How To Write An Essay On Things Fall Apart Nwoye's Identity

Life often takes unexpected twists and turns. In these situations, we often discover our true identity through the emotions we feel and the actions we take. In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Nwoye discovers a new culture that agrees with his beliefs, discovers his identity, and becomes more confident due to the cultural collisions from the arrival of the Christians and their religion.
Throughout the novel, Nwoye is often characterized as someone who struggled with the beliefs of the Ibo culture due to his non-violent perspective on life. For example, Nwoye was horrified by the Ibo culture's belief that twins were an abomination and must be abandoned at once. When he heard the crying of the infants in the forest, "a vague chill had descended on him and his head had seemed to swell...something had given way inside of him" (Achebe 66). His physical reactions depicted a "heartbreak" which

Before the collision, Nwoye was very meek in his actions, often concealing his true desires in front of his aggressive father, Okonkwo. For instance, Nwoye loved fables but decided to "feign that he no longer cared," and as a result, "his father was pleased, and no longer rebuked him," (Achebe 58). Nwoye’s lack of confidence is prominent, as he was more afraid of his father’s reprimand than expressing his opinions freely. After leaving the tribe to go to a Christian school, Nwoye gains more self-confidence and he revels in his freedom. "He is happy to leave his father... and would return later to his [family to] convert them to the new faith" (Achebe 146). Nwoye's response exhibits the first time he can see something other than pleasing his father. He begins to see himself as an independent person, rather than an object that needs to heed commands. In fact, he is so happy and confident in himself that he is willing the risk the wrath of the tribe to help his mother and