Okonkwo - Things Fall Apart

Okonkwo struggled his entire life with his perception of manliness. Societal expectations and norms of power, strength, and achievement were only reinforced and amplified by his loathing for his father’s laziness and “womanly qualities” such as compassion, warmth, and cowardice in war. This defiance to become the opposite of everything his father was created internal and external conflict that led to Okonkwo’s eventual doom.

Okonkwo’s angry and power-hungry personality stems from experiencing the affects of his father’s failure in life. Unoka, Okonkwo’s father, “was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow” (2937). “Unoka was, of course, a debtor, and he owed every neighbor some money” (2937). As a child and young man, he loved good company and festivities, the leisurely life, nature, and music. But as an adult, Unoka “was a failure. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat” (2937). “Unoka was never happy when it came to wars. He was in fact a coward and could not bear the sight of blood” (2938).

Okonkwo could only be ashamed of his