This pressure leads him to kill a child who calls him father. Okonkwo doesn't want to appear weak in front of his fellow tribesmen, so he strikes the boy down despite the Oracle's message. “He heard Ikemefuna shout: “My father they killed me!” as she ran towards him. Stunned by fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut it down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Okonkwo is unable to express a normal human emotion, such as grief, because he is paralyzed by the opinions of others. Okonkwo lacks the ability to express his true feelings and therefore is a slave to the sense of masculinity he feels he must represent. His only ability to express his feelings comes only through violence and