Question

In at least one hundred words, discuss a major internal conflict Okonkwo faces in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Use evidence from the text to support your answer.

Answer 1

In "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, the greatest internal conflict Okonkwo has is him being what he considered ideal masculinity. He became known as a great fighter, a wealthy farmer, and a highly esteemed man in his clan, but all of this changes when he is exiled for seven years. He downgrades to sharecropping from his mother's family's land, and he immediately begins planning how to regain his status when he returns to Umuofia. "Okonkwo saw clearly the high esteem in which  he would be held, and he saw himself taking the highest title in the land." He feels that his value is attached only to wealth and power.