“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”.
- Martin Luther King J.r.
It is not difficult for a man to decide what he wants his life to be, what’s difficult is figuring out the things that he is willing to give up in order to live the life of the person he chose to be. A son may choose to be to be the person his father was once was, for a father is a hero to a son seeking to become the same. However, when a father has multiple failings in life, along with having nothing for his child to live off after his demise, a child becomes his own hero. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a man named Ukona is someone that is lazy and free spirited who do not possess titles, nor have succeeded in anything remarkable in his lifetime. His son, Okonkwo, was ashamed of him and made sure not to be what his father was, but in trying so hard, he ultimately failed and died a cowardly death, a fate even worse than his father’s. It is apparent that Okonkwo’s perception of the true measure of a man is with the strength of the muscles and an authoritative character. Perhaps if he was more like his father Ukona, who was an “agbala”, which means effeminate or a man who have taken no titles, the series of unfortunate events with him would have not occurred, and his masculinity wouldn’t have been the cause if his own demise. Therefore, I argue that masculinity is not a true measure of a desirable man and having warrior strength is most definitely not a definition of manhood.
The novel features a contradicting picture of a man depicted through the characters of the father and his son. Okonkwo is a picture of man that strongly believes in manhood to be endowed with much masculine as opposed to his father Ukona who Okonkwo despised for being soft and have died without achieving significant status in life. This kind of perspective pushed Okonkwo to take a different path of manhood away from the road that his father took. However, Okonkwo’s perception of masculinity brought him even greater failures, which encompasses a notion that a man’s success does not depend on his physical strength and manly behaviors. In one of the lines from the novel;
“Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken to title” (21).
In this passage from the novel, Okonkwo already had a different notion of masculinity even when he is still a little boy. He already sees his father as a failure and a weak man in addition to the labeling that the people in the community had given to his father referred to as “agbala” or someone effeminate. This kind of labeling was given to Ukona because of his lack of ability to do marvelous things that can be easily appreciated by the community and by his family in general. Even in terms of financial decisions, Ukona is a failure due to a lot of debts that he cannot afford to payback. Okonkwo see this kind of decision making in his father as a weak demonstration of masculinity. However, I cannot agree to Okonkwo that his father’s actions are something to be ashamed about because naturally, not all individuals are the same in terms of resourcefulness and intellectual capacity to seek for opportunities because there are factors that might have influenced these outcomes to Okuna, which manifested on his actions and decision making, but it doesn’t make him less of a father much more of a man that he was.
Let’s make a comparison; in one of the passages in the novel it is apparent that Okonkwo have a different perception of masculinity;
“Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper” (12).
Okonkwo’s drastic behaviors at home are very apparent throughout the entire novel. He beats his wives for simple mistakes such as having not to prepare dinner on time or accidentally killing a banana tree because his youngest wife took most of its leaves in packing food. I agree that Okonkwo have a warrior-like statute in the clan, but that doesn’t give him the reason to bring that strength inside his household. This is because abusive behavior encompasses infliction of aggressiveness towards weaker individuals, which Okonkwo is obviously doing. In addition, he feels that using the same strength he employ to battle his enemies should also be exercised on weaker individuals around him, which are not his enemies in the first place. Therefore, there is no reason for him to use his strength to hurt others. People often see men as the symbol of strength and security to defend the weak. A great man uses his strengths to protect the people around him, but Okonkwo is doing the opposite. I come to realize that even though his father (Okuna) failed to achieve titles and wealth that Okonkwo had, his father is still a better man because he never hurt anyone like Okonkwo did even if Okuna knows that as a man he possesses the same strength to hurt the people around him. In addition, in order for Okuna to accumulated debt due to his efforts to provide for the family instead of using his masculinity to acquire wealth for the wrong reasons.
Another important argument, which can prove that masculinity, is not limited to the amount of strength, wealth or social status that a man neither has, nor encompasses the true nature of a man and his masculinity can be found in one of the passages in the novel. Almost every aspect of the Igbo clan is classified according to gender;
“His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew women’s crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop” (3.28).
The fact that Okuna’s wife relies on important crops including Yam as man’s crops constitutes a deeper meaning on the context of masculinity. Okonkwo cannot just assume that his father was less masculine as he believe his father was because if a woman considers crowing a man’s crop, the women cannot assume the titles intended for men, but the fact that Okuna himself is also engaged in growing man’s crops, it is apparent that the sense of masculinity is still exists in him as opposed to what Okonkwo believes. The problem with Okonkwo is his abusive and discriminating behavior, which by today’s social standard is not merely acceptable even on a child, much more in a grown man.
“This meeting is for men.” The man who had contradicted him had no titles. That was why he had called him a woman. Okonkwo knew how to kill a man’s spirit” (4.1).
This passage demonstrates the discriminating nature of masculinity that Okonkwo have developed as a result of hatred towards his father. This kind of behavior is relative to common notions of pact mentality in masculinity, which involves the sense of brotherhood where an opposing male is considered an outsider from the pact. However, a man’s self value and purpose of strength is not confined within the circle of his own gender, these qualities should also be integrated into the larger context of social responsibility.
Conclusion
Okonkwo is a made with a very distorted perception of masculinity; he feels that insinuating strength to establish a statute is a necessity, but it actually encompasses a tainted image of a man that embodies responsibility and sensitivity. Masculinity is not a manifestation of a man’s worth, Okonkwo have demonstrated a different meaning of masculinity, which are apparent in the novel and from realization it appears that masculinity is a concealed weakness.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York, USA: Anchor Books, 1994. Print.
