Comparison Of Colonialism In Things Fall Apart And The Great Gatsby

In Things Fall Apart and The Great Gatsby, Chinua Achebe and F. Scott Fitzgerald discuss, in a historical context, the decline, and furthermore, the impending collapse of established societies, specifically: Igboland and America. Achebe’s eponymous motif, that of “things fall[ing] apart,” is ingrained in both novels, as their respective authors discuss the “widening gyre” of chaos that may bring even the greatest of individuals and societies to their insignificant demise. Although the threat of European Colonialism is introduced to the Igbo people in Things Fall Apart, Achebe argues - through his development of Okonkwo - that perhaps the Igbo culture was already diminishing prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Okonkwo is, initially, “one

In his epigraphic ode to Yeats, Achebe asserts that radical social change is accompanied by a “widening gyre” of disarray, and furthermore establishes, allegorically, that attempting to resist this socio-political change will only serve to pull one into this metaphysical maelstrom of melancholy and chaos - as it did for Okonkwo. This idea is inherent in Fitzgerald’s novel as well, as like his Igbo contemporary, Gatsby’s delusion, that he may somehow prevent change from occurring, and perhaps secure his fantastical “orgastic future,” ultimately leads to his demise. The deterioration of the respective society is epitomized through the downfall of the protagonists in both novels, and thus, distinct similarities can be found not only in the manner by which their respective tragedies unfold, but also in the symbolic nature of their respective demise, and despite their contextual differences, both novels converge in regards to their depictions of the inevitability of change, and the futility of resisting

Indeed one of the prominent factors, in the collective “great[ness]” of both Gatsby and Okonkwo, is the fact that, having been born into poverty (due to their lineage), both protagonists proceed to reject their impoverished origins, and ultimately establish a reputation for themselves, within their respective society. Both novels converge significantly in regards to both plot and theme, and from a general standpoint, it may be asserted, that both are, in essence, descriptions of not only the rise of two great men, but the fall as well - and the fall of two prominent societies, by extension. While it is often regarded that Things Fall Apart portrays the downfall of Igbo culture as a direct result of European colonialism, upon closer reading, it becomes clear that Achebe, in a general outlook, pessimistically suggests that whether by fate, spiritual intervention, or the natural, inevitable progression of time, Igbo culture was simply bound to eventually collapse. This idea is epitomized through Okonkwo - whose status as “one of the greatest men”, mirrors the prowess of the Igbo culture -, who, by a tragic turn of events is forced to kill his adopted son, Ikemefuna, in fear of “being thought weak.” From thereon, Okonkwo’s tale of woe