Things Fall Apart

Anna H.

My first thought after finishing the book Things Fall Apart was that of course Okonkwo would have been a good leader. It was his whole purpose for living, throughout the book. You can clearly see that in this quote, "His life had been ruled by a great passion--to become one of the lords of the clan" (131). He's hardworking, strong, brave, and he cares deeply about his village. After thinking about it a little longer, though, I became unsure whether he'd be as good a leader as I had originally thought. Yes, he is hardworking, strong, brave, and he cares a lot about his village, but he's also violent, impatient, unwilling to accept change, and he cares more about his own image than doing what's right.

Okonkwo is proven to be a very hardworking man various times. Since his father was heavily in debt his whole life, Okonkwo didn't have anything to start off with. He had to borrow some yams from a neighbor to help himself get started, but that season there happened to be a drought, and all the crops died. Then the next season there was heavy, nonstop rain, which made the yams rot. It was terrible, yet Okonkwo persevered, kept working hard on his fields, and became very wealthy. "During the planting season Okonkwo worked daily on his farms from cock-crow until the chickens went to roost" (13). Okonkwo kept working hard and kept his eye on what he wanted to achieve, even after being banned from the village for seven years. This quote is a good example of his attitude--"He knew he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan. He had lost the chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion, which, he was told, had gained ground. He had lost the years in which he might have taken the highest titles in the clan. But some of these losses were not irreparable. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people. He would return with a flourish, and regain the seven wasted years" (171). A hardworking leader would make a good one because he would have the tenacity to get things done. He wouldn't be afraid of a little sweat, to accomplish something he's after. He'd be willing to make sacrifices, and work hard for the benefit of the village.

Okonkwo is known throughout the village for his strength and agility. He has won numerous wrestling matches from the time he was quite young. An especially memorable match was when he threw the Cat, Amalinze, who hadn't been beaten in seven years. "Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages" (8). Wrestling requires much strength and agility, and so Okonkwo must have both those qualities to have gotten such fame. His strength is also mentioned in the passage, "He was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue" (13). These qualities would be especially beneficial to have in a leader of Umuofia since they are a warlike clan. It would be reassuring to know that you are being lead by someone capable to defend against enemies when needed.

Another good quality to have in a leader is bravery. A leader needs to be daring so that he will go for things. You wouldn't want a leader who is too cowardly to ever do anything about a problem, if it was necessary. Okonkwo was a very daring leader indeed--"... he was not afraid of war. He was a man of action, a man of war. Unlike his father he could stand the look of blood" (10). But with this audaciousness should come much thought. Even if your leader is daring, if he doesn't take the time to think everything through before acting on it, things could turn out disastrous.

Okonkwo cares strongly about his village, and wants to see its success. You can see this when Okonkwo is going back to Umuofia after his exile, and the white men have already established a new religion and court system, and gotten converts. Okonkwo "…mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women" (183). Okonkwo believed that the foreigners were bad, and that they would only destroy the village, and the villagers’ way of life. It's important for a leader of Umuofia to care about the village, or else he would be indifferent to the well being of the clan, and wouldn't do anything to try to improve it.

Even though Okonkwo cares strongly about his village, he might not be a good leader because he cares even more about his own image. This became apparent when he beat his wife during the sacred Week of Peace. Okonkwo had been "provoked to justifiable anger" (~9) when his youngest wife, Ojiugo, hadn't come home early enough to make his afternoon meal. When she did come home he beat her. Then, "His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. But Okonkwo was not the kind of man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess" (30). It was unheard of to beat someone during the Week of Peace, but Okonkwo did it anyway because if he didn't he might look weak. Ezeani came to Okonkwo's house and told him, "You have committed a great evil...The evil you have done can ruin the whole clan" (30). Okonkwo risked the destruction of his whole village, by offending the Earth goddess, just so that he wouldn't look weak. His fear of seeming weak became even more apparent when Okonkwo was walking through the forest with some other men, who were to kill Ikemefuna. "As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete, Okonkwo looked away. He heard the blow. The pot fell and broke in the sand. He heard Ikemefuna cry, 'My father, they have killed me!' as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak" (61). Ikemefuna had become like a son to Okonkwo, and before they had set off to kill him, Ogbuefi Ezedu had told Okonkwo not to have anything to do with his murder. But Okonkwo killed the boy that called him father anyway, just because he was afraid of people thinking he was weak. In the beginning of the book Okonkwo’s “…whole life is dominated by fear, fear of failure and of weakness" (13). Okonkwo would do anything to save himself from failing or looking weak, even if it was against what was right. This quality in Okonkwo would definitely impede his ability to be a good leader. It would affect his ability to make good decisions, as it already has.

Okonkwo is also very violent and impatient. Okonkwo easily resorts to violence to solve all his problems. In the very beginning of the book, Okonkwo is described. It says, "When he walked, his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs, as if he was going to pounce on somebody. And he did pounce o people quite often. He had a slight stammer, and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists. He had no patience..." (4). He was also often described beating his wife and children when he found them unsatisfactory. Another quote showing this is again describing Okonkwo-- "Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children" (~3). Violence is not the solution to everything, and Okonkwo would most likely always resort to violence to solve any problems. An example of this would be near the end of the book, after a Christian convert, Enoch, unmasked an eywugwu in public, which was one of the greatest crimes one could commit. After this incident Okonkwo spoke to his clansmen. The result was this: "The egwugwu moved like a furious whirlwind to Enoch's compound and with machete and fire reduced it to a desolate heap. And from there they made for the church, intoxicated with destruction" (188). That wasn't even the worst. Okonkwo had wanted them to kill the missionary and drive away the Christians. Anyway, this was not a smart move on the clansmen's part because three days later, the District Commissioner arrested them and locked them up, where they were starved and beaten until their village paid a fine. Okonkwo's haste to violence was also a big mistake right after this incident. The people of Umuofia were having a meeting to discuss what should be done about the outsiders, when five messengers came and told them to stop the meeting. Okonkwo drew his machete, and beheaded the head messenger, but none of his fellow clansmen did anything, and the four other messengers got away. Okonkwo had tried to make everything better by using violence, but was not supported by the rest of his clan. The rest of the village doesn't share the same point of view on how to solve things as Okonkwo, which means he wouldn't be able to be very effective in leading the rest of his clan.

These are also examples of how just bravery alone, won't always turn out the best results. A leader should also be able to make right decisions, which Okonkwo was not. He didn't take the time to think of all the consequences of his actions, and believed that everything would be solved with violence. These last two examples also show Okonkwo’s inability to accept change, which is detrimental because change is inevitable. Okonkwo is unwilling to even attempt to compromise with the outsiders and find a way to live comfortably with them. Okonkwo’s violence and inability to accept change would keep him from making the best decisions, despite his deep concern for his clan.

Okonkwo’s disregard for the consequences of his actions and his disability to make good decisions overpower his care for the village and his hardworking personality. So, although Okonkwo does possess some good qualities of a leader, the negative qualities in him seem to outweigh the positive.