WEEK 4 : Perfect Character A Delusion or Reality

In the novel Animal Farm, the hope for a better world remains unattainable. Even with the change of governance, the animals are eventually mistreated. How is it possible that the longing for good can turn awry when the person is in power for long?

In the case of Okonkwo, he is not painted as someone who is without fault. In fact, he is in many ways a tragic hero. Neither is he a person who is evil despite his part in killing Ikemefuna. Based on your understanding of him in the novel, reflect on the following questions:

• How has Okonkwo been a figure of inspiration and disappointment to his people? 
• What are the characteristics of Okonkwo that you can find in your nation’s leader?

NUR SAFAWANIE BTE MOHD. SYAHRIL

Based on the novel "Things Fall Apart", the main character is Okonkwo. Okonkwo can be a figure of inspiration. Throughout the novel, we can see how Okonkwo loves his village. He is willing to do anything in order to protect his village. When the missionaries come to the village, he is the one who fight with his life. He doesn't want any intruders to take over their land. His spirit is so inspiring and a good example of a great warrior. Besides, he shows his great love towards his daughter  Ezinma. When Ezinma is sick, he decides to find the medicine for her even though it is in the midnight.

               However, Okonwo also can be a figure of disappointment when he rules his family like an army style. Whenever they make mistake, he would beat them right away. As a result, his wives and children are afraid of him instead of respecting him. Furthermore, he is also too obsess on power and title. He doesn't want to be called as "Agbala" which stands for a woman. Because of his obsession, when he lost everything, he commits suicide. This is because, he can't accept the fact that he had lost his power and title when the missionaries took over the land. 

                For me, a perfect character is only a delusion. We are not perfect because we are the common human beings. if we are good in certain things, we will not that good in  the other things.  :)

SITI AMERAH BTE RAMLI

In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo has been a figure of inspiration and disappointment to his people. Okonkwo is a man with great power. He is well-respected which has influenced many people in the society. They want to become like Okonkwo. As a leader, Okonkwo tried so hard to protect his village. He also a man with great power. 

However, he has brought disappointment to his people as they called him a ‘tragic hero’. Despite all his efforts to protect his village from the missionaries, he ended up commit suicide. This showed that even Okonkwo, a man with great power, finally give up after facing such hardships. Other than that, Okonkwo also has brought disappointment to his people because of the way he treated the women (e.g: his wives). He showed no mercy towards them and always beat them up. It is not a way to make them respect him but only make them afraid of him. Respect is to be earned not demanded.

One of the characteristics of Okonkwo that I can find in my nation’s leader is that he tries hard to protect his people. He does not neglect his people. Other than that, he is not easily influenced by others. I can see that my nation's leader also tried to protect this country and maintain the peace and harmony among us. He also tried to preserve our culture just like what Okonkwo did.

HASFIYAH BTE ASSAN

In the case of Okonkwo, he is not painted as someone who is without fault. In fact, he is in many ways a tragic hero. Neither is he a person who is evil despite his part in killing Ikemefuna. Based on your understanding of him in the novel, reflect on the following questions:

How has Okonkwo been a figure of inspiration and disappointment to his people?

In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo plays the role of a tragic hero destined to fall from his lofty titles. From a small child, he struggled to be the opposite of his father. When working to be successful, Okonkwo “threw himself into it like one possessed. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death.” Although his father was ill-fated in the eyes of the tribe and his own son, he contained something that Okonkwo never had: humility and happiness in simple things. Even when they took Unoka, his father, away to be left in the evil forest to die, he took his flute, a source of happiness. So Okonkwo with his characteristics doomed for tragedy, led a seemingly successful life, though a tragic flaw of pride and wrong decisions robbed him of his self-fantasized gilded life. Since tragedy involves the "fall" of a tragic hero, one theory is that one must have a lofty position to fall from, or else there is no tragedy (just sorrow). An ambitious man who has risen from nothing to a man of importance in his tribe, Okonkwo rules his family with an iron fist. He is deeply dedicated to the traditions and social hierarchies of his people, and he is determined that his sons and daughters follow his demanding example. The indignities forced on him and his people by the British eventually prove to be too much for him. After an act of defiance which goes unsupported by his people, Okonkwo gives in to despair. He kills himself, partly so that he will not be executed under the white man's laws and partly because he is grieving for the death of his people.

What are the characteristics of Okonkwo that you can find in your nation’s leader?

I chose Tun Dr Mahathir because he has a strong spirit like Okonkwo. He never gives up and try to do his best for the country. He is also very dedicated to the nation. He tries to preserve Malaysia culture so that the young generation and other people around the world will see the uniqueness of the Malaysian culture.

ROSMAN DRAHMAN

In the novel Animal Farm, the hope for a better world remains unattainable. Even with the change of governance, the animals are eventually mistreated. How is it possible that the longing for good can turn awry when the person is in power for long?

In the case of Okonkwo, he is not painted as someone who is without fault. In fact, he is in many ways a tragic hero. Neither is he a person who is evil despite his part in killing Ikemefuna. Based on your understanding of him in the novel, reflect on the following questions:

1. How has Okonkwo been a figure of inspiration and disappointment to his people?

• In my opinion, Okonkwo has been a figure of inspiration to his people. Okonkwo is the well known character. He is a man with a great power and Igbo people give him full respects. Okonkwo become the role model to the Igbo people. As a great man, he needs to protect his village and culture from the outsiders. However, Okonkwo also has been a figure of disappointment to his people. At the moments he exiled, there no one respect toward him anymore. Okonkwo act abusive towards his family and he thinks that he need to be aggressive to teaches his family to be respectful person in the society. At the end, he fails to convince Igbo people to fight and because of that, he committed suicide.

2. What are the characteristics of Okonkwo that you can find in your nation’s leader?

• The characteristics of Okonkwo that I can find in my nation’s leader are Rosli Dhobi. He was a member leader of the Rukun 13. It was a secret cell organization, composed of nationalists and patriots, which carried out assassinations of officers of the British Colonizer in Sarawak. He was well known for his assassination of Sir Duncan George Steward , the second governor of colonial Sarawak in 1948. He is a brave man who take a risk to protect Sarawak from being colonized and what he did is realized people that they should not let the outsiders to take over the culture and our homeland.