things fall apart

             1. Okonkwo said, ¡§Do not despair. I know you will not despair. You have a manly and a proud heart. A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone¡ (24). This quote proves to be true for him because he tried to bring his tribe together to fight against the white rule, and it is he who failed. Okonkwo fears being like his father, a failure, so much that at the end of the novel, he kills himself. ¡§..they came to the tree from which Okonkwo¡s body was dangling..¡ (207).
             2. Oberika and Okonkwo have very different values. This is made apparent when Okonkwo goes to kill Ikemefuna, his surrogate son. After Okonkwo kills him, he goes to see his friend Oberika. Oberika says, ¡§And let me tell you one thing, my friend. If I were you I would have stayed at home¡ (67). This shows that Oberika has a very gentle heart and is not afraid of what people will think of him. Although Okonkwo is not a bad man, his weakness lies in his pride. He was afraid that if he had not gone, other members of the tribe would think he was weak.
             3. The missionaries tried to weaken the Ibo people by putting a knife to the things that held them together. The missionaries attacked their religion and their customs. They did this by trying to convert members of the tribe to their own religion. ¡§But stories were already gaining ground that the white man had not only brought a religion, but also a government¡ (155). The whites attacked the Ibo¡s customs as well. One of their customs was the way in which they punished people, their justice system. Once the white missionaries had settled down, they brought their courts and their own justice system. They did not care that the Ibo people had been there longer and had already established their own justice system.
             4. There are many ways in which Achebe shows the importance of w...

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