“Obierika with five or six others led the way. The Commissioner and his men followed their firearms held at the ready. He had warned Obierika that if he and his men played any monkey tricks they would be shot. And so they went.
There was a small bush behind Okonkwo's compound. The only opening into this bush from the compound was a little round hole in the red-earth wall through which fowls went in and out in their endless search for food. The hole would not let a man through. It was to this bush that Obierika led the Commissioner and his men. They skirted round the compound, keeping close to the wall. The only sound they made was with their feet as they crushed dry leaves.
Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo's body was dangling, and they stopped dead.
"Perhaps your men can help us bring him down and bury him," said Obierika. "We have sent for strangers from another village to do it for us, but they may be a long time coming" (270).
As a result of the white inhabitant and the betrayal of his brothers, Okonkwo was fed up with all the changes and the weakness of his clan; thus he committed suicide. He realized that his clan was becoming weak by transferring to a new custom – the fact is he didn’t want to become equal to the whites because in his view he was more superior to them. Even though, it’s clear that the missionaries considered the tribe to be weak and believed the clan to be unequal, they decided not to use force in order to acquire more converts. However, Okonkwo wasn’t willing to give in because he wanted to keep the power in his clan, and since he was powerless to do so which demonstrate his inequality to the whites, he decided not to give in, but to give in through suicide. He wasn’t willing to convert as it was a sign of weakness, however, his suicide contradicted his beliefs because it showed his weakness and powerlessness to fend against the converts and bring back his tribe to fruition.
This is a clear example of how people in the world when they feel that they’re treated wrongly, and looked down upon just because they were raised to believe in something someone else disagrees with will decide to follow their own actions. They don’t want to be seen as inferior just because of how they were raised and what they believe in; obviously people have different views of the world. However, if they’re pressured so much by others, they’ll eventually either give in into something they disagree with or they will consider ending their lives.
In today’s world, those who are discriminated against because of their skin color – if they’re constantly beat up by a certain group; they may acquire hatred for that group and as a result follow through with what those people did to them to gain revenge. Another example is those who are homophobic; thus causing those who are homosexual to hide their sexuality; but once they’re secret is leaked, they decide to commit suicide because they’ll be constantly picked on.
There’s inequality all over the world, all in different forms. Each time no one will be able to fit in because another group will continuously look down upon them.
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