—Ronaldo Neziraj
I have chosen “Things fall apart” for response 3. The story of the book, explains the pre and after colonial life in a tribe in Nigeria which involves the the arrival of the Europeans during the late nineteenth century. The main character of the novel is Okonkwo, a man from a village called Umuofia. He was opposed to his father’s life, which was not an example for Okonkwo to look up to. At the beginning, I created empathy for Okonkwo. We hear stories of successful self made role models which had to learn and earn everything on their own. Okonkwo was one of them, he was a pure example of hard work. Unfortunately for him, his struggles created some wrong ideas which were impatience against less successful men and secondly his pride over his own status. His fiery temperament leads to beating his second wife during the Week of Peace. He even shoots at her with his gun, but luckily misses. He kills his son himself. This shows his short temper and a tendency to act on impulse, a tendency that backfires on him later on in the novel. I enjoyed reading the book a lot, learning more about Nigeria’s history and how tribes were structured back then. Being the main character, Okonkwo was the focus most of the time. I learned lessons that I can apply in my own life.
