Things fall apart

That year the harvest was sad, like a funeral, and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable and rotting yams. One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself. Okonkwo remembered that tragic year with a cold shiver throughout the rest of his life. It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair. He knew that he was a …

…In the beginning of the story, it is Unoka who was thought of as a worthless man by Okonkwo due to his having no titles and in general not being able to be successful in the clan way of life. But in the end of the story, it is himself that Okonkwo believes is a worthless man due to him not being able to be successful or adapt to the new way of clan life.