kind of man his father was, so he tried his best not to let his fear become a reality. With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo didn’t get the start as most young men in the village; however, he worked his way to the position of leadership of the clan. There was only one emotion that Okonkwo showed, and it was anger. This was his only emotion because it was how he expressed his feelings. Okonkwo had to leave his fatherland, but after returning home, he found his home unrecognizable.
Okonkwo is the protagonist, so it makes sense for him to demonstrate a lot of pride which he undeniably does. Okonkwo is constantly bragging and boastful talking about how many men he or Umuofia has killed and is constantly scared to be perceived as weak. An early example of this is in chapter 7 when Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna. He is advised by his elders not to go and just stay at home. But Okonkwo goes anyway, which leads to him killing Ikemefuna because "He was afraid of being thought weak."
Okonkwo is supposed to fight back for his village and not stop until he gets it done. In the story Achebe quotes, “He was a man of action, a man of war. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood.” (Chapter 2). Okonkwo loved action and violence. That is how he believes things should get done.
This Quotation demonstrates Okonkwo’s anger problems. He rules his household with a heavy hand and resents Nwoye’s, his sons, laziness. His moodiness and bipolar problems are shown through the interactions between Okonkwo and his son, Nwoye. Okonkwo is an outspoken person who does not think before he speaks. Okonkwo Represents a byronic hero by letting his anger and hypersensitivity control
“There is no story that is not true.” (Things Fall Apart 141). Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe, in his historical fiction text, Things Fall Apart, emphasizes that just because a culture is unique does not make it bad or wrong. Achebe wants to reduce the amount of shown ignorance to anyone different and offer insight to the Nigerian people. He assumes a sympathetic tone to Umuofia by connecting his characters to his audience, the Europeans, and Western Civilization. Achebe uses ethos, pathos, and logos to connect the themes of family and government.
Okonkwo saw himself as a child in Ike, he was strong and hardworking. With Ike’s presence around Nwoye started to act more and more like a man each day and this made Okonkwo proud. For once in his life Okonkwo saw his son acting like a man, doing what he was supposed to do as a young man. It was all thanks to Ike acting almost like a big brother, showing Nwoye what to do and how to act. Until one day the tribe came to Okonkwo to inform him that they were going to kill Ike for his fathers actions.
He always demands his family members always to work hard for long duration of time despite their capability and the ages to get more wealth and elf sufficient. The writer clearly mentioned this idea in the book as following, “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. ...Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself.
All of this is just the beginning, okonkwo is not all that great of a man deep down as is shown in the story. Okonkwo’s greatest fear is of being weak, but the irony is that his strength is just to cover up his own weakness which is very much existent as shown by his acting in the end of the book. There is a lot inside okonkwo that is covered up and his greatest fear is to show it. Okonkwo is a warrior on the outside, but in reality he is just using strength as a mechanism to cover up his fear because “Unlike his father, he could stand the look of blood” (10), but in reality he uses the look of blood to help him strengthen his internally weak self. The fact that Okonkwo manages to bring back his clan’s first human head in war shows that he does have a very rugged mindset resting on top of a fine line that can be
“Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness (13).” In Things Fall Apart, Achebe portrays Okonkwo to be a very strong-willed, battle-loving personality. This shows that Okonkwo may not like war and battle for the violence aspect, but for the aspect of not showing fear, not backing down. “When Okonkwo heard that he (Ikemefuna) would not eat any food he came into the hut with a big stick in his hand and stood over him while he swallowed his yams, trembling. A few moments later he went behind the hut and began to vomit painfully (27-28).” This quote from the book shows that Okonkwo’s whole life is based around fear.