Emma
and Okonkwo
~
Blog Post #4~
Topic
H
April
8, 2015
By:
Shanon Murphy
Emma Woodhouse is
depicted as a confident and conceited young girl throughout Emma by Jane Austen. She sees herself as
superior to those around her and proves this when she takes up the hobby
of matchmaking. By taking up matchmaking, Emma shows she thinks she knows
everything about everyone and because of this, she knows who belongs with who.
Similar to Emma’s character, Okonkwo in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart also bases his judgement of others on social
status and success. He takes great pride in his achievements, like Emma,
especially in his farming. Both Emma Woodhouse from Emma and Okonkwo in Things Fall
Apart consider themselves better than everyone else in their societies,
which causes problems later on.
Ever since she was
a young, Emma was the cleverest person in her family. The problem with this
situation was “the power of having rather too much her own way, and a
disposition to think a little too well of herself” (8). Because Emma was rarely
wrong as a child, she never learned how to be humble. Okonkwo came from a
different background, but there are a few similarities with Emma’s. Okonkwo
worked throughout his young life to become the pride of his family, because his
father was a big disappointment. All he thought about as a child was success
and this led to him being a power-hungry man as an adult. Because of their
childhoods, Emma and Okonkwo do not know how to deal with the power they earn,
and they do not deal well with the idea of social statuses in their societies. They
judge others not on their personalities but on their wealth and success in life.
These qualities of
Emma and Okonkwo lead to problems later on in their lives. Emma becomes too caught
up with her ideas and does not pay attention to the thoughts of others. "Every part of it brought pain and humiliation" as she
ends up ruining the relationships of multiple people late on in the book, including Harriet and Mr.
Elton (120). Okonkwo’s hunger for power ultimately leads to his death. He becomes so
disappointed with his failures and lack of success that he ends up killing
himself. Both Okonkwo’s and Emma’s self-centeredness hurts them in the long
run.
Shanon, you make some very valid points. The way Emma and Okonkwo act is very similar. Both are very high strung and live their life the way they want. Emma thinks she is the best at matchmaking and Okonkwo thinks he is the most successful man in his tribe. Both of them make their life seem flawless and perfect, when really it isn’t. They are just shallow and insecure with their lives that they want to not seem that way. I think it is because of their past. Emma lost her mom at a young age so she is still hurting from that experience, while Okonkwo is still embarrassed about how much of a failure his father was. Through past experiences, they have become the way they are today. It also helps them to grow as people and continue to be the best they can be.
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