Alison Nguyen

November 20, 2013

3rd Hour
FCAs
Organization (30)
Ideas & Content (60)
Conventions (10/-1)

Okonkwo and Kit

How do people confront their conflicts? Do they deal with it physically? Or do they
ignore the problem? There are tons of examples of different types of conflict in Things Fall
Apart by Chinua Achebe. The main character in Things Fall Apart is Okonkwo. Okonkwo lives
in Umuofia in Nigeria. The story is about Okonkwo and his clans way of living, and how they
deal with the missionaries when they arrive. Another book that has conflicts that deal with
different conflicts is Me, Myself, and Ike by K.L. Denman. In Me, Myself, and Ike the main
character is Kit, a senior in high school. Kit also suffers from schizophrenia although he is
unaware of his condition. Kit with the help of Ike, his imaginary friend, decides he wants to
preserve himself for the future by freezing himself on the mountain. There are many kinds of
conflict in both these books, and both characters have different ways of dealing with conflict.
Although there are many different ways to deal with conflict, Kit deals with conflict better than
Okonkwo does.

There are many examples of internal conflict that Okonkwo and Kit both have and deal
with their conflict differently. Okonkwo is afraid of being seen as weak. Okonkwo deals with
being afraid of being weak by using violence. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and
cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak, that is the passage from book Things Fall
Apart where Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna.(pg 53) Okonkwo was afraid that if he didn't kill
Ikemefuna the other man would have thought of him as weak. Kit, being mentally unstable, has
many internal conflicts. One internal conflict Kit has is when he starts to question Ikes
existence. When he is on the mountain he loses Ike and starts to think he accidentally killed him.
I manage to choke out a single word. Ike! He doesn't answer. What have I done? Did I hit
him? Did I? I dare a glance at the snow beneath me and its white again, blessedly white, but I
dont see Ike. (pg 176) A part of Kit knows that Ike is not real, but another part of him thinks he
is a real person. Kit deals with this conflict by trying to make sense of it as much as he can by
making up scenarios of what happened to Ike. Kit deals with his internal problems differently
than Okonkwo because he tries to understand what is happening instead of using violence.

Okonkwo and Kit both have conflict towards others. Okonkwo deals with conflict with
others by being violent. One example of is when the white missionaries goes to the clans meeting
to disbanded it. In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the
blow. It was useless. Okonkwos machete descended twice and the mans head lay beside his
uniformed body.(pg 176) The missionary tries to get the clan to stop forming against them when
Okonkwo right away hits him to end the conflict. Kit and Ike get into a lot of conflict with each
other throughout the book. Ike is verbally abusive to Kit throughout the book. Unlike Okonkwo,
Kit ignores the Ikes rude comments. One example where Kit ignores Ikes comments is when
they are making grilled cheese sandwiches. I should have known. Youre not going through
with it are you? Man you make me sick. I feel like crying. I can't cry in front of Ike, no way. But
its too much. All Ive been doing is trying to get ready, and now this? I dont answer him. (pg
85) Kit just ignores Ikes comment and doesn't respond or show any physical reaction towards
Ike. Kits way of dealing with conflict towards him is better than Okonkwos way of dealing
with conflict. Kit ignores Ike being verbally abusive which is not the best way to deal with that
conflict, but its better than killing him like Okonkwo would have. Kit deals with conflict
involving others better than Okonkwo.

Some would say that Okonkwo deals with conflict better Kit dose since he uses physical
force to fix his conflicts. Okonkwo has many conflicts with technology. When he tries to shoot
someone with a gun, he misses, and when he doesn't mean to shoot someone, he accidentally
shoot them. When Okonkwo accidentally shoots Ezeudus son he accepted his consequences
even though it was an accident. That night he collected his most valuable belonging into head-
loads...Okonkwo and his family were fleeing to his motherland. (pg 110) Okonkwo's way of
dealing with this conflict is accepting the consequences that follow even though it was an
accident. People would say that this is a better way to deal with technology conflict compared to
Kit. After Kit gets a tattoo, he starts to think that he was injected with nanobots. He instantly
goes into the bathroom and start ripping up his tattoo to get out the nanobot, and destroy them.
Violence is not a good way to deal with conflict, but some forget that Kit also approached the
nanobots a different way. Kit tried to send a letter United Nations. The letters to the
governments. The warning. I must write the warning. (pg 139) Kit decided to write a letter to
the United Nations to inform them of the problem. Although the thought of nanobots is observed,
Kit strongly believes that this is a real problem. He deals with this conflict by violence but he
also tries to deal with it by confronting it. Although Okonkwo deals with conflict concerning
technology well so doses Kit as well.

There are many different kinds of conflict in Things Fall Apart as well as Me, Myself,
And Ike. There are some similarities that Okonkwo and Kit have when dealing with conflict, but
they mostly deal with conflict differently. Okonkwo usually tries to use violence to deal with his
conflict. Kit uses different ways of dealing with conflict. Kits tries to ignore conflict, and
understand it. His ways of dealing with conflict are not the best way to deal with conflict, but it
is better than using violence. Kit deals with conflict better than Okonkwo.