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    The Strengths and Weaknesses of Okonkwo

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    Okonkwo has strengths like fearlessness and ambition that drive him to success, but also weaknesses like an inability to show emotion which causes problems. His fear of being seen as weak like his father causes him to act violently at times against his family. While his determination brings him respect, it also leads to his tragic downfall when he kills his adopted son against advice and is exiled from the tribe.

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    The Strengths and Weaknesses of Okonkwo

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    api-3706073
    8K views1 page
    Okonkwo has strengths like fearlessness and ambition that drive him to success, but also weaknesses like an inability to show emotion which causes problems. His fear of being seen as weak like his father causes him to act violently at times against his family. While his determination brings him respect, it also leads to his tragic downfall when he kills his adopted son against advice and is exiled from the tribe.

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    Okonkwo has strengths like fearlessness and ambition that drive him to success, but also weaknesses like an inability to show emotion which causes problems. His fear of being seen as weak like his father causes him to act violently at times against his family. While his determination brings him respect, it also leads to his tragic downfall when he kills his adopted son against advice and is exiled from the tribe.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    8K views1 page

    The Strengths and Weaknesses of Okonkwo

    Uploaded by

    api-3706073
    Okonkwo has strengths like fearlessness and ambition that drive him to success, but also weaknesses like an inability to show emotion which causes problems. His fear of being seen as weak like his father causes him to act violently at times against his family. While his determination brings him respect, it also leads to his tragic downfall when he kills his adopted son against advice and is exiled from the tribe.

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    The Strengths and Weaknesses of Okonkwo

    Okonkwo has many assets to his character that could be seen as faults or desirable
    character traits. Some of his strengths then develop into weaknesses through the
    progression of the novel. Okonkwo is a man who has a fear of weakness, a fear that
    stems from his father, who unlike Okonkwo was lazy and improvident. Okonkwo’s
    father was unsuccessful and title less, this brought shame on Okonkwo from a early
    age, so he strived to be inverse from his father in every way. He tucked his emotions
    away and supplemented all of them with an occasional burst of anger to show his
    strength. “Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of
    anger”

    Okonkwo resentment for his father has left him lacking in a few interpersonal skills
    such as empathy. His one main flaw was his failure of weakness; it drove him towards
    success, and then finally drove him to end of a noose. His self-confidence, power and
    manliness become at times, rather self destructive which result in him beating his son
    and wife and other misdoings. His wife is beaten during Ojiugo (A sacred week of
    peace) this is looked down upon by the tribe who hold strong significance in religion.
    To his defence like any human he must of felt guilt and remorse for his actions, he
    didn’t want to show this emotion, to sustain his manliness. The conflict arose with his
    inner judgement (emotion) and his belief, he knew it was wrong to hit his wife and
    son, but his rage and belief of success told him, it was necessary. Okonkwo
    resentment for his father has left him lacking in a few interpersonal skills like
    empathy.

    Although with his determination to win and fear of weakness, he won titles, wrestling
    matches and had 3 wives all things worth respect and honour within his tribe. His
    personal traits also directly lead to his downfall along with his misjudgement. With
    bottled up emotion and pride he set forth to execute his adopted son who had to be
    sacrificed for religious reasons. He was advised by a close friend not to partake in the
    killing. Characteristically he went with his pride and manliness, thinking that he
    would be seen as weak if he, himself didn’t take care of his own responsibility. The
    relationship between Okonkwo and his adopted song was strong he was raised by
    Okonkwo for many years; he could have easily been seen as the favoured son, over
    Okonkwo’s own biological son. In an act of apathy he kills his son, not in an act of
    wrath but rather for his own status and reputation. Disregarding his emotion it comes
    back to haunt him and he is depressed not eating, loosing sleep and drinking palm
    wine, he never really recovers from this trauma.. Even after his violations of the
    tribe’s customs and belligerent behaviour he remains in the tribe with some respect in
    tact. However During a funeral Okonkwo’s rifle misfires in a sort of act of karma
    towards Okonkwo, this leads to the death of a boy and in turn Okonkwo being exiled
    for 7 years. His house is also burnt down which is symbolic of his behaviour he is a
    fiery character who has a temper to match and this results in him burning out after a
    busy life rather then fading out. He disregards his emotion constantly in his desire for
    reputation, fame and wealth and becomes rather destructive as a result.

    A great strength of Okonkwo was his ability to learn from others mistakes his father
    was a prime example of everything he didn’t want to be, so he did the exact opposite.
    His mistake was taking it to the extreme opposite which juxtaposed to his father was
    not a good way to lead a life.

    By Adam Schiller

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