Sometimes your whole life boils down to one insane move. In the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and the movie Avatar directed by James Cameron, both feature main characters that face cultural conflicts. Okonkwo faces conflicts of his pride ruining his judgment, and his banishment. Jake comes across the cultural conflicts of attempting to merge cultures with the Na’vi people, and his sense of identity being challenged by not knowing with what race his allegiance lies.

The first of Okonkwo’s conflicts is that he has too much pride. He usually does irrational things when he thinks he is being perceived as being weak. “Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak (Achebe 61).” This is where Okonkwo gave the final blow to Ikemefuna, his foster son. After Okonkwo realized what he had done, he has a minor breakdown and does not eat for two days; he only drinks wine. He struggles with his personal beliefs, and is ashamed that he is emotionally affected. Okonkwo’s killing Ikemefuna was one of many of his moral dilemmas in the novel. His friends begged him to not go to kill his son, but he had to go in order to protect his reputation. Okonkwo has many titles in the tribe, and is very self-centered about his accomplishments. His pride leads him into situations in which the tribe wishes him to avoid.This shows that Okonkwo does not do what he is told, but rather what he believes is right for Okonkwo. At the end of the book, Okonkwo assumes the tribe has his back when he murders the messenger of the church.He assumed wrongly.His pride and rash decisions lead him to believe that he is always right. This thought process lead to his suicide as he realized the tribe did not agree with his ideas. Before, Okonkowo’s pride caused his downfall; he had to face another conflict.

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Okonkwo’s second conflict is his banishment. He is banished because his gun exploded and a piece of iron hit a dead man?…

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