Concluding Thoughts.

Death. I never expected Okonkwo to kill himself. It was not something I expected to occur because, in a way, that was worse then what his father had done. He had gone against the one thing he depended on the most: being the opposite of his father. As a result, the conclusion to this trilogy is a chilling yet brilliant one. It was most certainly unexpected. In the end, he did not go as a brave man did. He went as a savage.
Colonialism was depicted here as something of amusement at first whereas in Heart of Darkness, it was sort of like a flickering candle in the fact that it was quickly fading hope, per say. I'm not sure if hope is the right word usage. There was a certain darkness that seamed in and out of Heart of Darkness. It was definitely a theme that ran throughout the story. While Things Fall Apart was sad, there was not really a feeling of looming doom until about halfway through the book. And, even then, it was not nearly as tragically beautiful as Conrad's work.
I do have a few questions. What caused Okonkwo to commit suicide? Was it a result of losing his son to the religion he hated or that he was still mainly functioning with his primal instincts rather than thinking things through? Was it both? Was it something else?
Did Okonkwo wishing his daughter was a male represent something in himself? About how he, deep inside, feared that he was a woman in the sense of weakness? What did his suicide show about his true nature?