Okonkwo big ideas.

Blog Post – Okonkwo Characterization

Okonkwo is the protagonist in the novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe and is the main character that drives the plot forward. Okonkwo is very significant in the novel, Things Fall Apart, not just because he is the main protagonist but also he is very important in the Umuofia the tribe the lives in. He is one of the leaders in Umuofia, and is a renowned wrestler, fierce warrior, and a successful farmer of yams. Okonkwo is very traditional and very cultural, almost to a fault. Ibo culture is all about balance in everyday life, however Okonkwo is too traditional and exudes hyper-masculinity in everything he does. Okonkwo is also very impulsive. Consequently, Okonkwo on accident offends the Ibo people and their traditions as well as the gods of his clan (ie. Beating his wife during the peace weak). Okonkwo is advised not to participate in the sacrifice of Ikefemuna, but he actually kills Ikefemuna because he is “Afraid of being thought weak”. When the missionaries come he feels the changes are destroying the Ibo culture, changes that require compromise and accommodation – Qualities that Okonkwo finds womanly traits and intolerable. Okonkwo is too proud and inflexible, he clings to traditional beliefs and hates the changes that the Ibo people have made in Umuofia. When Okonkwo rashly kills a messenger from the British district office, his clansmen back away in fear; he realizes that none of them support him and that he can't save his village from the British colonists. Okonkwo kills himself, a shameful death in the eyes of the Ibo people.

Okonkwo symbolizes a very far left spectrum in traditional Ibo life. He symbolizes fire. Okonkwo, is often described in terms of fire and flames - his nickname is even 'Roaring Flame' - so, to him, fire symbolizes potential, masculinity, and life. He believes this is the masculine, manly way to communicate, and any other type of emotion makes you effeminate. Okonkwo rages at people a great deal, whether he's threatening and nearly shooting his second wife, yelling at his children, or fighting. Fire is incredibly powerful, but it's also very destructive. It can destroy lives just as Okonkwo does as he struggles to show his masculinity. Okonkwo kills his own adopted son, as well as the son of a village elder. These are examples of physical destruction wrought by Okonkwo, but he also brings about emotional destruction, as well. After Okonkwo kills Ikefemuna he goes into a depressive state and effectively destroys he’s already dwindling relationship with his son.