On the Subject of Fear
Fear can be a very powerful emotion, capable of bringing the strongest men to their knees, or allowing the most desolate to reach for the stars. In both the Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart, fear plays a major role in the actions of the natives and the invading white man. In several instances we can see the different ideals of the different characters and the role that fear plays in their lives, as well as its effects both positive and negative.
The positive effects of Fear can be seen through the the novel Things fall apart. Okonkwo lives his life with the fear of becoming just like his father. This fear encourages and promotes his activeness in the community and his puts pressure on him too be better. “His whole …show more content…
The fear that the men of the company felt as they moved inland was one that they will never forget. The fear that is shown in the Heart of Darkness will put any modern horror film to shame. “ A complaining clamour, modulated in savage discords, filled our ears. The sheer unexpectedness of it made my hair stir under my cap. I don 't know how it struck the others: to me it seemed as though the missed itself had screen, so suddenly, and apparently from all sides at once, did this tumutous and mournful uproar arise … Two others remained open mouth a whole minute, then dashed into the little cabin, to rush out in constantly and stand darting scared glances, with a winchesters at ‘ready’ in their hands.” This constant fear rears its ugly head at certain points in which we see the cruelty of the white man, such as the heads on sticks outside of the …show more content…
The natives in the Heart of Darkness live their lives in constant fear of the white man. This fear is quite central to them because of the awful way they are treated. But, in Things Fall Apart the theme of primal fear does not show up until the point at which family members may be hurt. Ekwefi shows immense courage in the face of her fear that her daughter may be taken away from her. “Ekwefi stood rooted to the spot. One mind said to her: woman, go home before Agbala does you harm. But she could not.” This is another case of someone who is so fearful for another person, they take little regard to their own lives. Kind of like a mother today, who can lift a car off of her child, purely through adrenaline. Now obviously, without the narrative of the natives, we are unable to gauge the anxiety that they are feeling, so we cannot describe accurately the emotions that they have. But, we can assume since they were fighting back, through the sinking of ships, that they did not fear for their own lives anymore, thus they felt pain for others and lived as a unit of
Fear can be a very powerful emotion, capable of bringing the strongest men to their knees, or allowing the most desolate to reach for the stars. In both the Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart, fear plays a major role in the actions of the natives and the invading white man. In several instances we can see the different ideals of the different characters and the role that fear plays in their lives, as well as its effects both positive and negative.
The positive effects of Fear can be seen through the the novel Things fall apart. Okonkwo lives his life with the fear of becoming just like his father. This fear encourages and promotes his activeness in the community and his puts pressure on him too be better. “His whole …show more content…
The fear that the men of the company felt as they moved inland was one that they will never forget. The fear that is shown in the Heart of Darkness will put any modern horror film to shame. “ A complaining clamour, modulated in savage discords, filled our ears. The sheer unexpectedness of it made my hair stir under my cap. I don 't know how it struck the others: to me it seemed as though the missed itself had screen, so suddenly, and apparently from all sides at once, did this tumutous and mournful uproar arise … Two others remained open mouth a whole minute, then dashed into the little cabin, to rush out in constantly and stand darting scared glances, with a winchesters at ‘ready’ in their hands.” This constant fear rears its ugly head at certain points in which we see the cruelty of the white man, such as the heads on sticks outside of the …show more content…
The natives in the Heart of Darkness live their lives in constant fear of the white man. This fear is quite central to them because of the awful way they are treated. But, in Things Fall Apart the theme of primal fear does not show up until the point at which family members may be hurt. Ekwefi shows immense courage in the face of her fear that her daughter may be taken away from her. “Ekwefi stood rooted to the spot. One mind said to her: woman, go home before Agbala does you harm. But she could not.” This is another case of someone who is so fearful for another person, they take little regard to their own lives. Kind of like a mother today, who can lift a car off of her child, purely through adrenaline. Now obviously, without the narrative of the natives, we are unable to gauge the anxiety that they are feeling, so we cannot describe accurately the emotions that they have. But, we can assume since they were fighting back, through the sinking of ships, that they did not fear for their own lives anymore, thus they felt pain for others and lived as a unit of