Things Fall Apart III

Well then...I was obviously expecting an ironic ending, but Okonkwo killing himself did surprise me. I mean, WHOA! Not only was his death a shameful way to die in the clan, but in a sense, Okonkwo died just as bitterly as his father. Like his father, Okonkwo died alone and in a disgraced way. What I found most ironic however, was the fact that Okonkwo dead body was cared for and buried by the people he hated the most--the people that broke up what he loved most, Umuofia. I do not believe that it was entirely the missionaries fault that Okonkwo killed himself. Actually, it wasn't there fault at all. It was the fact that Okonkwo bottled up so much anger and regret and embarrassment that pushed him over the edge. Because he saw it as "womanly," Okonkwo did not express the emotions which were killing him from within. (Anger to danger is only one letter away and Okonkwo couldn't tell the difference.) The passage that best illustrates Okonkwo's emotional state was on page 183, "Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women." The grief was for Umuofia and the men that he was once proud of. Now, Okonkwo felt helpless and trapped. Of course, suicide was his way of riding himself of his own pain and disgust with the clan; but I never cease to understand his method of madness. He CHOSE to die in an worthy way, full of shame and rejection, he CHOSE to end his life in ways that went against what he believed in, and he CHOSE to leave behind his family and friends, which proves that they did not mean as much to him as power and fame that he wanted in Umuofia. His death brought me back to the passage where his friend, Obierika, said to sacrifice himself or his son to him. Okonkwo would have been better off doing that back then. It would have spared him his shame watching his son leave his teachings to join a new God and would have spare him the insanity of killing himself. You would think that Okonkwo would die a noble death... I'm still surprised. So much for him being called the "Roaring Flame." Seems like that flame was blown out. I found it to be somewhat upsetting to see the missionaries divide the clan, and eventually destroy it. Umuofia lived in such a wrapped-up world of themselves that they were happy with their customs and lives. It brings me to reality where this actually happens and villages fall apart and people are killed, all because their customs and traditions are seen as sinful or inhumane. On the other hand however, the missionaries did help a vast quantity of people in the village (for example Nwoye and the thrown away twins.) I'm still have doubts about that missionary's book. He doesn't seem to understand the villagers at all, and not to mention he see things in "black and white." This also symbolizes the actual power between the white men and the people of Umuofia. Of course the white men are gaining ground and new converts. That's it for now.. no time for more!