Does Okonkwo's Culture Lead To The Loss Of Identity In Things Fall Apart

From a strong man to an abomination, the collision of cultures has impactful consequences on mankind that one may never undo. In the classic novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the narrative follows the life of Okonkwo. The main character, Okonkwo, lives in the village of Umuofia of the Ibo tribe. From the start, Achebe depicts Okonkwo as a man who is undoubtedly influenced by the Ibo’s cultural customs and traditions. However, as the title suggests, things start to fall apart once the European colonizers began to overrule Umuofia. Furthermore, the clash of cultures resulting from colonization led to the downfall of one of the greatest man in Umuofia. By showing the contrast between Okonkwo’s prosperous life to his shameful death, Achebe
Throughout the story, Okonkwo was highly powerful and capable. He poured his pride into these traits of his and still continued to increase his worth in Umuofia. After being raised by his father, Unoka, who was a failure suffering from financial issues, Okonkwo made sure to never be compared to his father’s miserable life. Thankfully, “a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father” (8). This was one of the many aspects of his culture Okonkwo valued. Such values as this led to Okonkwo’s now well-respected and influential personality. However, it also developed his fear of weakness which is his major fatal flaw too. His fear became his strength because it gives him the determination to “had taken two titles and had shown incredible prowess in two inter-tribal wars” (5). But then, it became the source of his disintegration. As mentioned before, colonization caused a stark difference in Okonkwo’s responses. It also caused a shift in Okonkwo’s mentality. We can see that Okonkwo felt capable to be able to fight back against the colonizers while he was amidst all of these cultural changes occurring around him. He openly threatened them and burned the church down. Yet, all of these brave actions and sense of enduring ends with the beheading of the court messenger. This was his final chance of initiating war. Nonetheless, he was the only one who was fully
Okonkwo was an outstanding man in the Ibo society, and yet all his efforts went to waste once his culture starts to falter. All it took for this strong and well-respected man to crumble was to be controlled by another man. Even though the colonizers brought many innovative concepts such as health care and education, the collision of cultures is an alarming change. Achebe had the possibility of focusing on a character who was positively impacted by the customs brought from colonizers. However, Achebe wanted to demonstrate the negatives for a reason. There is no doubt that Okonkwo’s life was completely intertwined with Umuofia’s traditions. It is what made him, for the lack of better words, him. His persona and life were composed by his culture. To have Okonkwo simply welcome the colonizers tearing down everything that made him is ludicrous. It is to the point that the audience is left with anger when the Ibo culture gets replaced. Achebe wanted to show how Nigeria was more than just another story of colonization. If this was in, for example, Mr. Smith’s perspective, we would have never learned about Umuofia’s rich culture. But by following Okonkwo's perspective and witnessing his character development, Achebe showed how the clash of cultures can deeply impact one