Okonkwo's True Identity In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe once said, “If you don't like someone's story, write your own.” Call him “a man of his words”as that's exactly what he’s done in the writing of this novel, Things Fall Apart. In response to the colonization of Nigeria in the late 1800’s and the efforts by the Europeans to dehumanize the indigenous people of West Africa, Chinua Achebe wrote the novel solely in the perspective of the natives; showing colonization from their point of view and really highlighting their true identity (not how the Europeans had perceives it). The story takes the reader through the life of a man by the name of Okonkwo, who lives with his family in the region of Umuofia (near the Niger River in Nigeria). Upon the appearance of the Europeans, the region

At first he is shy and timid among his new family. But as time passed, Ikemefuna grows stronger and stronger. Okonkwo becomes fond of Ikemefuna, so much that he sees him as the perfect son. He is a great leader, intelligent, courageous, strong minded; everything that Okonkwo desires for in a son. Also as time goes on, Nwoye and Ikemefuna’s bond strengthens. This coincided with Nwoye developing more into a manly figure like his older brother as “nothing pleased Nwoye now more than to be sent for by his mother or another of his father’s wives to do one of the difficult and masculine tasks at home, like splitting wood, or pounding food. On receiving such a message through a younger brother or sister, Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble aloud about women and their troubles. Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son’s development, and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna”(Achebe, 52). This shows the significant impact of a brotherly bond. More than anything it strengthens Nwoye character as it teaches him the importance of a relationship in finding more about one’s sense of identity. So all is looking well between Nwoye and Ikemefuna until the day the brotherly bond brakes when Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna. His father’s actions further fuel the development of Nwoye’s sense of Identity as now he has more incentive than ever to be different from his father in the