Nwoye's Identity In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

The Positives Outweigh the Negatives

“As soon as his father walked in, that night, Nwoye knew that Ikemefuna had been killed, and something seemed to give way inside him, like the snapping of a tightened bow.”(44) This event occurred after Nwoye’s father, Okonkwo, killed his best friend in Chinua Achebe’s novel, “Things Fall Apart.” Nwoye had always resented his father, even before this incident, and he struggled with finding his identity because of it. This, however, changes after the white Christians colonize Nigeria. Nwoye is a character who struggles with finding his identity, but shows the positives that can occur when he finally does. Nwoye’s struggle with identity did not start because of the introduction of Western ideas into his

Several years into this exile, white Christians come to Nigeria and begin to spread their thoughts and religion throughout the land. It does not take long before they get to Mbanta, where Nwoye starts to take notice and becomes interested in their ideas. The book says, “Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, he kept it secret. He dared not go too near the missionaries for fear of his father. But whenever they came to preach in the open marketplace or the village play ground, Nwoye was there.” (112) Nwoye started to develop a deep interest in the stories the Christians told, and before long, he started to intermingle with them. Okonkwo soon found out about this, which caused him to beat Nwoye, as was his father’s usual response to things of things sort. All of his life, Nwoye had lived with an abusive father who not only he disliked, but was also resented by him. Nwoye then saw an opportunity with the Christians, and left his family to become a missionary. Nwoye may have never liked his father, but he could never have left him if it were not for the Christians. Because of this mixing of cultures, Nwoye was finally able to gain the motivation and get an opportunity to do what he hadn’t been able to do before: find his own sense of