While Okonkwo and Ikemefuna began to follow the group of elders down the forest I began to notice how constantly the forest setting is brought up in different stories. In Things Fall Apart they are all walking deeper into the woods to a certain destination, “The footway had now become narrow line in the heart of the forest” (59). Then all of a sudden tragic occurs, “As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete, Okonkwo looked away” (61). The forest in these stories has been constantly a place of darkness where things unforgettable occur. For Okonkwo to look away a character who is suppose to be strong and fearless this actually beings to show a vulnerable side to him that us readers haven’t seen before. On another hand, Young Goodman Brown experience in the forest wasn’t as pleasant either. He notice after awhile that his wife was being apart of a evil ritual, while it was occurring he tried to regain her attention, “”Faith! Faith!” cried the husband. “Look up to heaven, and resist the Wicked One!”” (25). Both of these characters found their way into the forest that would later on haunt them and make them think of repeatedly. The forest overall has lean its way towards this secret mysteries place that only the ones who walk upon know what actually happens. Both Young Goodman Brown and Okonkwo have experience the devastation and tragedy that lingers inside the forest.
2 thoughts on “Things Fall Apart”
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The reason Okonkwo looked away wasn’t due primarily because of him being in the midst of the heart of the jungle but because he did not want to watch Ikemefuna get killed right in front of him. I will agree though that jungle is very much connected to something resembling darkness or evil spirits in many stories. It had to be Okonkwo to finish Ikemefuna off himself with his last strike from his machete and upon arriving back to his home, his son, Nwoye, sensed something different about his father. It states in the novel how something has given way inside and how Nwoye’s head began to swell like one who passes an evil spirit. Okonkwo, who has come from the forest, is now seen to have an evil spirit inside him.
As I was reading the story, I also made the connection to the forest and the “wilderness” like we previously encountered in “Young Goodman Brown” and “Rip Van Winkle”. I made the connection to the forest being the barebones of humans and in that instance, Okonkwo shows the vulnerability that you mentioned which the readers haven’t seen openly being shown through physical reaction. We have seen him calling other people women when he felt he was attacked but the forest was the one instance in which he can’t help but look away. I believe this is also an example of the setting being used to show the inner psychology as it deconstructs the character of Okonkwo to show that he can actually be afraid and emotional towards another person even with the shield he keeps up around others.