Irony in Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart :: Things Fall Apart essays

Things Fall Apart  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   That year the harvest was sad, like a funeral, and many farmers wept as they dug up the miserable and rotting yams.   One man tied his cloth to a tree branch and hanged himself.   Okonkwo remembered that tragic year with a cold shiver throughout the rest of his life.   It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair.   He knew that he was a fierce fighter, but that year had been enough to break the heart of a lion.   Ã‚   "Since I survived that year," he always said, "I shall survive anything."   He put it down to his inflexible will.   His father, Unoka, who was then an ailing man, had said to him during that terrible harvest month:   "Do not despair.   I know that you will not despair.   You have a manly and a proud heart.   A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride.   It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone."   Ã‚  Ã‚   The above passages were taken from the end of chapter three, part one.   After finishing reading this book and then going back through it, I found these passages very ironic in regards to how the story eventually ended.   Okonkwo believed that because he was such a fierce fighter, he could conquer anything life threw at him.   However, it was his fierce, proud, fighting attitude that was his demise in the face of uncontrollable circumstances in the end.   Okonkwo believed that war and brute fighting would fix everything.   He was a proud and stubborn man constantly struggling to improve his standing in the tribal community.   Okonkwo also had intense pride for his tribe and way of life.   He believed it was the right way of life and not to be questioned.   Everyone was supposed to fear war with Umofia due to their fierce warriors and greatness in battle.   When the white men not only did not fear them, but openly threatened the tribal way of life, Okonk wo prepared to handle the situation the only way he knew how.   He wanted to got to war against the new white invaders, chasing them from tribal lands and ending the threat of different ways of life.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The passage ends with, "it is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone.