Dvided

     At the beginning of the book you see Okonkwo as a success story. The boy who fought against the odds, and in  the end surpassed his failure of a father. Sadly this is only one side of him, for it is the mask he wears to hide the fear in his eyes and the insecurities that scarred him. Okonkwo fears to appear weak like his father, and this fear leads him to constantly want to seem manly. He would hide his weaknesses such as his affection for Eznema and Ikemefuna through violence and harsh words masking what he truly feels, and allows his view of manliness and the tribes traditions blind him. For instance with Eznema he wishes that she was a boy because of her strong demeanor, determination, and spirit. While he is disappointed with having Nwoye as a son because has hauntingly similar mannerisms to his grandfather, thus illustrating that within the tribe Okonkwo felt pressures to become or at least appear strong in order to be "better" than his father so he projects these fears onto Nwoye through beating him when he expresses weakness to fit their culture's idea of manliness. Sadly most of the actions that Oknonwo takes are motivated by fear, thus making him the biggest hypocrite in this book. Secondly when the Oracle declared that Ikemefuna shall be killed in the name of the woman that died three years ago Okonkwo chose to participate even though many would understand why he wouldn't due to him viewing Ikemefuna as a son and Ikemfuna viewing him as a father. This relationship is literally hacked to pieces by Okonkwo himself out of fear of being viewed as weak as he delivered the killing blow to Ikemfuna. After this we see Oknowo drink palm oil for days and stop eating for while as well due to his guilt from killing Ikemefuna, killing his son. In addition we see Nwoye snap back into reality with this shocking realization of the horrors that the tribe does in the name of tradition, and in a way of forcing him to grow up with this sudden experience of the real world and not the stories that his mother tells him. These acts of aggression in the name of fear and "manliness" have lead to Okonkwo to become secluded from the tribe, but not physically for he doesn't really fit in .