Thingss Fall Apart A Comparison Essay, Research Paper
Okonkwo and Obierika, two characters in Chinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart, are two drastically different people, yet they portion some of the same qualities and beliefs. Okonkwo is stubborn, froward, and stiff. Obierika is open-minded, thoughtful, and expressive. Both believe and follow the same faith, and effort to achieve honors in their society. They are friends that are non afraid to knock one another or indicate out each other s mistakes. Chinua Achebe uses these two characters to demo the many facets of Ibo civilization through different positions, to give the reader a greater apprehension.
Okonkwo and Obierika, two friends could non be more different. They are similar dark and twenty-four hours or Yin and Yang. Okonkwo is really stiff, closed off, and unwilling to accept those he deemed unsuccessful, He had no forbearance for unsuccessful people. while Obierika is tolerant, unfastened to alter, and willing to see other people s beliefs and thoughts. Okonkwo is willing to follow his people s beliefs and values unerringly and without inquiry. He besides fears that he will be thought weak in the eyes of the tribesmen so he becomes overzealous in looking the pinnacle of strength and manfulness. This fanatism leads him to kill his alternate boy, Ikemefuna, as it was the will of the Gods.
He heard Ikemefuna call, My male parent, they have killed me! as he ran towards him. Dazed with fright, Okonkwo drew his matchet and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.
Okonkwo s frights of failing lead him to make a great many things that finally intend his ain ruin. Okonkwo and Obierika s beliefs frequently differ. When Okonkwo took portion in the slaying of his boy, Obierika believed that he was incorrect to make so. If I were you I would hold stayed at place. What you have done will non delight the Earth. It is the sort of action for which the goddess wipes out whole households. Okonkwo is unwilling to state what he thinks if that thought happens to travel against a belief or value of the folk, whereas Obierika is frequently willing to state what he thinks. An illustration is when Okonkwo inquiries Obierika s determination non to come along to assistance in Ikemefuna s decease. He is willing to acknowledge that he did non desire to come. Okonkwo is a leader and takes speedy action, while Obierika is a follower and delaies for another to do the first move or determination. One of the biggest difference between Okonkwo and Obierika is that Okonkwo is ever insecure, afraid of himself, and afraid of what other people will believe of him and Obierika is self-confident, able to accept who he is, and confident that people will accept him for who he is. The other of import difference between the two is that Okonkwo is unable or unwilling to accept the presence of the Christians or the British, while Obierika is able to accept the fact that they are here, even if he does non desire them to be at that place.
Though Okonkwo and Obierika appear to be really different they portion qualities and features that make it possible for them to co be without excessively much struggle. To get down with both Okonkwo and Obierika follow the same faith. Neither of them wants to displease the assorted Gods of their faith
You sound as if you question the authorization and the determination of the Oracle, who said he should decease. I do non. nor do they wish T
o convert to the new Christian faith. Okonkwo and Obierika portion the desire to derive position in their folk by gaining rubrics and following their value systems. Okonkwo followed the will of the prophet in the edict of Ikemefuna s decease, as would Obierika if it had been his boy. The lone difference is that Obierika would non hold joined in the murder. But if the Oracle said that my boy should be killed I would neither challenge it nor be the one to make it. They, like the remainder of the Ibo people have more than one married woman and value male offspring higher than female. Both of the work forces are respected members of the folk, and both of them have earned and merit the regard they receive. Indeed he respected him [ Okonkwo ] for his industry and success. Okonkwo and Obierika possess the same type of life. They are both husbandmans, with the same harvest, yams, they harvest palm vino to imbibe, and demand order and subject from their households. They portion the same sentiments of people in general, if you have yams and rubrics you are successful, if you don t you are non. Finally both Okonkwo and Obierika value award and bravery. These similarities allow the two to be friends and to esteem each other every bit good as accept and bask their differences.
Chinua Achebe has made these two friends so unlike one another to let the reader a broader position of the life of the Ibo people. One additions the positions of both characters, which allows the reader to explicate more educated and all-around sentiments. In Okonkwo One sees the ideal Ibo male played out to extremes. Okonkwo was good known throughout the nine small towns and even beyond. His celebrity rested on solid personal accomplishments. Something extremely valued by the Ibo people. There is an apprehension of what sort of force per unit area the typical Ibo male is under to win and the resulting emphasiss. Obierika is a more moderate individual. He has the same values and faith as Okonkwo and wants to achieve the same awards, like rubrics, but he is more capable of covering with the force per unit areas and emphasis of his life. He besides offers a expression into the interior Ibo male. The reader is given a opportunity to look inside his head and see his private ideas, which puts much of the novel into position. Okonkwo and Obierika show how two different people trade with the same type of like. One, Obierika copes with it good, covering with things as they come and utilizing his judgement, instead than the sensed opinion of the kin and one, Okonkwo does non, moving rashly at times and non following his head, which leads to his self-destruction. These two characters in Things Fall Apart aid to set the book and the events within it into position, while giving a deeper apprehension of the book and the people s lives it is approximately.
Okonkwo and Obierika, two friends, with two separate lives, in the same society portion their faith, values, and desires of high award are to clearly different people. Where Okonkwo is closed minded and unable to accept alteration or that alteration is inevitable, Obierika is willing to accept alteration and its inevitableness and can sometimes see the value of the alteration. Together, Okonkwo and Obierika provide two different ways to see and understand the folk. Through Achebe s composing the reader is able to look at the same event through different eyes therefore deriving a broader position and greater apprehension of the Ibo civilization and the people.
