Fear is one of the oldest emotions of the mankind. Fear can challenge people, it can inspire them, fear can be source of brilliant ideas and solutions. On the other hand it can control people, paralyze them, limit them, it can destroy their ability to rationalize. Either in a good or bad way fear guides people to actions they would never take if they were not fearful. Chinua Achebe's novel "Things Fall Apart," protagonist Okonkwo is an example of how can fear suppress any other emotion in one's life, dominate him and completely drives his actions. Somebody said: "In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure". Okonkwo's desire for success is great, greater than anybody else's. But it is not as great as his fear of failure and therefore he is predestined to fail. Okonkwo is a highly respected man in his village, a wealthy farmer who has three wives and a number of children. A self made man whose fame suddenly grows after he throws another wrestler in a fight which was considered one of the fiercest fights ever. Over the years he also has shown his great prowess in inter-tribal wars and has taken two titles and despite his youth he is already one of the greatest men of his time. On surface he is stern, stubborn and fearless man but as much as he seems outwardly fearless he is excessively frightened of just one thing - resembling of his father in any possible way. .
His father Unoka is unlike Okonkwo a poor, lazy and irresponsible man incapable of thinking about tomorrow. He is a debtor and owes every neighbor. Unoka is very convincing when trying to borrow more money from villagers but absolutely unable to bring prosperity to his family from this money. When it comes to repaying the debts, Unoka shows incredible lack of responsibility - he bursts out laughing when one of the lenders asks him to return money he borrowed from him. Any money that comes to him he spends carelessly, usually on wine or feasting.