The Analysis of the Main Characters and the Impact of Colonialism in Things Fall Apart and Avatar

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Imagine living in a small tribe, disconnected from the rest of the world, set in your antient traditions, only to suddenly be invaded by a different nation. These people look like nothing you've ever seen before and their main goal is to steal your natural resources, all the while disrupting your way of life. The only thing that you can do is react, maybe you choose to fight back, or maybe you learn to accept these new ways as your own. The Na'vi from Avatar and the Ibo from Things Fall Apart are both under the attack of an imposing nation, although the way that the natives and the invadors handle the situation are very different. Okonkwo and Jake Sully, the main characters from these two stories, have a huge impact on the outcome of the natives situation even though they handle themselves adversly.
The title of the book Things Fall Apart is based off of a poem called The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats. This poem was written shortly after World War I. Yeats believed that society had completely broken down and soon, the end of the world would come. The poem is about the end of the world as described in the Bible. By using this as his title, the author, Chinua Achebe, points out the similarities between the time of chaos in Europe after World War I and the upheaval the Ibo experienced when they were invaded (What's).
The author was also very clever in using a poem written by Yeats. William Butler Yeats was of the same group of people who were actually disturbing the way of life for the Ibo. Achebe despises the British invadors and is trying to prove a point to them. He is using the words of one of their own people to describe what they are doing to his people (What's).
To be simply defined colonization is the occupati...

... middle of paper ...

... and wants to separate himself completely from their culture. Okonkwo genuinly hates the British.
Although these two characters are very different they influence the outcome of the situation greatly. The Na'vi and the Ibo might have both been under attack of another nation however, they are truly two different nations of people. One strong willed and ready to fight for what they believe in, the other easily persuaded by the newcomers. Both of their stories tell a tale of upheaval and suffering, full of tragedy, death and the conflicts of two nations coming together. Colonization has caused much suffering in the past, as it did in Things Fall Apart and will continue to cause suffering in the future as the movie Avatar shows us, however the conquering of other lands in the quest of knowledge and natural resources is necessary in the survival of the world we live in.

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