A case can be argued for a "yes" or a "no" answer for this
question, I believe.
The choices Okonkwo makes are largely
responsible for his downfall. He is determined not to be like his father, who was
considered weak, so this is a huge motivating factor in everything he does. He mistreats
his children and his wives, and he kills Ikemefuna even though he has been warned by the
tribal elders not to have anything to do with this killing. He does not want to appear
weak, so he kills a boy he has come to love like a son. He beats his wife and
accidentally shoots the son of a tribal elder, so he is banished for 7 years. While he
is banished, he continues to make poor choices, and when he returns to his native
village after his banishment, he is the cause for his son converting to Christianity and
finally, he decapitates a court messenger and commits suicide. All of these are bad
choices. The final choice of commiting suicide makes him unclean and alienates him from
his tribe forever because suicide angers the earth
goddess.
For the opposite point of view, one could argue
that the forces against Okonkwo are overwhelming and they are the cause for his life
"falling apart." Okonkwo fails to adapt to change, stubbornly adhering to old ways that
do not seem to work anymore and because of this, he is in constant conflict with people,
his family, his gods, the colonizers.
What do you
think?
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