Things Fall Apart Individualism Analysis

Individualism is the ability to create your own habits and principles to become an independent and self-reliant person, but how does one portray individualism? In the novel Things Fall Apart it is seen that some characters like Nwoye and Okonkwo try to portray individualism but are restricted from exhibiting it because of Ibo culture so they end up portraying a dynamic of individualism and conformity without acknowledging it. This is seen when Okonkwo gains his individualism by conforming to Ibo culture by achieving the highest titles in the village to gain recognition, whereas Nwoye opposes the entire culture and severs his connection with his father to go and conform in the new way of life as a Christian.
Okonkwo is a man “clearly cut out …show more content…
This is seen through the return of Okonkwo after the murder of Ikemefuna. Nwoye immediately knew what had happened because he felt “the snapping of a tightened bow” inside him and instead of crying “he just hung limp” (61). Nwoye has only ever felt the “same kind of feeling” once before when he heard “the voice of an infant crying”. These events caused him to convert into Christianity because it made it clear for him to “question of the twins crying in the bush and the questions of Ikemefuna who was killed” (147). This shows that by conforming to the new belief helps Nwoye be true to himself instead of conforming to his father’s beliefs. It helped him be the boy that “preferred the stories that his mother used to tell” him, but, “feigned that he no longer cared for women’s stories” because it pleased his father when he listened to masculine, violent stories about the tribal wars (54). It is clearly stated that “Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day” because it helped him stick to his morals that were not accepted in his clan (149). But, he finally learns not to please anyone else but himself and “decides to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write” (152). This shows that he opposes the Ibo culture but, without knowing conforms to another one. In doing this, Nwoye severs his connection with his father when he clearly states, “he is not my father” to Obierika when he is seen “among the missionaries in Umuofia” to gain his individuality

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