Things Fall Apart

Kohl Kirschner
Mrs. Kilburn
ENG3U1
January 16, 2016
Change is Inevitable

Change affects all of us; people react and experience it differently but it’s part of life. One could say that between certain people there are aspects you can draw that are similar and different. In the two novel’s Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and The Book Negroes by Lawrence Hill; the two main characters Okonkwo and Aminata have very dynamic lives. They are both exposed to a similar type of change and their reactions do not range far; which allows for a central comparison on how both of them change. The first similarity is looked upon how they are different from when they leave their place of origin and the way each character reacts to it. The next is the differences they have when it comes to facing the reality that change is inevitable; both Okonkwo and Aminata react differently but it leads them down a parallel path near the end. Finally, another much related reaction of change both people share is when they return to their homes after years and years. Okonkwo and Aminata are alike in the way they deal with leaving their families and the way it contrasts when they face the reality of change and finally when they return to their home towns as changed individuals but are similar. Both characters experience and react to change but they both are well aware by the end that it’s part of life.
To start, change affects both characters in a way that tests their ability to return to their homes the same way they left their homes which was the day their lives were destroyed severely. Okonkwo is sentenced out of his village for seven years and is forces to live a life of sorrow. One could say that the experience of leaving your village for that length of time is almost too much change in a person’s life. Also for a person that refuses to show any feminine emotion becomes difficult; “Okonkwo was deeply grieved, and it was not just personal grief…” Things Fall Apart page 157. This is to...