The novel, Things Fall Apart, is about the rise and the fall of a Nigerian man, Okonkwo, and the Ibo culture. Okonkwo was a respected, influential leader in one of the nine villages in the Ibo community; he was also a wrestling champion. Okonkwo has many assets to his character that could be viewed as faults or desirable character traits. Some of his traits then develop into weaknesses through the advancement of the novel. Okonkwo has a fear of weakness, a fear that stems from his father-who was “lazy and improvident.” Unoka was thought of as a failure and the laughing stock because he was a “loafer.” He was very poor and could barely support his wife and kids. He would borrow money from others and never pay them back; the people swore to never lend him money again. Okonkwo was determined to gain bigger titles for himself and to become a more powerful and wealthier man in spite of his father’s weakness. On the other hand, there is a conflict between the traditional society of Umuofia and the new customs brought by the whites. Okonkwo has more weaknesses rather than strengths. Okonkwo’s father was very unsuccessful and title less-this brought shame on Okonkwo from an early age-so Okonkwo strived to be the inverse of his father in every possible way. By overcoming this shame brought by his father, at an early age, Okonkwo builds his home and reputation as a wrestler and hard-working farmer. His efforts pay off as he becomes wealthy through his crops and has three wives. Okonkwo hid all of his emotions and replaced all of them with occasional bursts of anger to show his strength, and dominates his three wives and children by being insensitive and controlling in order to show that he was manly. “Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger.” Over the years, Okonkwo became a very violent man. His greatest weakness was his hunger for being a better man drove him towards success, and then eventua