1. The Description of Okonkwos Personality

his household. He forces his wives and children too much to fulfill his expectation. He always uses his harsh and cruel actions every time he sees laziness and weakness in their life. He often gives them punishment if they disobey his orders. Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His`wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. p.13 His superiority can be on the way he treats unsuccessful men. He is so strict with the condition of being weak or lazy. This condition always makes him upset. He does not care of such thing although his wives or children do those kinds of thing. He always uses his strength and harsh action to teach his wives and children in avoiding laziness or weakness. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. p.28 Although Okonkwo is described as a great warrior but he also has some weaknesses. Besides his strong and well-built body, Okonkwo cannot say what he thought quickly. He is a little bit stammer. He is also a man who cannot accommodate his anger. Every time he gets angry and cannot express it by his words, he will use his fists to satisfy his anger. He often uses his fists to weakness and unsuccessful men like his father. And he did pounce on people quite often. He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words quickly enough, he would use his fists. He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father. p.4 Okonkwos harsh actions actually show his inability in overcoming his fear. He covers up his weakness behind his harsh and rude actions. He cannot expel his fear because he can only distract it from his mind temporarily. Moreover, he spreads his fear to everybody and prevents them to recognize his weakness.

4. 2. Okonkwos Reasons in Committing Suicide

In the first part of this analysis, I have explained about Okonkwos personalities, which are negative. However, Okonkwos reasons in committing suicide are closely related to his negative personalities. They are connected each other because Okonkwos personalities has activated his motivations to commit suicide. Therefore, in this part the most important point I would like to explain is Okonkwos reasons to commit suicide as result of his personalities. Before explaining more about his reasons to commit suicide, the writer would like to discuss about Okonkwos past life that forms his negative personalities that support him to commit suicide. These parts are divided into three parts. They are the main conflicts that Okonkwo faced, how Okonkwo deals with the conflict and how conflicts change Okonkwo’s character. In the very beginning of Things Fall Apart, Achebe gives two different conditions of Okonkwos and his fathers life. It seems that Achebe wants to contrast them. The differences can be seen on the way Okonkwo and his father Unoka face their lives and achieve their goals. Okonkwo is described as a very successful man, while his father is described as the opposite. Those differences became a trigger that causes a conflict not only between Okonkwo and his father, but also Okonkwo and all unsuccessful men.