MOHD IRWANDY - PERFECT CHARACTER A DELUSION OR REALITY

Perfect Character A Delusion or Reality
In the novel Animal Farm, the hope for a better world remains unattainable. Even with the change of governance, the animals are eventually mistreated. How is it possible that the longing for good can turn awry when the person is in power for long?

In the case of Okonkwo, he is not painted as someone who is without fault. In fact, he is in many ways a tragic hero. Neither is he a person who is evil despite his part in killing Ikemefuna. Based on your understanding of him in the novel, reflect on the following questions:

How has Okonkwo been a figure of inspiration and disappointment to his people?
What are the characteristics of Okonkwo that you can find in your nation’s leader?


In the storyline of Things Fall Apart, I’ve observed that the protagonist, Okonkwo had once become an inspiration but also a disappointment to his people. He became an inspiration when he came back to Umofia from his exiled years. When he arrived, he saw that most of his people had already succumbed to the colonization that was ongoing. The resistance for this was getting weaker and Okonkwo as he saw this was a bit enraged by it. He sought his people and assembled as much willing men to support him against the colonizer. He inspired some of his people to fight back against the white men. Unfortunately, when the messenger came and Okonkwo killed him, and when he killed himself, he became a disappointment to his people. His death became a tragic death in which his culture condemns even his own people to touch him until he was buried.

Other than this, I observed also that some of Okonkwo characteristics also exist in a nation’s leader that I admired that is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Dr Mahathir has the persistence and the will of hard work that Okonkwo’s had. When the nation’s economy was at the brink of collapse, at the time, the logical move was to take a loan from the World Bank. However, to prevent the country from being further in debt, Dr Mahathir did not asked for the loan but came up with his own economic plan that revived the nation’s economy and thus saving the country from a massive debt. Okonkwo has this persistence when he was exiled to his motherland. Rather than giving up, he prospered in his motherland when he managed to grow crops and still can feed his family.