Okonkwo values hard work, strength, masculinity, and traditional Igbo customs and values. He strives to be successful and respected in his community, often measuring his own worth based on these ideals.
Okonkwo insults others because he himself is subtly insecure about his manliness. Therefore, he must make a show of his own manliness in order to prove himself to others. Further, he is annoyed with people who do not live up to his own standards, because he feels that they weaken the tribe and are harder to deal with and trust.
Okonkwo sees the killing of Ikemefuna as proof of his manliness, his willing to sacrifice one who was like a child to him to the gods based on the Oracle's word. Okonkwo feels that Obierika should have fulfilled his duty to the tribe and gone on the death march as well. Obierika finds it shameful that Okonkwo should have been the one to kill Ikemefuna. Letting him be sacrificed is one thing, but taking part in the death march and doing the killing himself are different things entirely. Obierika feels that Okonkwo should not even have gone on the march.
When Okonkwo thought of his father's weakness and failure, he would work and become successful to prove to himself that he is nothing like his father. He would think of his own shows of manliness to silence the thought that he might be like his father.
The behavior of Okonkwo reveals traits associated with masculinity in Ibo culture, such as strength, bravery, dominance, and the need to assert power and control. Okonkwo's strict adherence to traditional masculine values, his aggression, and his fierce determination to succeed are all indicative of how masculinity is defined and valued in Ibo society.
Okonkwo thought his father Unoka was a shameful man because he was lazy, effeminate, a large debtor, drunkard, and a poor farmer. His father held no titles and was thus called an agbala. Unoka was also not a warrior, preferring instead to play the flute. He was not well respected in any of the villages. Because of this, Okonkwo was ashamed of his father, and did not wish to become like him. He did his best to flee from the shadow of his father.
When Okonkwo thought of his father's weakness and failure, he would work and become successful to prove to himself that he is nothing like his father. He would think of his own shows of manliness to silence the thought that he might be like his father.
The book does not say this explicitly until Nwoye joins the Christians, when Okonkwo calls him an abomination. However, Okonkwo often wishes that Nwoye was stronger, saying that at his age, he should already have impregnated a wife and taken a farm. Okonkwo also wishes that Nwoye were as strong a wrestler as Obierika's child, Okafo.
Okonkwo views society as a place that values strength, hard work, and traditional masculinity. He believes in upholding the cultural norms and expectations of his community, including the importance of honor and respect. Okonkwo sees any form of weakness or deviation from these values as a threat to the stability and order of society.
The Igbo culture values strong warriors. This is but one facet of why Okonkwo was respected.
The ISBN of The Alphabet of Manliness is 0718152026.
The Alphabet of Manliness was created in 2006.