Achebe's Things Fall Apart

The novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, demonstrates how individuals respond to conflict. The book illustrates that humans can behave in two ways to conflict, by either fleeing the situation or standing their ground to fight against the conflict. This result can build either the creation or destruction of one's identity. An individual’s identity is established by the characteristics which then determine who that person is. The identity premise is tested throughout the book through multiple types of conflicts. A conflict we see in the book numerous times is internal conflict. Internal conflict is interesting because it typically pertains to an individual that is planning on making a decision for the better or worse. "Okonkwo

This type of conflict is compelling because in particular places in the world culture is more important and taken more seriously compared to other areas around the globe. Culture also has a lot to do with tradition, and typically it is frowned upon to go against tradition in any culture. "I wish she were a boy," Okonkwo thought within himself. She understood things so perfectly." (Achebe 173). This quote is an example of the type of cultural battle many societies struggle with, the traditional roles that men are supposed to play, and that women cannot regardless if they are qualified to do so. These types of traditions are extremely challenging to attempt to make a change. Many times, people can get thrown aside or punished in their communities when they try to break traditional cultural thinking. An additional quote having to do with society and tradition was “Okonkwo’s gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy's, heart……It was a crime to the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed the crime must flee the land”. Even though the killing was a mistake, it was impossible to overcome since it broke with tradition and culture. Okonkwo does not want to leave his home abandoning his hard work behind. Although Okonkwo was observed as a capable and determined leader in his community, traditions typically triumph in these types of situations. Even if you don’t want it to happen certain

Natural conflict has more to do with things happening around characters. This next quote is an example of Okonkwo and some of his past experiences and hardships growing up. He is battling with the fact that his child cannot prosper and be more like him when he was that age. He wants him to be working. "Do you think you are cutting yams for cooking? If you split another yam this size, I will break your jaw. You think you are still a child. I began to own a farm at your age. " (Achebe 32). Okonkwo wants his children to accomplish the things he did at their age, but that’s cannot always the case in life. In this situation, it is hard for him to stand up to his dad, so he continues to see him as a weak individual. The second natural conflict tells us a lot about Ekwefi as a character. “She had borne ten children, and nine of them died in infancy.” (Achebe 77). This is a problem she faced by herself, and even though she lost 90% of her children, she faced the problem and didn’t give up. She stood up, and it shows us how strong of an individual she