Okonkwo's Flaws Research Paper

Okonkwo and his Virtues and Flaws Okonkwo is a man filled with many virtues and of course many flaws. Many of the mistakes he makes educates him to become a more virtuous man, but his unacceptable flaws that cause poison to the story, are not forgotten. In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo’s life is explained through the mistakes he makes and finds that many things aren’t meant to be the way he wants them to be, explaining the title Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo only tries his best to follow the rules that have been given to him, but his flaws are stronger than his virtues, as learned in the story later on. To begin with, Okonkwo is known as the man of the village. He is perfect in all ways and the whole town of Umofia praises …show more content…
Okonkwo is a man of loyalty. He follows all the rules and regulations given to the land of Umofia, representing one of his many virtues, but once in a while, he breaks one of the rules. During the week of peace, Okonkwo saw that his banana tree had missing leaves. He thinks it has been killed, even though it is very much alive. When he asks who did it, his wife answers. She “merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food” (38). After hearing this, Okonkwo takes his wife and “(gives) her a sound beating (leaving) her and her only daughter weeping” (28). Other days, this would not be a problem, but because it is the Week of Peace, Okonkwo breaks the law of staying peaceful throughout this week, and not causing any disruption. Unfortunately, Okonkwo is a very abusive man throughout the book to his wives and this mixes poison with his …show more content…
This especially includes his son Nwoye. Okonkwo looks at his son being very womanish. He thinks that Nwoye is weak and unwilling to do things that Ikefuma can do, for example. Okonkwo looks at Nwoye to be the opposite of what Okonkwo himself is, as a result, he creates a toxic relationship with him. Nwoye is simply too kind, and being too kind in an environment with Okonkwo, a relationship with no virtue at all is formed. Okonkwo speaks to Nwoye in a very harsh tone, almost always. Especially when he says “if you split another yam of this size, I shall break your jaw” (32). No wonder why they have such a bad relationship, because Okonkwo won’t take a moment to listen to his son and understand him. He judges too quickly, being very unaccepting and using harsh words to hurt him even more.
Finally, after analyzing all Okonkwo’s virtues and flaws, one understands that even though Okonkwo tries his best to be as pure as possible, there is always a flaw in his way. He may not intend to do it on purpose, but it unfortunately happens many times. Although he faces many problems through his flaws, Okonkwo is also a very good man. He still holds virtue in his heart, but unfortunately has no way to show it, proceeding to violence to show his emotions. in essence, Okonkwo is a good man with an unusual temper that poisons his virtue making him the monster we all