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Examples Of Cultural Collision In Things Fall Apart

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Cultural collisions is when two things crash into each other, when two of totally different situations turns into a conflict. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe it is a model of tragedies that can be compared to several things. Okonkwo is the perfect example for a tragic hero. Okonkwo sense of identity was challenged for many reasons. Okonkwo response to the collision of culture is by ignoring it like it just doesn’t exist around him. He disagree with the west ideas and believe that the Ibo people should come together. His identity is challenged by the cultural collision because before the western people came he was in charge of everything, he was well respected and feared by most might as well say all. Now that the western people is in …show more content…

He works hard to become a better person rather than his father. He is driven by fear of being like his father. He is determined to not resemble his father in any way. Okonkwo does not want to be like his father that’s why he strive to be the person he is now. His father has nothing going for himself he’s lazy and don’t want to be nothing in life. Okonkwo just wants to be respected by his clan but being like his father isn’t going to get him respect. When Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna he felt bad and had a guilty conscious from that day on. He wouldn’t eat nor drink he would be too depressed to do anything. All he has been doing is worrying about Ikemefuna and how he felt bad. All he could do was to think about Ikemefuna , he couldn’t sleep nor walk. He felt so bad and worried, he probably felt guilty about it and knew that he was wrong. As he told Ezinma to bring him some cold water she hurried and rushed out to get some because she was so concerned on why he wasn’t eating.Then later on something bad happened. But Okonkwo plays a huge part in Things Fall Apart he brings out the intense pressure in the story. He sets everything off, he has a huge effect on his family especially his wives. Okonkwo’s response to this evidence is sorrow because over the time that the white men have came and affected their culture. From the novel

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The reasons for Nwoye’s change in their sense of identity included his relationship with his father and his acceptance of the Missionaries. Ultimately, their response to the introduction of Western ideas shaped the meaning of the work as a whole by showing the positive effects the new culture can have on someone. The first reason Nwoye’s sense of identity was challenged with the introduction of the Western ideas was because of his relationship with his father. In the beginning of Things Fall Apart, it tells us

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Okonkwo Falls Apart Chinua Achebe offers a rare look at the natives perspective during colonialism in his work Things Fall Apart. The central struggle in the main character Okonkwo is that he is beginning to lose his way of life, and he is not able to do anything about it. Conflicts in religious beliefs with the arrival of the missionaries heightens Okonkwo 's internal aggression, and his inability to adapt leads to his downfall.

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Killing Ikemefuna shows that Okonkwo does not have absolute control over his emotions. As he sits in his obi afterward he is sad and defeated: “Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna” (Achebe 63). Killing someone close to him causes Okonkwo to fall into a deep state of depression. Starving himself because of his grief reveals that he has succumbed to his fear. Okonkwo has committed his life to avoid a situation that causes him to appear weak, but refusing to eat outwardly demonstrates his pain and sorrow of killing the boy that called him father.

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Among those of the same culture, individuals who are adaptive and open-minded can be successful when there is cultural collision. When the Igbo and European cultures collide, Okonkwo gradually spirals out of control, losing everything he values and his own sense of self. From the beginning of the novel, Achebe depicts Okonkwo as a virile warrior and a successful farmer within the Igbo tribe. Reacting with violence to anything he considers “womanly” or “weak”, “He was a man of action and man of war” (10). Because of his reputation as a warrior he is highly respected by his community.

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