There is no such thing as a life without conflict. Even the most well-off of us have their own problems, just ones that stem from their different lifestyle. But how do people deal with those unfortunate situations? It all depends on the person. Reactions to conflict are completely dependent on certain parts of a person, such as their personality, drive, and experiences. The personality of an individual greatly affects everything he does. A person may have certain tastes that lead them to doing certain things, or may act a certain way that leads him to living a certain life. Because of this, it’s natural that one’s personality is a major part of his reactions to conflict. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the main character Okonkwo is very brutal and straightforward. His usual reaction is violent, as he thinks it would be cowardly to do much else. As a result, Okonkwo ends up having a negative impact on the people around him, and even himself if the act is done during something like …show more content…
Without the grit and drive to do things, a person way cower in the shadow of conflict without any sort of motivation to overcome it. Personally, I have a problem with avoiding conflict. People like me may try to pretend that the problems do not exist for the sake of their own comfort and safety. The problem with that, however, is that the avoidance commonly leads to a piling up of problems, and allows the conflict to become overwhelming. It becomes a huge source of anxiety when a person knows it is there but puts forth no effort into fixing it, which also leads to guilt. That all has to do with a lack of drive to solve things. Instead of putting forth effort to fix the problem, some may find it easier to pretend there’s nothing happening at all. This almost guarantees failure, since there’s nothing being done to fix anything. While someone may not harm anyone in the process, nobody is being benefitted,
As much as some of us dislike conflict, it is inherent in human nature. After all, it is like a wall that keeps us from moving forward in the path of life, but we must understand that those walls merely act as temporary challenges that are yet to be solved. Some conflicts may be insignificantly trivial, and some may be quite immense. Some conflicts may be happening within ourselves, and some may be accompanied by another person. Regardless, we must learn not to run away from conflict, but rather to run over them with a determined demeanor as the conflicts that we encounter in our lives are what helps us learn and grow as an individual. Furthermore, learning and growing from conflict is what shape individuals and what prepares us for the upcoming challenges that life will throw at us in the future.
The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a story that opens the reader's mind to an entirely different way of living in a Nigerian village. Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930, perhaps this is why he writes a whole book on a Nigerian village and introduces to us the ways of life for the Nigerian people. From the first page of the book to the last, Achebe allows the reader to enter the mind of the main character Okonkwo. Okonkwo is the leader of his village and is very respected for his many achievements. Although Okonkwo means well for his village, the novel invites the reader to see him has a flawed character who eventually suffers from the consequences of bad "masculine" decisions he makes throughout the book.
Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" presents its readers with an African tribe and its culture. Okonkwo, a well-respected member of the tribe, has some very interesting attributes. Specifically, he has an undying desire to be manly at all times complimented by a deeply rooted fear of being thought of as weak. Okonkwo has a very short, violent temper that is immediately triggered in response to actions that he deems to be weak. Okonkwo basically lived by the phrase, act first and think it through later. Unfortunately, almost every time that Okonkwo lets loose his violent temper in his manly way, he brings trouble upon himself, as well as those around him. One way to explain his actions and the misfortunes that usually follow is to conclude that Okonkwo has bad luck. Another way of looking at this fact is to say that the events are a result of coincidence. However, I disagree with these views, and instead assert that Achebe deliberately made sure that after each of Okonkwo's outbursts, a tragedy befell him and those around him. I think that Achebe could have been trying to hint to the reader that placing too much emphasis on acting manly is bad.
“They will take him outside Umofia, as is the custom, and kill him there. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. He calls you his father. (57)” This quote explains that Ogbuefi expresses concern for Okonkwo, because the Oracle explains how it would be wrongful of Okonkwo to kill Ikemefuna. “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak. (61)” This quote portrays that Okonkwo completely disregarded what Ogbuefi and the Oracle cautioned him about, because he was too concerned about his status of what others thought of him. “At last the man was named and people sighed “E-u-u, Ezeudu is dead.” A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo’s back as he remembered the last time the old man had visited him. (121)” At this point in the story, it appears that Okonkwo is starting to realize his wrongdoings, primarily because he takes religion and his spiritual life very seriously, in regards towards the Oracle. Okonkwo begins to lose trust within his family, especially with Nwoye. (As mentioned in the previous paragraph.) In the beginning of the book, Okonkwo relied on Ikemefuna to help Nwoye become more masculine and tough. After Ogbuefi warns Okonkwo about taking part in the murder, Okonkwo thinks about what could happen to him once the gods find out. Once again, Okonkwo lets his emotions
Who can dare say they have never encountered a conflict? No one is without conflict; there will never be a person who says they have never faced a problem. What is a conflict? Most think an opposition or a struggle of some nature. It can be that and more, to state it simply its man vs. anything; that anything can be nature, God, self, and even fellow man.
