Okonkwo In Things Fall Apart Essay, Research Paper

When a cock meets a choice of all right China, the all right China interruptions and shatters. However, if the all right China is replaced with Play-Doh ( that fantastic substance that malodor of & # 8220 ; non-toxic & # 8221 ; chemicals ) , the Play-Doh casts and conforms to the cock ; it changes. This may sound utterly fruitless ; nevertheless, the Play-Doh is still recognizable as Play-Do, while the China exists as a aggregation of glass. The China & # 8217 ; s refusal to alter causes it to interrupt. The Play-Doh accepts alteration and lets the force cast it into something new, yet something that still resembles Play-Doh. Okonkwo of Chinua Achebe & # 8217 ; s Things Fall Apart, like the choice of China, refuses to alter. This refusal causes a & # 8220 ; loss of ego & # 8221 ; comparable to the China & # 8217 ; s loss of signifier, and, due to this refusal, he breaks, or, as shown in the novel, kills himself. Evidence of this negation to alter can be found in points in the novel when alteration is forced upon Okonkwo.

It may be pertinent to specify what Okonkwo & # 8217 ; s ego is. He had an utmost disgust for his male parent. & # 8220 ; He had no forbearance with unsuccessful work forces, he had no forbearance for his male parent & # 8221 ; ( 2 ) . Therefore, he tried non to go his male parent. He did this by environing himself with the work of back uping his household, something his male parent did non make. This everyday became his ego. He was in fright of losing this modus operandi because he would so go his male parent. This can be inferred by Okonkwo & # 8217 ; s experience in expatriate. He did non bask reconstructing his farm, & # 8220 ; and when there was no work to make he sat in a soundless half-sleep & # 8221 ; ( 113 ) . His male parent was described as & # 8220 ; a idler & # 8221 ; ( 3 ) and a idler is a individual who does no work. Hence, his ego is his everyday, and to alter this modus operandi would jeopardize his ego. This proves that he feared alteration.

The elusive border of his opposition to the moving ridge of alteration prevarications in the mundane facets of Okonkwo & # 8217 ; s life. His tribal people celebrated & # 8220 ; The

New Yam Festival” . However, he “could ne’er become enthusiastic approximately banquets as most people” ( 32 ) . “He was ever felt uncomfortable sitting around for yearss waiting for a banquet or acquiring over it. He would be really much happier working on his farm” ( 32 ) . In kernel, he didn’t enjoy the alteration in his every twenty-four hours life that the banquet brought for he was a adult male addicted to and comforted by modus operandi.

But the old is merely like a abrasion on the China home base. With more force applied, the China shatters. In Okonkwo & # 8217 ; s instance, when there is a noteworthy mutant in his day-to-day modus operandi, he loses himself. A important change of his life style can be observed when his folk is faced with Christianity: & # 8220 ; Now he ( Christianity ) has won our brothers, and our kin can no longer move like one & # 8221 ; ( 152 ) . Christian religion swept up his boy, Nwoye. Okonkwo, of class, did non like this turbulence of normalcy. He violently attacked his boy. He convinced himself that & # 8220 ; Nwoye was non deserving contending for & # 8221 ; ( 133 ) , & # 8220 ; he is no longer my boy & # 8221 ; ( 148 ) . He even pondered the thought that his married woman had cheated on him, and that Nwoye was non of his ain ( 133 ) . This shows his inability to accept Nwoye & # 8217 ; s religious development.

Along the same lines, Okonkwo does non wish the new faith & # 8217 ; s effects on his people. Therefore he felt it was his responsibility to halt the inflow of passage: & # 8220 ; I will contend entirely if I choose & # 8221 ; ( 173 ) . When he takes affairs into his ain custodies he displays the culmination of his inability to alter: his denial. He believes he must put things right, based on the fact that he entirely disagrees with the manner things are.

Okonkwo & # 8217 ; s obstinacy, his inability to grok the surrounding, altering universe crestless waves in him. It swells to a point where he breaks indoors. It breaks and he hangs from a tree limb. What broke was the modus operandi of his life, created to steer him off his male parent & # 8217 ; s way. When the environing environment changed his modus operandi, he lost his ego.