He thought that anything weak needed to be destroyed and he was completely lost in his own masculinity. Through the accidental killing of a clansman he was ordered away from his village. His chi destroed him because he fought against it.
The story of Okonkwos is a long one and one which has a lot of importance in African culture. Nisha Fernandes answered. Chi is the personal god or the inner saviour. The book deals with the daily life and traditional beliefs and customs of a tribesman from the Ibo tribe. These beliefs and traditions were extremely strong and they governed their daily lives a great extent.
The most important spirit to be revered by the Ibo was the chi or personal god. It was considered to be a protector spirit and can be likened to a guardian angel. It could take the form of a grandfather for males and in the case of females a chi could be a beloved grandmother. Okonkwo is the central character in Things Fall Apart and his devotion to chi shapes his destiny. Okonowo is very afraid of showing any kind of weakness or failure.
He has three wives and many children who live in huts on his compound. Throughout his life, he wages a never ending battle for status; his life is dominated by the fear of weakness and failure. He is quick to anger, especially when dealing with men who are weak, lazy debtors like his father. However, Okonkwo overcompensates for his father's womanly weak ways, of which he is ashamed, because he does not tolerate idleness or gentleness.
Even though he feels inward affection at times, he never portrays affection toward anyone. Instead, he isolates himself by exhibiting anger through violent, stubborn, irrational behavior. Okonkwo demands that his family work long hours despite their age or limited physical stamina, and he nags and beats his wives and son, Nwoye, who Okonkwo believes is womanly like his father, Unoka. Okonkwo is impulsive; he acts before he thinks. Consequently, Okonkwo offends the Igbo people and their traditions as well as the gods of his clan.
Okonkwo is advised not to participate in the murder of Ikefemuna, but he actually kills Ikefemuna because he is "afraid of being thought weak.
He feels that the changes are destroying the Igbo culture, changes that require compromise and accommodation — two qualities that Okonkwo finds intolerable. Too proud and inflexible, he clings to traditional beliefs and mourns the loss of the past. When Okonkwa rashly kills a messenger from the British district office, his clansmen back away in fear; he realizes that none of them support him and that he can't save his village from the British colonists.
Okonkwo is defeated.
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