Okonkwo In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

The Bigger They are, the Harder They Fall Falling all the way from the top to the bottom must hurt a lot. Okonkwo, from the historical fiction novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, is certainly someone who climbed up to the top of his tribe only to fall to his demise. He rises from poverty to become one of the elders of his clan. He accomplishes all this by obtaining a few qualities along the way that help him reach success. One of these qualities is Okonkwo’s ability to discern between right from wrong, using his knowledge, pride, and customs of the Ibo. These help Okonkwo to rise up to the top of his clan, but only until the white missionaries come to Umuofia, where they live, and open up a Christian church. Then things start to go haywire, …show more content…
Nwoye, his oldest son, leaves Okonkwo and his customs behind to follow the Christians. Okonkwo illustrates his hate for the Christians and disgrace about Nwoye by saying: “To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about with a lot of of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination.” (153). When it says in the quotation ‘with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens’ it shows how much disdain Okonkwo has for the Christians. In Okonkwo’s culture, to be called a woman or to act like a woman is a very great insult to any man. It is usually referred to someone who does not fight, who is foolish, and who does not follow the correct customs. Also, when Okonkwo says ‘the very depth of abomination’, it shows that he does not agree at all with Nwoye’s course of action, thinking that what he did was truly a terrible thing to do. He then goes on to disown him and remove Nwoye from the family. Okonkwo couldn’t accept that sometimes a choice that seems too radical or wrong is actually for the better or that it can have some benefits to it. It was this thinking that led to Okonkwo’s downfall because he couldn’t tolerate the Christians and their religion which all seemed so wrong to