Pride In Things Fall Apart

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John C. Maxwell once said, “There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. 'Good pride' represents our dignity and self-respect. 'Bad pride' is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance.” Things Fall Apart is a pre/post-colonial novel written by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe in 1958. It is an African novel that is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The novel follows the life of Okonkwo, an Igbo leader and local wrestling champion in the Nigerian village of Umuofia. The work is split into two parts, the first describing his family and personal history, the customs and society of the Igbo, and the second introduces the influence of British colonialism and Christian missionaries on the Igbo community. Okonkwo was a great man in his village, What could possibly conquer him? Okonkwo is defeated by his own pride because he experiences defeat for the first time in prison. Upon his release, he vows revenge, even if he is not supported by the clan and kills a Christian messenger in retaliation. These two points in the novel cumulates to the…show more content…
Perhaps if he was not so prideful, his outcome would have come out differently. His own pride obstructed his will to survive-Which is to adapt. He fought against the change that his society has gone through and therefore, his ability to adapt was non-existent, “Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead.” (207). This relates the work as the whole because the second part of Things Fall Apart is the arrival of colonialists and the changes they cause the the Nigerian community. Okonkwo cannot adapt to the changes, and his pride is the reason. He feels as if nothing can defeat him, and that is ironic because the only thing that defeats him is himself. Okonkwo has the ‘Bad pride’ that is mentioned in John C. Maxwell’s quote, In the sense that he is highly arrogant and
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