Conflict is something everyone experiences in their daily lives; it can happen amongst person’s and their friends, family, and coworkers. Conflict occurs when individuals have a disagreement on a person’s values and beliefs, which could relate to religious or political views. Each person handles conflict differently depending on their personal values, interpretation, and the environment
Okonkwo strives all of his life to become a stronger, more powerful, and a successful individual. He wants to do this because his father was a slack and lazy person who lived most of his life in debt and had no titles to his name. People often looked at his father as a women figure for the few achievements he redeemed. Okonkwo never wanted to be like his father and it eventually got to the point where he became fearful of becoming like him. Achebe uses the power of fear as a theme of to show how much it can devastate one’s outside personality and how it will never change who and what they are from the inside by using the literary devices of irony and tragedy.
Planet Earth harbors seven billion independent human minds, living seven billion independent, equally complex lives. Even more impressive, each mind contains unique perspectives and opinions. With so many different minds interacting, conflict between individuals’ perspectives and opinions becomes inevitable. Unfortunately, no single perspective, held by a single mind or a group of minds, dominates as the correct perspective. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the meeting of different cultures creates conflict between perspectives, in which both parties assume righteousness but neither is entirely correct. Though Okonkwo may draw a readers’ sympathy for his role as the tragic hero, the author’s sympathy sits with Obierika, who is positioned between the missionaries and Okonkwo as the most humane balance of the two cultures.
In the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the main character, Okonkwo is the tragic hero. Okonkwo's temper and quickness to anger is his tragic flaw and is worsened by many things, particularly, white missionaries coming into his village. Eventually, his temper and the white missionaries influence on his fellow villagers,which Okonkwo cannot control, lead him to killing himself. His tragic flaw and the outside circumstances, singly, would not have led to his downfall; however, together they spiral downward to a tragic end.
Many people enjoy working or participating in a group or team, but when a group of people work together chances are that conflicts will occur. Hazleton describes conflict as the discrepancy between what is the perceived reality and what is seen as ideal (2007). “We enter into conflicts reluctantly, cautiously, angrily, nervously, confidently- and emerge from them battered, exhausted, sad, satisfied, triumphant. And still many of us underestimate or overlook the merits of conflict- the opportunity conflict offers every time it occurs” (Schilling, nd.). Conflict does not have to lead to a hostile environment or to broken relationships. Conflict if resolved effectively can lead to a positive experience for everyone involved. First, there must be an understanding of the reasons why conflicts occur. The conflict must be approached with an open mind. Using specific strategies can lead to a successful resolution for all parties involved. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument states “there are five general approaches to dealing with conflict. The five approaches are avoidance, accommodation, competition, compromise, and collaboration. Conflict resolution is situational and no one approach provides the best or right approach for all circumstances” (Thomas, 2000).
The Downfall of Okonkwo People would normally think the main character of the book is a hero, but are they really? In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, he portrays that if people don’t accept life or anything else bad things may comes throughout time. Okonkwo the mighty, that’s what most people think of him when the reader first open the book and read about him. When they read the exact words on how Okonkwo lays a heavy hand in his household their point of view would change.
Our qualities and virtues contributes to the way we are, and the way we act. Certain personalities can lead to great success and power, other qualities lead to a life of sorrow and misery. Even our virtues can lead us to downfalls. The award winning book, Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe introduces us to the story of Okonkwo, a man with many virtues which leads to downfalls. He is a victim of his masculinity, his success, and his passion.
All Fairness in Things Fall Apart Things Fall Apart is not sexist. Achebe’s book made readers feel as if the book was against women, but it does not. In America, if someone hit a girl or hurt her in any way, they would go to jail, but if they did that in the clan in the book, no man would care enough to stop the beating.
Conflict is energy, conflict is excitement, conflict is often driven by a passion that is necessary to progression. In other words, we need many of the characteristics that might cause conflict and conflict itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The important thing is learning how to manage
We each possess unique ideas, opinions, beliefs, and feelings about specific situations in life. This uniqueness is a large part of what makes us human. Because we all have our own individual way of looking at things, we each have a different viewpoint on what is proper or improper. With all that variation in society conflict is inevitable! Conflict is antagonistic in nature and we all must find ways to work through conflict issues both at work and at home. This paper describes different types of conflict, the influences I personally had in learning to deal with those conflicts, some of the conflicts that I commonly experience, how I go about dealing with those conflicts, and how conflict affects me on a personal level.