Okonkwo: Anger Issues

In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, the first part clearly demonstrates that Okonkwo was serious anger issues with beating his wives, shooting at Ekwefi, and in the end killing his "son". From the beginning it is clear that Okonkwo believes in violence and has incorporated that ideal into his lifestyle. To start this part of the novel, Okonkwo is angered by his wife, Oijugo, because she went to go get her hair braided before making a meal for him, so he beat her, despite the peace of the sacred week. After repenting for his sin, he did not change his way, rather another incident occurred. He finds that another one of his wives, Ekwefi, angers him (it should be noted that she did nothing to anger him, so this time it was unprovoked) and he decided to beat her. After this incident, things went back to normal for a little, but when Okonkwo went hunting with her, things went south again. This time she muttered something under her breath that angered him, thus he decided to shoot at her. Thankfully he missed her, but still this type of anger needs to be controlled. Finally, just to prove that Okonkwo has anger issues that need to be controlled, Okonkwo kills his "son" that he actually really loved, due to the fear that he does not want to look weak. When he is walking home with a group of men from Umuofia, a man attacks the group with a machete. Rather than saving his son and showing his compassion, he cuts the boy down and leaves him behind, thus aiding to his foster son's death. Although it does upset him that the boy is dead, he did have the chance to save him, but he could not risk his image of violence and power. In recap of what I have learned about Okonkwo in this part of the book is that: Okonkwo has major anger issues, which explain the beatings of his wives, and problems with power, which is why he did not aid his "son" when he was being killed.