Planet Earth is home to seven billion independent human minds, living seven billion independent and equally complex lives. Even more impressive, each mind contains unique perspectives and opinions. With so many different minds interacting, conflicts between individuals' views and opinions become inevitable. Unfortunately, no single perspective, held by a single mind or group of minds, dominates as the right perspective. In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, the meeting of different cultures creates a conflict between perspectives, in which both sides assume justice but neither side is entirely correct. Although Okonkwo may arouse readers' sympathy for his role as a tragic hero, the author's sympathy is with Obierika, who stands between the missionaries and Okonkwo as the more humane balance of the two cultures. Okonkwo's desire for respect motivates his quest for preservation. the practices of Ibo culture, while Obierika preserves the practices of Ibo culture from a more humanistic perspective. Achebe uses Okonkwo and Obierika's different approaches to maintaining the cultural doctrines of the Ibo people to reveal his sympathy for Obierika over Okonkwo. Okonkwo's motivations for maintaining Igbo customs come from fear. Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna while he was “stunned with fear,” drawing “his machete [to] cut him down” because “he was afraid of being seen as weak” (Achebe 61). Although Okonkwo attempts to appear strong to the people of Umuofia, his fearful motivation speaks to a hidden internal weakness. Okonkwo's emphasis on eradicating the taint of "his father's weakness and failure" and his desire for respect drive him to kill Ikemefuna instead of the more appropriate motive of simply enforcing what the Igbo consider... middle of paper ... ..ke a. He stabbed what united us and we fell apart” (176). Obierika should be the character the reader sympathizes with instead of Okonkwo; it deals with the injustices caused by the missionaries without Okonkwo's flaws, emphasizing his innocence. Although many may interpret Okonkwo as a tragic hero drawn to him, Obierika deserves more sympathy from the reader than Okonkwo. Obierika suffers as does Okonkwo under the thumb of the missionaries, but he lacks the selfish focus that motivates most of Okonkwo's actions. Ultimately, Obierika's venerability arises from his ability to see the compromise that will allow the Igbo to find a method of adapting to the inevitable changes brought about by the missionaries. While Achebe evokes sympathy and respect for Obierika, the most generous emotion he evokes for Okonkwo is pity.