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People engage in wars for different reasons. Some for nationalism, many for what is right, and still others do not even know why they fight. In the books, Things Fall Apart by China Achebe, and All Quiet On the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, two different people fight for different causes yet have a common bond. Both Okonkwo and Paul Baumer find their identity through defending the dignity and honor of those around them. Paul is caught in WWI fighting to prove his loyalty to his country. Amidst the war, he struggles to find meaning in the new image he has become.
In the beginning, their teacher persuades everyone in the class to enlist in the military to fight the glorious war. Thinking this is an honorable idea, everyone joins, even those who secretly fear the battlefield. However, in certainty, they are forced into volunteering; Territorial Kantorek, two years ago you preached us into enlisting; and among us there was one, Joseph Be, who didnt want to enlist. He was killed three months before he would have been called up in the ordinary way. If it had not been for you he would have lived just that much longer (174). Their schoolmaster, Kantorek fills their heads up with views of nationalism, the belief that one's country is all that matters.
Some students even have pressure from their parents to enlist. Not enlisting is like turning their back on their own country. To the teachers, schoolmasters, and older men, going to war is the best thing a man could do for his country. However, in reality, Paul and his friends do not want to kill or be killed. One of Pauls friend says, No one in particular wants it, and then all at once there it is. We didnt want the war, the others say the same thing- and yet half the world is in it all the same (206).
The young group of soldiers concludes that they are trapped fighting in war for the desires of generals and rulers wanting fame. Although none of them want to fight, patriotism to ones own country overrules the sense. In combat and fighting in action, Paul, see[s] how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently; innocently slay one another (263). Baumer, a soldier, merely follows instructions. He has no say, no opinion whatsoever, and whatever ideas he has, is to be kept within him. His allegiance is pledged to his country; therefore he does anything it assigns him to do.
Okonkwo battles for the traditional Ibo culture that the tribe of Umuofia has to keep sacred from the dangers of colonization brought by the white men. People, like Okonkwo, depend strongly on the ancestors and gods in their culture. Natives from all over come when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute with their neighbors. They came to discover what the future held for them or to consult the spirits of their departed fathers (15). Going to the gods of their ancestors is a deeply rooted tradition from which they govern their lives. Yet when the white men come and bring a new government and a new religion, they destroy the cultural balance of faith and religion that encompasses the native people in Africa.
The commissioner, had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitives Tribes of the Lower Niger (171). Okonkwo fights against the unjust government that comes to change their culture. His objective is to get rid of the white men and preserve the good, faithful religion that has taken care of them for a long time. He loves his people, his culture, the peace and trust that exists in the beginning. Similarly, Okonkwo and Paul tragically perish at the end. They both die in the struggle to define themselves because their entire lives were defined for them -- for Paul, through his nation, for Okonkwo, through his heritage.
Very few win the battle and find themselves, simply because so many powerful influences are at play in their lives. Everyone struggles, and they all die in the end, but those who make it find peace. He fell in October 1918, his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come (296). Paul finds peace because he dies learning that his life consists of camaraderie and friendship that only the army could give him. Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo's body was dangling, and they stopped dead (170).
Okonkwo gives up the battle and takes his life because he thinks that he can never defeat the forces that devour him and consume his traditional values. However, in essence, he finds himself too, because he realizes that the past makes him what he is. These two characters, Paul and Okonkwo, find themselves different in numerous aspects of their life, but similar as well in many ways at the end.
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Research essay sample on Okonkwo And Paul White Men Country
