Who Is Okonkwo's Identity In Things Fall Apart

John Rohn states, “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant.” In the book Things Fall Apart a character named Okonkwo who is seen as a leader or hero in his clan because he is a great wrestler, a fierce warrior, and a successful farmer of yams . He has three wives and many children who live in huts on his compound. Throughout his life, he wages a never ending battle for status; his life is dominated by the fear of weakness and failure. We can see two cultures collide and where Okonkwo is very hesitant in stepping down and leaving his culture to be changed by the colonizers, but as this conflict goes on we begin to question Okonkwo's identity as a leader based on the decisions he makes.

An example is when he beheads a white messenger passing through. In the text it states, “Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew Umufoia would not go to war. They had let the messengers escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action. He discerned fright in this. He heard voices, “Why did he do it?”(Achebe 205). As we can see Okonkwo began to see confusion and disorder in Umuofia and was frightened by this. He thinks since Umuofia won’t stand up and fight to protect and preserve their culture and tradition that he would take it into his own hands hoping he would be seen as a hero and be accepted again by the Umuofia people, but by doing so he loses even more respect. We can now see Okonwo’s true identity here as not a leader, but as a selfish person