Okonkwo's Suicide : A sense of Existentialism vs

culture and the role of British colonialism

● Prepared by Nishtha Makwana

● Paper : The African Literature
● Text : Things Fall Apart
● Submitted to Department of
English, Bhavnagar.
 Table of contents

● Objectives
● Cannibalistic Okonkwo
● Culture Vs Existential crisis
● British Colonialism
● Conclusion
● Work citation
 Objectives

● Why did Okonkwo commit suicide

● What are the possible reason or aspects behind his suicide
● Does African literature only criticize western people?
● What does Culture play a role?
 Cannibalistic Okonkwo

● Not only a barbarian but also a Cannibal

‘THE PRACTICE OF EATING OTHER PEOPLE’

Oxford Learner's Dictionary

● Beats his wives and bullies his children

● Kills Ikemefuna
‘Gave her a second beating and left her and
her daughter weeping’
Achebe

● Fear of being thought weak

● Masculinity
 Culture vs Existential crisis

● Suicide as a philosophical choice

“There is but one truly serious

philosophical problem, and that
is suicide” - Camus

● Igbo Culture - Aginst the act of Suicide

“It is an abomination for a man to take

his own life. It is an offence against the
Earth” (Achebe, 1958, p.68).
 British Colonialism

● Okonkwo's experience - before the arrival of the white man

- Violations, struggle and Exile

● After the arrival of the white man - Social death and physical
death

“Achebe presents the collapse as being due not solely or even

primarily to British military superiority, but also to an internal
disorder”
-Stratton
 Continue..

● British colonial power and internal disorders

● Conflict within Igbo culture
“[Okonkwo] knew that
Umuofia would not go to
war. He knew because they
had let the other
messengers escape. They
had broken into tumult
instead of action. He
discerned fright in that
tumult.” (Achebe, 1958, p.67)
 Conclusion

● Not only culture

● Not only inner self or disorder
● Not only British Colonialism
● Not only his sense of pride
● But each and every aspect is responsible for his
tragic fall or suicide
 Work cited

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.

Abormealeh, Abdullah. "A Colonial, Postcolonial, and Existential Sense of Self destruction of
Igbo Characters in The Narrative of Chinua Achebe." vol. 1, Sept. 2020, p. 176.

Camus, Albert. The myth of Sisyphus and other essays. Trans. Justin O' Brien. New York;
Vintage Books,1991

Choudhury, Anirban. "Okonkwo's Suicide: The Aftermath of an Existential Crisis."

Academia.edu - Share Research, 13 Apr. 2018,
www.academia.edu/37773250/Okonkwos_Suicide_The_Aftermath_of_an_Existential_Crisis.
 Continue

"Cannibalism." Oxford Learner's Dictionaries | Find Definitions, Translations, and Grammar Explanations
at Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, Oxford University Press,
www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/cannibalism.

Purwarno. "CANNIBALISTIC OKONKWO: A DECONSTRUCTIVE PERSPECTIVE OF CHINUA

ACHEBE'S THINGS FALL APART." Academia.edu - Share Research,
www.academia.edu/34332562/CANNIBALISTIC_OKONKWO_A_DECONSTRUCTIVE_PERSPECTIVE_
OF_CHINUA_ACHEBES_THINGS_FALL_APART
.

Stratton, F. Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender. Taylor & Francis, 1994