Is Okonkwo responsible for his own downfall?

Naturally, the previous thoughts were accurate.  For me, I place focus on how Okonkwo perceives life when he returns to the village.  I would say that when Okonkwo comes back to the village to find life has changed, the conditions that caused this change has to have some level of responsibility for causing him to react and interpret the world the way he does.  Certainly, his downfall is due in part to the changing world and values of the Ibo and the presence of Colonial society interfering in the traditional setting in which Okonkwo asserted belief.   We can blame Okonkwo for not being able to fully able to react properly or understand the nature of the change around him.  Yet, one has to feel a certain amount of empathy for him in not be able to process the imposition of Christianity, the presence of Western values that undermined the traditional Ibo ways, as well as the idea that the bonds of collectivity and solidarity that once used to rule the village have been supplanted with individualism and materialism.  Certainly, he should have understood these forces in a more constructive manner.  Yet, upon his return to the village, the stunning level of change was one that impacted him greatly and for this, I am not certain that I am able to assign to him all the blame for his downfall.

Is Okonkwo responsible for his own downfall?

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?

Did Okonkwo's pride and fears significantly contribute to his downfall?

While Okonkwo does end up taking his own life, the question of his personal responsibility for this particular fate is a complex and interesting one.

Achebe’s protagonist certainly possesses some character flaws that lead to a variety of setbacks and punishments and drive his son away, but to answer the question of Okonkwo’s responsibility for his downfall, we have to look at the specific nature of that downfall.

To inform an answer to this question, we might pause to consider what may have happened to Okonkwo if the British had never come to Umuofia and the Igbo region. His chances of losing Nwoye seem vastly increased when the Christians come offering an alternative life for the boy. And Okonkwo's ultimate act of murder seems to be almost entirely generated by the circumstances created by the British arrival (as missionaries and as government/municipal agents, too).

If we can find some reason to think that Okonkwo’s fate would have been different if the British never came, then we need to qualify any responsibility we place on Okonkwo individually for his downfall. In other words, if Okonkwo’s downfall is partially the result of a British occupation, Okonkwo’s downfall is not solely of his own making.

Again, Okonkwo has flaws. He is incapable of showing any emotion but fear. Internally he is deeply afraid of showing weakness lest he appear to be weak like his father, Unoka. Okonkwo is also quick to anger. All of these traits eventuate into transgressions as Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna (when he does not need to), breaks the peace of the Week of Peace, and drives his son Nwoye away from the family.

In this last example we have perhaps the best rationale for arguing that Okonkwo is responsible for his downfall, because the loss of Nwoye is part of the general loss of cultural integrity that Okonkwo (violently) resists and that essentially defines his doom.

Were Okonkwo a different man, he could have nurtured Nwoye at least enough to keep him in the family. But, having driven his son away, protagonist Okonkwo speeds on the dissolution of his community. It is this very dissolution that he wants to fight against.

Okonkwo nearly recognizes this notion after his last encounter with Nwoye, gazing into the fire and brooding on what has come to pass.

“Suppose when he died all his male children decided to follow Nwoye’s steps and abandon their ancestors? Okonkwo felt a cold shudder run through him at the terrible prospect, like the prospect of annihilation.”

The beginnings of this annihilation can be attributed in no small part to Okonkwo's emotional limitations and his insistence on shaping Nwoye into a certain kind of man.

Nwoye is driven away, in large part, because Okonkwo’s “whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness,” and so he could not be kind or gentle or forgiving with a son who needed exactly these things.

Yet, without the significant presence of the British and the alternative life they offered to Okonkwo’s son, there seems good reason to presume that Okonkwo’s fate could have been different.

His fear and his pride do certainly contribute to the breaking apart of his family unit. His unyielding nature causes him to contribute to the dissolution of his community identity and community integrity in this way.

In the end, though, we also have to wonder if his pride and fear were entirely unfounded and absolutely negative and therefore should be seen only as weaknesses in his character. They are weaknesses, in some contexts and instances, but they are strengths in others. If the British effectively created a context where these traits became weaknesses, should we blame Okonkwo solely for his downfall?

Did Okonkwo's pride and fears significantly contribute to his downfall?

I presume that you are talking about Okonkwo, the protagonist of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, and how his own fears and his immense pride contribute to his eventual downfall. Okonkwo's issues stem largely from his pride and his inability to be flexible in the face of the great changes that sweep over his village due to the pervasive influence of colonial forces. Okonkwo lives by and exemplifies exaggerated traditional tribal values that become antiquated in a postcolonial Nigeria. He desires to be a strong, dominant warrior, and he fears being perceived as weak and feminine. He values masculinity to the point in which it becomes detrimental for his life and well being. He is incapable of changing; Okonkwo is too proud to adapt to his changing environment, and this eventually leads to his downfall.  

How do Okonkwo's impulsive actions contribute to his downfall in Things Fall Apart?

In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo's rashness is a character trait that he cannot seem to change. Chinua Achebe suggests that he is a tragic hero, because his flaw is innate and sparks numerous events with negative consequences. Some of Okonkwo's hasty actions do not have immediate repercussions. Those that occur early in the novel largely serve to establish his personality and related behaviors and to provide foreshadowing of larger problems to follow.

One such hasty action occurs when Okonkwo beats his wife Ojugo for neglecting her domestic duties. Because this occurs during the Week of Peace, he must pay a fine. The relatively small consequence does not dissuade him from similar behavior—as he later beats his other wife, Ekwefi. The repercussions of this action are much greater. Initially, nothing happens to him, but he has hurt Ekwefi emotionally as well as physically.

When he overreacts again by shooting at her during the festival, that is when he accidentally kills Ezeudu's son. This action does have serious consequences: Okonkwo is banished. Although living away from his community for seven years does have some positive benefits, the banishment is the beginning of the end for him. It essentially alienates him from the developments going on there. When he returns, he is like a stranger in his own home.

How do Okonkwo's impulsive actions contribute to his downfall in Things Fall Apart?

Throughout the story we see that Okonkwo's hasty actions have brought him reproach and trouble, starting with they led to his exile from the town, and in some ways this can be linked to the rash actions he takes on returning.  Rather than having any chance at reacting in a more measured and understanding way, he returns to see such massive changes and he cannot get rid of the bitterness that has built up inside him during his exile.

His decision along with the others to go and burn Enoch's compound and the church down demonstrate a willingness to act without an understanding of the problem or the opponent.  He is unable to contemplate the idea that life in Umuofia has changed for good and that his vigorous defense of it will not lead to things returning to normal.

His final act of confrontation, to kill the messenger from the court is clearly one of impatience and desperation and afterwards he realizes that the Igbo will not rise up together but that he has in many ways witnessed his own falling apart as well as the death of the Igbo way of life, hence he resorts to hanging himself.

Who is responsible for Okonkwo's downfall in "Things Fall Apart"?

Okonkwo, as much as he may be deemed a villian, was indeed a victim of colonization. Achebe's primary purpose, in my opinion, in writing Things Fall Apart was to highlight the evils of colonization.

Okonkwo was a leader of his people. Whether or not those who colonized his village believed he was morally right or wrong makes no difference -- the fact remains that the Igbo culture was debased and annhilated. Without the colonization of his village, Okonkwo would not have "fallen." He was a truly steadfast and stubborn man, but some would perhaps say he was the strongest for not giving in so easily to the newcomers.