Therefore, Okonkwo rejected his father, and hence, the womanly element of himself. He turned out to be a leading wrestler and warrior in his people to make available the facilities of life for his family at a very small age. Simultaneously, he established a new farm and began to collect his own riches, and ultimately a name. His uphill struggle confirms itself in his victory, and he rapidly became well-known and appreciated in his tribe for his devotion and leadership qualities. Having achieved wealth, wives and children, he considered that he has controlled over his father's womanly mistakes. His great dream was to develop into one of the influential elders of the tribe and at a point he successfully achieved that goal. Okonkwo felt steady and safe in his way of manliness in its edges.
Nevertheless, it shortly turned out to be obvious that not everything was perfect. His son, Nwoye, was not fairly achieving the expectations of becoming a man. "Nwoye . . . was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness" (Achebe 12). Nwoye, Okonkwo's old son, does great effort in the shadow of his great, victorious, and challenging father. His interests are different from Okonkwo's and look a lot like more closely those of Unoka, his grandfather. He goes through many beatings, at a loss for how to make happy his father, until the coming of Ikemefuna, who turns in to like an elder brother and makes him learn a gentler kind of victorious manliness. Consequently, Okonkwo pulls back, and Nwoye even begins to be the victor of his grudging approval. However after the murder of Ikemefuna Nwoye becomes the same as he was. He joins forces with the missionaries eventually after rejecting his father's masculine values. Nwoye's actions weakened Okonkwo's position and reputation, already damaged by his exile. It is, as Okonkwo assumes at the last part of Chapter Seventeen, as his entire uphill struggle to reserve himself from the legacy of his father was destroyed. Of this, Okonkwo reflected, "Living fire begets cold impotent ash" (Achebe 153), where fire...
Okonkwo planned to go back to Umuofia arrogant and secured regardless of the tragedy of his son's critical behavior. He dreamed of re-achieving his status, "[seeing] clearly the high esteem in which he [will] be held, and he even [sees] himself taking the highest title in the land" (Achebe 172). Okonkwo's fate was conserved, as the people did not reply in support of his act. He washed his machete clean and left to take his own life. Unoka's words fit true in this discussion. "A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone" (Achebe 24-25).
Okonkwo is a heartbreaking male lead in the traditional logic: even though he is a finer character, his gloomy fault -- the equation of manliness with carelessness, annoyance, and violent behavior -- brings about his own annihilation. Okonkwo is grumpy, sometimes, and generally not capable to show his way of thinking (the author repeatedly uses the word "inwardly" in reference to Okonkwo's feelings). But his feelings are without a doubt quite complicated, as his "manly" values clash with his "unmanly" ones, for instance feeling of love for Ikemefuna and Ezinma. Regardless of his life of uphill struggle and the riches and status, he went to meet his maker alone in ignominy, as had his father. The disgrace even passed on after his demise, as the act of his suicide was judged "an offense against the Earth" (Achebe 207). For that reason, he was left without an appropriate funeral and courtesy even in death. This is how "things fall apart" for Okonkwo.
Bibliography
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.
Iyase-re, Solomon Ogbede. Understanding Things Fall Apart.Troy, N.Y.: Whitston Pub. Co, 1998.
Larson, Charles R. The Emergence of African Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1972.
Ogede, Ode. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall…
