Things Fall Apart

At first the end of the book surprised me but after a while I realized it wasn’t that unexpected. I thing Achebe was trying to show that even the people that come off as strong can be weak on the inside. The fact that Okonkwo chose to hide his feelings didn’t help the situation either. Since he had such high standards for himself and his family he set himself up for disappointment. The people around him didn’t share all the same values that Okonkwo thought they should and because of this he drifted away from him. I wonder if the story would have ended differently if Okonkwo hadn’t been exiled. The yearning to be great and strong was ironically his biggest weakness. I wish that the author continued and showed what happened to the family. In the end Okonkwo’s desire to be one of the most respected people in his village was overcome by their reluctance to violence towards the white man who in the end may have been their greatest enemy.