Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart: Commentary on Environmental Determinants on Character Traits

There is a theme of parental effect on child development in Achebe. The conflict is derived from Okonkwu's major character flaw-- his need to be the ideal masculine warrior. Okonkwu , even when it seems that through some coincidence is given the tools to show compassion, is always overcome by his brutish nature. But Achebe consistently is attributing this brusqueness and antipathy with Okonkwu's detestment of his father's un-masculinity and his need to be the opposite of his father and therefore the extreme form of masculinity. Okonkwwu "was possessed by the fear of his father's contemptible life and shameful death" (Achebe 18). The main struggle is that of Okonkwu not being able to overcome his fear of being like his father. This transfers to his own son: Okonkwu's hyper-manliness affects the nature of Nwoye, his oldest son. It i a cycle where the father is always influencing the son who is then influencing his own son in an infinite cycle.

Okonkwu lived not by the laws of the gods or by nature, but he "was ruled by one passion-- to hate everything his father Unoka had loved" (Achebe 13). Okonkwu's nature was not determined by his inherent character traits but by the traits he developed through social constructs and a life lived in embarrassment with his incompetent, idle, and indebted father.  But it is a bit of an irony because his father has good qualities such as gentleness and a love for playing the flute, but Okonkwu cannot see the good because he is blinded by the bad. Okonkwu has become the an output of his tribe that has all of the recommendable characteristics- hardworking, determined, strong, quick, and courageous  but he lacks the moral guidance ethical consideration that is also essential for being a member of the tribe. Okonkwu's anxiety over his father's idleness has him so focused on being manly that he turns into a brute because he forgets about compassion, gentility, and patience, traits that his father had, but Okonkwu was unable to recognize. For example, when Okonkwu beats his wife during the Peace Week because she was late making dinner. This was a direct ignorance of the laws of their gods who deemed it a peaceful week,but Okonkwu was too preoccupied with exerting his manliness. Or perhaps the most prominent example is when he tosses aside humility and paternal emotions and comes with the group who kills his adopted son Ikemefuna and not only is he present for the killing but he cannot be seen as weak so he must exert his manliness by putting his ax into Ikemefuna and thus killing his son, in this unnatural act of filicide.

Ikemefuna was a chance for Okonkwu to change his nature and show some compassion. He was very fond of Ikemefuna but he refused to show it because emotions are seen to him as a weakness, as something only for women. Ikemefuna was a way out of this love-less life and Okonkwu literally killed his compassion when he killed Ikemefuna. 

But his lack of compassion is not only affecting himself, but also his blood-related son, Nwoye. Nwoye loved and was becoming both a masculine and compassionate man with the companionship of Ikemefuna; his adopted brother was teaching him more than his father could. But with his father's weakness, not in physicality--the sense of the world that Okonkwu knows-- but in ethical weakness-- in an ability to stand up for what you love-- Nwoye loses not only his most reliable role model but also he loses faith in the ideals of his father. He can see no good in masculinity or toughness anymore because he see how it destroyed his best friend and brother. 

Okonkwu's father failed him in his inability to teach Okonkwu the importance of kindness and compassion, two things that his father actually knew something about. Okonkwu fails both of his sons through his inability to teach them kindness and compassion because he knew nothing about these traits. But Okonkwu's effort to teach Nwoye masculinity backfires. Okonkwu's mistakes have all of the opposite effects that he wanted and his son seems too much like Okonkwu's own father in his eyes, gentle and emotional. But although Okonkwu is upset at his son's lack of manliness, he has only himself to blame. Although he cannot see it, blinded by his hatred of his father and therefore hatred of all things gentle, his son is better off being compassionate. The alternation of generations of compassion is a intricacy of familial effects on nature.