Things Fall Apart: Finding One's Identity

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The book, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and the song, Some Nights by FUN are intertwining pieces. This is because in both pieces ones identity is still being discovered. Throughout Okonkwo’s life, he feared he would turn into his father. Often times he would lose sight of his future and make careless mistakes. Okonkwo was also hesitant about change in his village, Umofia and did not want a Christian influence. On the contrary, the people of Umofia were accepting of the Christian’s presence and impact. When Okonkwo realized that a number of his people had converted religions, he stepped forward and slowly found who he was. Therefore, every obstacle Okonkwo faced were steps to help him find his true identity.
Due to Okonkwo’s fear of becoming his father, he found himself struggling with his identity as both a father and leader in Umofia. As a father, he noticed that none of his sons met his expectations because they failed to take responsibility for their actions, fulfill their duties in the field, and acted more like their mothers. Therefore, Okonkwo often wondered whether he was “cashing in my (his) bad luck” (line 1). In other words, he was questioning whether he was a suitable father or if he was worse than his own father. Meanwhile, in his village, he was seen as a great leader. Despite Umofia’s confidence in his leadership skills, he still doubted his abilities. This reluctance can be described in line 2, “Some nights I will call it draw,” because he wanted to give up. He did not want to continuously protect his village from foreign intrusions. With that being said, when Okonkwo began to see himself as an unfit father and worse than his own, he reflected this disappointment and hostility towards his village. This caused ...

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...Despite Okonkwo killing himself, he finally found his true identity when he returned home and fought to keep his village free from Christians. Everything from worrying about whether he was becoming like his father, being rebellious, breaking the laws, and leaving his father’s land were all necessary to help him find himself. Therefore, when he witnessed how the Christians influenced his village he knew he had to help remove the Christians from Umofia. It is unfortunate that it took him as long as it did for him to finally find his identity, however, his efforts to reconstruct his village to how it was prior to the Christians instilled hope in his village. The people of his village saw how Okonkwo’s time away has changed him for the better and gave them hope to follow and listen to Okonkwo again.

Works Cited

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Some Nights by FUn

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