Post Colonialism

"Things Fall Apart," by Chinua Achebe was an insightful text about the rise and fall of a man and his tribe, as well as the whole culture. From history we have learned that the British cam to African colonies and started a mass reform over the people. Some British leaders tried reform in a "nice" way be trying to befriend the Africans at first, but for the most part British colonization was harsh on the Africans. They didn't understand who these strage people were, coming into their lives speaking a different language and looking the complete opposite from them. It didn't make sense to them as to why they should follow what the British were telling them. These people (the Igbo Culture) had a strong sense of community and way of doing things that they were accustomed to. However religion is  a powerful thing and when the white settlers came into their land and started preaching to them about their religion called Christianity, slowly but surely many of the Africans started converting and the rest started to convert as a means of survival. I think the term "Survival of the Fittest" fits well into this novel because during the colonialization, the Africans basically had to assimilate from their way of life into what the British were teaching them or else they would have to suffer the consequences, many times meaning death. The main character in this story was a man by the name of Okonkwo. Just as his culture had began to rise and fall, he himself suffered through the same process. In the beginning of the story we as readers see Okonkwo as this big, strong leader of his tribe that people would never dare to go against. He was a respected man throughout his culture and had fought many fights to earn the respect that had been given to him. When the white settlers began to come in and start the colonial reform process Okonkwo was not one to back down. He had a hard time seeing what was being done to his people and hearing the stories of other tribes that had been massacred by the white settlers. When everyone else was starting to either convert or decided that they weren't going to fight back against the British men, Okonkwo was the only one that still had it in him to fight for what he believed in. We see this towards the end in a scene where Okonkwo shoots one of the white men in a crowded seen and realizes that none of his peers are going to help him, so after shooting the man he retreats back and ends up hanging himself on a tree behind his house. I think in this final scene, in my opinion I felt as though Okonkwo had felt defeated which led to his decision to kill himself. In the begining of the story I didn't like Okonkwo because he was always so angry and brutal, it was hard to empathize with a charcter who didn't seem to have much of a heart. However towards the end of the story when it became clear that Okonkwo wasn't really understanding what was happening, the colonial reform that was taking place was much bigger of a force than he could ever be and people didn't have as much respect for him or feared him as they once did I started to feel slightly sorry for him. The ending was definitely surprising for me I did not think he was going to kill himself, but I do thing his suicide symbolized the strength one group of people can have over another.