History Assignment: “Things Fall Apart”
[This is a compare and contrast essay that i wrote in history class last year. It is comparing one character, (Okonkwo) in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, and Mr. Johnson in the movie Mr. Johnson.
Okonkwo vs. Mr. Johnson
In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, you are introduced to the main character Okonkwo. Okonkwo is the protagonist and a member of a clan in Umuofia, Africa. Okonkwo is a powerful and influential person in his clan. He is constantly trying not to be like his father, Unoka, who is basically a lazy bum. Okonkwo’s biggest fear in his life is his own failure. In the film Mr. Johnson, the protagonist is indeed, Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson is always one to impress others, working as a powerful person in his community. He is always in debt with a lot of people and tries to fight his way out of it. Johnson works for Mr. Redbeg, who is the local British official in the community, almost like an overseer. These two characters can be compared and contrasted in numerous ways. The central theme between these two characters, are their fear of failure.
Mr. Johnson and Okonkwo can be contrasted in the way that Okonkwo if much more violent to others. Throughout the movie, Johnson appears to be very nice to earn his respect and influence. Where as Okonkwo forces it more. Okonkwo will beat his wives and come down hard on his family just to gain power over them. Mr. Johnson would never be that violent towards anyone. Okonkwo never really thinks before he acts, he is very stubborn. He even offends the people of his community and their customs in addition to his clan’s gods. Mr. Johnson wouldn’t be in such position of power and offend his own members of the society. To gain success, both of the characters are hard workers. Mr. Johnson works very hard for Mr. Redbeg, and comes up with the idea of building this extremely long road for trading. Mr. Johnson is always in debt, and he makes the mistake of pretending to be a government official, so Johnson is then fired. He then goes and works as a laborer on the road, and is he-hired by Mr. Redbeg. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is given a piece of land on which he can build on. As the first rain came, he would begin farming.
“Okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm. But it was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth, like learning to become left-handed in old age. Work no longer had for him the pleasure it used to have, and when there was no work to do he sat in a silent half-sleep.”(page 131)
These two characters can be compared with their constant fear of braking down. Mr. Johnson had made a lot of mistakes before his executed death. He had the right mentality, just not a smart head. He wanted to go places, but his debt was always a problem. At one of his jobs, he got fired for selling merchandise outside of his boss’s store. Mr. Johnson tries to gain respect from his community, but in a different way the Okonkwo. Mr. Johnson throws a party for the people in the society for people to like him. Okonkwo gets attention towards him a little differently. When Christianity is brought to Umuofia, Okonkwo strongly opposes it. Okonkwo feels that it’s going to destroy his culture. During the meeting, one of the white men leaders demands the meeting to end. Okonkwo responds fast by killing him right there with his machete.
“The spell was broken by the head messenger. “Let me pass!” he ordered. “What do you want here?” “The white man whose power you know too well has ordered this meeting to stop.” In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. This messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body.”
Shortly after, the District Commissioner came to Okonkwo’s hut, only to find him dead. He had committed suicide. To him, he had failed, so he just ended his life because he couldn’t live with himself anymore. Mr. Johnson’s death is also a tragic one. He was drunk, trying to steal money out of the cash box of the store he used to work in. The owner of the store woke up, and attacked Johnson. Johnson, being drunk, grabbed an impaling object, and stabbed the store owner. Mr. Johnson then went to jail, where he was sentenced to an execution by hanging. He asked Mr. Redbeg to just shoot him instead of hanging him, because he doesn’t like the idea of hanging. So Mr. Redbeg snuck up on him, and shot him in the head. Mr. Johnson, like Okonkwo, realized he messed up. Asking to get shot in stead of an official hanging means that he didn’t want people to see him die, he didn’t want anyone looking down on him, as his last sight.