Sense of identity is important for everyday life but sometimes it can cause harm. In Sophocles’ play Antigone a woman, Antigone, fights against unjust politics in an attempt to honor her brother who died in war. Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart focuses around a man, Okonkwo, in igbo colony that gets invaded by colonists and how he fights back against colonization. In both Things Fall Apart and Antigone, Okonkwo’s and Antigone's senses of identity changed because of changes in rules and social customs, leading to their death. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo went from seeing himself above everyone else and that he could do no wrong only to realize in the end that he was no more than, causing him to commit suicide. For example, “Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.” (Achebe 17). This quote shows Okonkwo thinks of himself very highly and thinks that he should never fail or show weakness. In addition, “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog.” (Achebe 188). This quote further shows that the colonist that came led to …show more content…
An example of this is “Yes. I’ll do my duty to my brother - and yours as well, if you’re not prepared to. I won’t be caught betraying him.” (Sophocles 318). This is significant because it was unlawful to bury her brother, but Antigone would rather honor her family than follow the law. Furthermore, when Creon wants to kill her for burying her brother Antigone says, “Then why delay? There’s nothing in your words that I enjoy” (Sophocles 339). Now Antigone is outright daring the king right in front of him. From this evidence, we can conclude that Antigone was a little prideful and thought herself better than the