How Does Okonkwo's Change In Things Fall Apart

Throughout the entire novel, one sees how Okonkwo deals with changes - acquiring Ikemefuna, being exiled for seven years, returning to a changed-home - and yet in the very end, despite being one of the clan's strongest voice with regard to the challenge of the colonizers and how the people who had turned seemed to spit on their culture, beliefs and fellowmen, he was the one who hanged himself.

It would seem like Okonkwo, instead of being the 'champion', became a failure in choosing not to continue to fight the Westerners. Some would say that his killing of himself was a rather heroic choice compared to losing himself to the ideas of the colonizers. However, in Okonkwo's case, it is in his hanging of himself that people, not only Africans, but everyone in the world, are given an idea of how one may react to change, which is 'falling part'. …show more content…
Thus, when he found out that he could not win against the change, he chose to run away from it by killing himself. Maybe he thought that in giving in to the colonizers, he would have to lose his identity and take on theirs. He did not consider the possibility that he could use this imposed change to transform the way they were into something better while maintaining their culture and identity as a