Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - English Societys Destruction of Okonkwo Societys Destruction of Okonkwo That year the harvest was sad, like a funeral, and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable and rotting yams. One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself. Okonkwo remembered that tragic year with a cold shiver throughout the rest of his life. It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the despair. He knew that he was a fierce fighter, but that year had been enough to break the heart of a lion(Achebe 18). This was taken from Chuna Achebe’s African novel, When Things Fall Apart. “Since I survived that year,” he always said, “I shall survive anything.” He put it down to his inflexible will. His father, Unoka, who was then an ailing man, had said to him during that terrible harvest month: “Do not despair. I know that you will not despair. You have a manly and a proud heart. 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.”(Achebe 18) Okonkwo believed he was such a fierce fighter, he could conquer anything life thew at him, however, these beliefs are what brought him down in the in the face of uncontrollable circumstances in the end. Okonkwo believed that war and brute fighting would fix everything. He was a proud and stubborn man constantly struggling to improve his standing in the tribal community. Okonkwo also had intense pride for his tribe and way of life. He believed it was the right way of life and not to be questioned. Everyone was supposed to fear war with Umofia due to their fierce warriors and greatness in battle. When the white men not only did not fear them, but openly threatened the tribal way of life, Okonkwo prepared to handle the situation the only way he knew how. He wanted to go to war against the new white invaders, chasing them from tribal lands and ending the threat of different ways of life. The changing society that Okonkwo was faced with inspired him into taking his own life. Okonkwo attempted to provoke a war with the white men both when he spoke up in the tribal meetings and then when he lashed out and killed a messenger of the white men. Okonkwo did this thinking the other tribal men would be behind him. He believed the act would lead to the war with the white men he had been hungering for. But after killing the messenger, Okonkwo immediately knew that he would be alone in his fight. Okonkwo was fully prepared for all out war. But this was as a warrior for Umofia with all the other warriors of Umofia. Failure is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone. When Okonkwo finally knew that he was indeed alone in his wish for war and in his idea of Umofia still a powerful place. Okonkwo failing alone was the final crushing blow for a once proud man and warrior. Throughout the story, you came to believe that Okonkwo could indeed survive any hardship society threw at him. He had overcame his meager beginnings, the reputation of his lazy father, the one extremely harsh harvest, having to kill the young boy who called him father, the constant worry of losing Ezinma, being exiled from Umofia for the accidental killing of the young boy, and then having his own son leave home and convert to the white man’s religion and way of life. Despite all these trials and tribulations, Okonkwo was fueled by his intense pride and the intense pride he had for Umofia and the tribal way of life. This was what Okonkwo clung to as the steadying force in his life. It was when he finally became aware that the way of life he so cherished was gone, that he gave up and took his own life. The very fact that Okonkwo took his own life underlines the loss of faith and hope he arrived at. The end of the book explains that it is an abomination of a man to take his own life. “It is against our custom. It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offence against the Earth, and a man who commits it will mot be buried by his clansmen. His body is evil, and only strangers may touch it. That is why we ask your people to bring him down, because you are strangers.”(Achebe 147) For a man and warrior who had such intense pride and worry about his place in the clan and the minds of the people of the clan, this was a shocking thing to go through with. Okonkwo knew the customs and traditions better than anyone, so he would obviously know that his body would be evil and his reputation tarnished badly. The fact that he still went through with hanging himself shows the great distance Okonkwo had fallen from society. Another failure inspired by society is how Okonkwo will be remembered by his clan and how his death and the way he died will affect his remaining sons. Okonkwo believed his own father to be a hindrance to his success and a model of what not to be. It would be an ironic twist if the sons of Okonkwo were shamed by the suicide and actions of their father, therefore causing them to think of Okonkwo exactly like Okonkwo had thought of his own father. If this was indeed the case, then ironically the only son that would forgive his father would be the one son that Okonkwo was ashamed of – Nwoye. Because of Nwoye’s new religion that stresses forgiveness, Nwoye would be the only son that would ultimately love him in the end. And it would be the religion that Okonkwo hated so much that would made this possible. In closing, as I was looking through the back of the book and the glossary of Ibo words and phrases, I came upon the word efulefu. Efulefu is defined as, “ a worthless man.” As I thought about this term and its definition, I found it ironic that the story begins with it applying to one man and ends with it applying to a very different man. In the beginning of the story, it is Unoka who was thought of as a worthless man by Okonkwo due to his having no titles and in general not being able to be successful in the clan way of life. But in the end of the story, it is himself that Okonkwo believes is a worthless man due to him not being able to be successful or adapt to the new way of clan life. Bibliography: Word Count: 1146
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