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Sometimes Doing What Is Right Is Not What Is Socially Acceptable

In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is a young man who becomes an excellent

wrestler in the community. He considers aggression and strength as masculine traits. His worst

fear is the thought of being considered weak or feminine like his father. He is also one of the

wealthy men in his land, having three wives and a huge stock of wine. However, he does not

treat his family well because the only emotion he displays is his anger. He is also worried about

his son, who he thinks is lazy and useless. In his clan, a conflict arises, and the clan requires a

settlement of a virgin and a fifteen-year-old boy that comes to live with Okonkwo for three

years. While residing at Okonkwo's house, the boy connects and becomes very close to Nwoye,

and they share, encouraging him to enjoy the masculine tasks. Due to this, Okonkwo approved

his influence on Nwoye, his eldest son, and later, Ikemefuna started calling Okonkwo "father."

However, doing what is right is not always what is socially acceptable.

Notably, sometimes change in society may have positive and negative impacts. It may be

the right thing to adopt, but society may not accept it—the story "things fall apart" reveals a

culture on the verge of change. The story reveals how a change in society affects different

characters in distinct ways. Therefore, the community develops many questions on whether

adopting the change is right (Gale,144). The arrival of missionaries in the land brought new

religion and political orders to benefit the local people. The primary goal was to enable them to
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adopt new ways of life and incorporate the first world culture into their system. Despite the

change being geared towards benefiting the community, Okonkwo rejects the new political and

religious orders because he feels that the missionaries are not manly enough. He also feels that

consenting to the new changes would insult his masculinity. He even does not consider any

benefits that may develop from adopting the change. Okonkwo also rejects the change because

he feels he may lose his social status; this proves that he does not consider how he can benefit

from the change. The traditional standards and how society perceives him are what give

Okonkwo a sense of worth.

On the other hand, the outcast members of the clan that nobody wanted to get associated

with join the new religion and realize that it is self-evaluating and inspiring. To these people,

adopting the new religion was the right thing to do. However, the rest of the community feels

that it is not socially acceptable because it will erode their culture. Similarly, some villagers are

torn between accepting or resisting the new religion and political order and are in a dilemma on

which is the appropriate way of accepting the change (Gale,155). At the same time, the new

converts are seen enjoying uplifted status in society. Numerous opportunities have come along

with the missionaries, and the villagers are extremely happy about them. However, despite

having different benefits, the missionaries are also trying to do something that is not socially

acceptable despite bringing benefits to the villagers. They try to end traditional cooking, farming,

harvesting, and building, which is not socially acceptable. This is because these traditional

methods are important to the local people, especially for survival; hence they are indispensable.

Furthermore, Okonkwo's relationship with his father shapes his life to a violent and

progressive attitude. Being ambitious is the right thing to do, but violence is not socially

acceptable. Even though he intends to live beyond his father's legacy, considering him
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effeminate and weak is not socially acceptable because he cannot cease being his father even

after he dies (Gale, 4). Okonkwo's father is referred to as agbala because he has never taken

anything prestigious or even a woman. On the other hand, Okonkwo has a different idea of

manliness which is entirely different from that of the clan. He feels that aggression should be a

sign of masculinity; therefore, he believes the only emotion a man should reveal is anger. Due to

this, he often beats his wives and even threatens to kill them, which is socially wrong. Notably,

missionaries tried to help the clan adopt new ways of doing things that would benefit them. We

see Okonkwo acting in a rash and impetuously, which is not right because other people in the

clan are not effeminate but are always trying to act right.

Obierika is a thoughtful man, so he chooses the right thing by warning Okonkwo not to

participate in the murder of Ikefemuna; he also refuses to follow him to the scene. On the other

hand, Okonkwo leads in the party meant to execute his proxy son and violently stabs him on the

chest because he fears that people may perceive he is weak (Gale, 61). This activity was right but

socially unacceptable. Moreover, Okonkwo's exile from the village does not make him do what

is right. He lives with his motherland king's men and feels aggravated all through. The exile was

an opportunity for him to interact with his womanly side and to concede to his maternal

forefathers. However, he constantly reminds himself that his mother's ancestors are not fierce or

even aggressive. He even accuses them of their love for negotiation, compliance, and avoiding

bloodshed. His maternal ancestors are doing what is right, but to Okonkwo, that is not socially

acceptable.

