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Suicide In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

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Sri Sri once said and I quote, "Suicide is one of the most foolish things a person can ever do. It is only through the body that you can dispel the agony and get rid of the misery. Instead you destroy the very instrument by which you can get rid of agony." In the novel "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo who is described as a "tall and huge man" who goes through the never ending battle of trying to be the most successful person he can be. Nevertheless as the titles implies Things fell apart and Okonkwo surrendered his life upon a tree. Even though Okonkwo had an overflowing amount of success in his life he still allowed the negative to encapsulate his mind which can be seen through the use of internal conflict, flashback, themes, foreshadowing, and irony. What happens when you take away a person’s only pride and joy…what else is there for that person to live for? Through internal conflict we are able to see Okonkwo’s life fall apart because of the desire to be the very opposite from his …show more content…

Okonkwo killed himself because he knew that he couldn 't beat this new Christian culture that was rising rapidly within his village. The realization of the new culture undermining the manly clan and himself caused a shift in Okonkwo as seen in chapter 21 when he "mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart… who had so unaccountably become soft like women", yet according to the book Okonkwo had never ushered a tear before. Okonkwo came to a devastating reality that he couldn 't defeat his enemies and if you cannot defeat your enemies you are seen as weak according to the ways of the village. Thus the internal conflict that he was going to be like his father proved dominant. To know that all the work and sacrifices he made to be as manly as he possibly can be was being diminished by these 'weak ' white men was enough to drive him to

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