Okonkwo's Relationship Essay

Okonkwo is a very well-respected and independent man in Umuofia due to his titles and hard work. Even though he seems put together and stern, his life is dictated by fear. His fear of becoming like his father led him to helping in the murder of Ikemefuna, beating his wives and children, and disowning his oldest son, Nwoye. As a main character, Okonkwo remains pretty much the same throughout the book, his biggest issue being his inability to have compassion. Who might he not have compassion for and why? The relationship talked about the most in the book is between Okonkwo and his father, Unoka. Okonkwo’s greatest fear is that he would become like his father, who was lazy, afraid of war, a musician who didn’t work, and didn’t support his family. Bottom line: Okonkwo has no respect for his father simply because he was what Okonkwo called agabala, meaning woman. This relationship affected Okonkwo’s life greatly considering that is what his life revolved around. In the book are several quotes to support this, but one seems to be the more straightforward quote. “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…..It was fear of himself lest he should be

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” (pg.24-25). The most prideful thing Okonkwo had done throughout the whole book was killing himself. We never really find out why he did it, but really it could have been because he was too stubborn to abide by the white man’s law. He knew it would most likely never change, so his solution was to kill himself. He wasn’t thinking about his family or his clan, just about himself. Philippians 2;3 says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than