Compare Okonkwo and Gatzby

A detailed Summary of Compare Okonkwo and Gatzby

The Great Gatsby and Things Fall Apart

In this world there are heroes and villains. Neither Gatsby nor Okonkwo are good or bad. Okonkwo seems bad early on, when he beats his wives; he does however show compassion when he goes after Ezinma. Gatsby does something illegal, but everything he does is for Daisy. Their fatal flaws blind both Gatsby and Okonkwo. Okonkwo's hubris is that he believes in the Umuofian dream of a perfect society, while Gatsby believes that he is able to erase the past. Their fates are worse than they deserved, Okonkwo is banished from Umuofia after accidentally killing someone and Gatsby does not have the love of Daisy, as he believes. Both Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart and Gatsby from The Great Gatsby are tragic heroes.

In Things Fall Apart it seems as if Okonkwo is bad, as he beats his wives and children, he does however show compassion. One night Chielo comes and takes Ezinma to her cave. Okonkwo stays when Ekwefi, against what everyone else says, goes. "When he thought he had waited long enough he again returned to the shrine. But the Hills and the Caves were as silent as death. It was only on his fourth trip that he had found Ekwefi,

and by then he had become gravely worried." (Achebe, 1959, 112) Okonkwo must be a man without fear, and he pretends not to have any feelings, but he shows love when he goes after his daughter. Gatsby has a lot of money, and he achieved it through illegal means.

Even though his entire fortune is made of illegal gains he got all of it for Daisy. If he had not have known her, than he would not have done all that he had.

Both Okonkwo and Gatsby are haunted by their Hubris. Okonkwo's fatal flaw is that he puts too much belief into the Umuofian society and its ways. During a ceremony celebrating a clansman's death his gun exploded and killed that mans son. He was then forced to flee from Umuofia. "The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan. It was a crime against the Earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land." (Achebe, 1959, 124) Even if he felt it unfair he still believed it was just, as he later returned after the minimum period of exile. The fatal flaw of Gatsby is his belief that he can change the past. When talking to Nick he tells him his intentions. "'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!' (Fitzgerald, 1925, 70) Gatsby wants Daisy to leave Tom so that He and Daisy can start from the beginning, as if Tom never happened.

"'I found out what your "drug-stores" were.' He turned to us and

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Approximate Word count = 940
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History