Power In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

What good is power without morals? Many people’s views differ on this question. This leads to a significant division amongst society. Okonkwo, the protagonist in Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, falls on the side of craving power. In his pursuit of this, he will do whatever it takes to acquire more regardless of the effects on others. As Chinua Achebe revealed the story of Okonkwo within Things Fall Apart, he told of the progression of viciousness, harm to others, and the dangers of power that all arose from Okonkwo’s decisions. Over the course of the book, Okonkwo began to change into a far more vicious and power hungry person than he already was. Once the story began, Okonkwo broke away from the lack of power his father, Unoka, held

This first started when Okonkwo disowned his own father due to his lack of power in society. As the text mentioned, “In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow” (4). Since Okonkwo refused to view any part of his father as valuable or important, it shows that he believes a person is not worth anything without power. Due to this, the author shows the reader that power often times changes a person for the worse. This once again is presented to the reader when Okonkwo decides to kill a messenger of the Christians when he is punished for burning the church. At this moment the narrator delivers, “In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete… Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body” (204). Once the Christians began to limit his power by imprisoning him, he decided to fight back. While the person was strictly a messenger, Okonkwo chose to slaughter him, too blind with power to see what he was doing. While power opens up many opportunities for those who acquire it, at a certain point, as shown by Okonkwo, this power becomes too much to