As you already know, Okonkwo is the main character in Things Fall Apart and actually I feel sad for him, because he faced many conflicts during his life regarding identity.
Okonkwo was tormented by his past and society, which is pitiful because this shows how people can influence and shape the way we act; directly affecting our identity.
Okonkwo was oppressed by the fact that he did not want to be like his father was, so he fought really hard to be different from him and finally he became successful showing that he is a strong man, but...up to what extent?
This fight made him a blind apathetic man, focused only on "manly" aspects and also made him a person full of fear and hate; hiding in a way his own personality and real intentions.
Sometimes I (and I know that other people too) feel just as Okonkwo, because every day we have to "fight" against the stereotypes that society creates, the oppression that forces people to behave in a certain way and the demons inisde us. All these aspects affect our identity, because they limit and make us act under "acceptable" standards.
It has always been hard for me to define the concept of Identity....What is it for you? What makes you unique? How can we strike a balance between society and our identity?
I think it´s a constant battle. Everyday we try to fight against the shadow of our parents, relatives, sibblings or any other figure we find threatening. I think at a certain point that those figures are necessary for us to keep us on track and to avoid loosing our North. We need to remember those shadows and avoid becoming one of them, but at the same time being aware that we don´t have to change entirely because that migh transform ourselves into a new more powerful shadow. Maybe it´s related to the say "mejor diablo conocido que por conocer" --> at the end it´s better to become something familiar than something or someone more powerful, strong and frightened.
ResponderEliminarAs I always say ...we have to strike a balance between things.
ResponderEliminarAs you have mentioned it is quite difficult to come up with a deffinition of identity since this is a very abstract concept that can include a lot of conceptions. For me "Identity" are those features of an individual which distinguish him/her from others. Identity is not only related to individual, but also groups. For instance, ethnic groups, social movements, among others. From my point of view identity has both advantages as well as downsides. It can reinforce the sense of belonging to a specific group in order to empower relationships between the members among the group. However, identity has also been used as to refer to stereotypes resulting in social prejudices.
ResponderEliminarThe last question is highly controlversial since we, as citizens, are constantly struggling with keeping our personal identity and trying to fit in the identity of society. An identification of a certain group can influence personal identity in such a way in which the latter becomes a copy of the first one, instead of mainting its own characteristics. However, I take the view that having an array of identities in society contributes to the existence of diversity, which leads us to think about other concepts that are strongly related such as tolerance, acceptance, discrimination, culture, among others. To sum up, it's time people started thinking about maintaining their own identity in order to contribute to preserve diversity in society. An easy every day example to do this, is to stick to your guns even though the people from whatever group differ with your opinion. An inividual can share common ideas that identify the group in which is immersed, however we have to bear in mind that we are all independent and unique human beings that think differently.