Characterization of Okonkwo

What is the significance of Okonkwo’s character? What does he represent or is symbolic of?

Okonkwo is a representation of the tribal life in Nigeria, with Achebe representing both the good and the bad aspects of his culture through him, and portrays the impact of colonization on the indigenous people and their values. And their resistance to change and culture. Okonkwo is heavily invested in his culture, and he values the traditions and beliefs throughout the novel. Through this and his personality, we as a reader are educated on how titles, achievements and strength are regarded with high prestige in their society, and how rituals and traditions are carried out. Those not strong or with no titles are considered to be like ‘women’ and has a low ranking. Their society is high on the masculinity index, but they are also very considerate about their environment and their gods. Most of their beliefs revolve around the fear of doing or not doing something, some seemingly superstitious. Okonkwo, while characterized to be strong and brave, also fears these superstitions as well as has his own set of fears, such as of failure and weakness.

What is the purpose of Okonkwo’s character within the text?

Achebe tries to teach us morals through the characterization of a man who is fixated on the idea of maintaining a high status due to his personal insecurity of seeming weak and being a failure. While in the beginning, he is successful with achieving a high status. However, with this high status, he also developed pride and arrogance, and eventually this in turn became a weakness as because of this, he ended up in a lot of trouble and eventually it drove him to kill himself. The ending is ironic because he was so fixated with his high status and fear of weakness throughout the novel, but in the end he ended up killing himself in the most weak way (as seen by the tribe) and he lost his high status.

How does Okonkwo’s character contribute to big ideas?

Okonkwo’s character relates to the theme of religion, theme of fear, and traditions and culture (incorporating family and gender too). As he stands as a symbol of society, he represents all the themes that make up one. His characterization allows a foreign reader to gain a better insight into how his society values different themes such as family, gender and religion. His reluctance to change also shows how strongly ingrained these themes are within one’s culture and personality, and how change is difficult to manage.