Moreover, pride sometimes is good, but there are cases where pride can lead to

devastating results. Okonkwo's pride is his greatest weakness, and it comes from in and out of

the community. The pride is justifiable because he has achieved various things in his life and
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helped the community in different circumstances (Gale,24). He has proved to be his clan's most

fierce warrior. He has also been able to climb the leadership lander in his clan faster than his

peers. However, his scorn for other people does not live up to his achievement standards because

he does things that are right but not socially acceptable. For instance, he is extremely worried

about his legacy because of his son's lack of masculinity. Besides that, he also tries to repress his

emotion to avoid appearing weak to people. Throughout the story, we see Okonkwo struggling to

revoke all emotional responses, which makes him act wrongly. Staying strong and hiding your

emotions from people is the right thing but acting with a lot of cruelty and violence is not

socially acceptable.

The only emotion that Okonkwo shows openly is that of anger which is not socially

acceptable. Showing affection to people or your family is the right thing to do, but to Okonkwo,

affection was a sign of weakness which, according to him it was not socially acceptable (Gale,

61). He believes the only emotion that should get exhibited is anger, which brings him many

problems with his family. For instance, he kills Ikemefuna even after being advised not to kill

him, but he goes ahead and kills him because he fears appearing weak before people. Killing

Ikemefuna deepens the differences existing between Okonkwo and his blood son. Therefore, his

emotional repression is right but socially unacceptable because it leads to damage, anger, and

violence. A few days after killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo is unable to eat and breaks out in

shivers.

Additionally, some people accepted the new political and religious order, feeling that it

was the right thing. Still, it was socially unacceptable because it later led to colonization.

Okonkwo returns from exile and finds out that Christianity has taken over the community (Gale,

151). Mr Brown had introduced a new religion and civilization that had brought trouble into the
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entire community. Despite having had a misunderstanding with different people in the village,

Okonkwo knew that the white man was clever, and accepting him in their village was not the

right thing. He later learned that Mr. brown was teaching his people how to read and write,

which was a good thing but socially unacceptable. Various norms in the village had been kicked

away and referred to as savage ways after allowing Christianity in the village. However, despite

the fact that some people have accepted the new ways, some people felt that it was not socially

acceptable to incorporate Christianity in their way of life. The new ways spread in the

community resulting in chaos, changing their culture, leading to destruction.

Transformations from one culture to another are the right thing, especially if it benefits

the people. However, it may not be socially acceptable. The novel reveals progressive social

transformations that the people are dealing with; however, various people, especially Okonkwo,

are not happy with the new order of things introduced by the missionaries (Gale, 144). Some of

them are caught in between accepting the new ways of sticking to the old ones. They fear that if

they accept the new one, they may lose their culture. After the return of Okonkwo from exile, he

kills one of the British messenger, and the silence that people exhibit indicates that they are

ready for the new ways. The author also tries to some native words in English, suggesting that

the other feels that English is the right thing even though it may not be socially acceptable.

Through Mr. brown and other missionaries, the English language gets perceived to be superior.

Notably, when the missionaries came accepting their way of life may have been the right

thing due to the benefits that accrued with it. Still, it was not socially acceptable because it led to

social disintegration. The novel shows how disintegrations started and the formation of new

setups in the community after the arrival of Mr Brown (Gale, 175). The entire society's fabric fell

apart from accepting the British political and religious order. The foreign culture invaded and
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eroded the values and norms of the Igbo people. The erosion of their cultural values and beliefs

pushed Okonkwo to kill the British messenger. Free will is essential in every person's life

because they can choose between right and wrong. It is a way by which a person can control his

destiny, like what happened to Okonkwo. However, free will sometimes may be involved in

doing the right thing. However, to some extent, it may not be socially acceptable. In the novel,

Okonkwo utilizes his independence but cannot be in control of his life, and fate sends him to

exile. Free will pushes him to murder the British messenger. This event shows that doing what is

right is not what is socially acceptable.

In conclusion, doing what is right is not always what is socially acceptable because we

see the Igbo people accepting the British political and religious order. They end up losing their

values and culture. On the other hand, Okonkwo tries to repress his emotions, which is good, but

what he reveals is not socially acceptable because he ends up hurting his wives. Similarly,

Okonkwo kills his adopted son to prove to people that his not weak and ends up regretting and

creating bad blood between him and his son.

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Work Cited

Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Gale, Cengage

Learning, 2015.