Fearful FlawOkonkwo is the protagonist of Chinua Achebe's story, Things Fall Apart. He has a disastrous flaw that dominates his life. His fear of failure and weakness leads him to take useless and destructive actions. His fear of weakness leads him to be emotionally distant from his children, to beat his wives, to kill Ikemefuna whom he loved and the Commissioner's messenger. His fear of failure leads him to disown his eldest son who did not meet his expectations, to become better than his idle father, to return after exile and to keep his estate under control. Okonkwo needs his home, Umuofia, to remain intact as its structure and system were measures that gave him value and meaning in his life. He was compelled to do this because his childhood and unlikely relationship with his father were one of the roots of his fears and drive for success. When unknown white men came to spread Christianity, the structure of Umuofia changed, Okonkwo was unable to have the life he was determined to live and could not survive in the new environment he believed had collapsed. Okonkwo despised his father, Unoka, who was an agbala. (female/untitled), did not support her family and had large debts. His father received no respect from other men, which made him grow afraid and embarrassed. His fear of becoming a failure led Okonkwo to become an ambitious man who spoke with his fists and transformed from nothing into a man of great importance in his tribe. Okonkwo worked diligently to earn a high-ranking reputation. “Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered” on page 5 Although still young, he became a wealthy farmer with two barns full of sweet potatoes, three wives, became famous as the greatest wrestler in the world. .. middle of paper ......ed Nowye to follow its cultural traditions. Okonkwo disowns his son because he is afraid it will bring him more pain and then turns to his younger children to become heads of the family when they are older. When Okonkwo returns, the people of Umuofia were not the same people who fought to solve problems but are now people who think and speak to solve problems. Okonkwo does not want to become “weak”; wants to fight against the Christian Catholic Church. When some messengers came to deliver a message from the Commissioner, he killed one of the messengers. This shows that Okonkwo was unable to control the events of Umuofia's new ways which were too different from those of his youth. He was afraid of becoming weak, so he committed suicide. Although it was against tradition, Okonkwo did one last thing that his father would never have thought of doing.