Joshua Pangilinan

Period 8: AP Literature
November 6, 2017
Literary Analysis
The surge and loss of power will make one’s mind unstable due to the greed and
corruption of an individual. The surge and loss of power corrupted the minds of certain
individuals in the following works of literature: ​Things Fall Apart, ​by Chinua Achebe, and ​The
Spongebob Squarepants Movie​, by Stephen Hillenburg. In a critical analysis of the minds of the
character; Okonkwo and Plankton show madness from the surge of power given to them.
Okonkwo, from ​Things Fall Apart, ​ is the main character of the book who has worked
hard in his time to receive the amount of power that he had. From growing up poor, to being
exceptionally wealthy, Okonkwo had an enormous amount of respect and power compared to his
family and village. When upset with anything, Okonkwo would beat or threaten his wives any
chance he would get. For example, when Okonkwo was infuriated on who ruined a specific
banana tree he “ran madly into his room for the loaded gun, ran out again and aimed at her as she
clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn” (Achebe 39). To chase a wife with a gun to just
nearly threaten her to teach a lesson is obviously not right. But with such wealth and power,
Okonkwo’s mind doesn’t respect the some people underneath him. To further prove my claim,
on a town meeting for war, Okonkwo eventually kills an innocent man, who disrupted the
meeting. Towards the end of the book, Okonkwo lost all his power and wealth and had to fight
for his former power. He struggled continuously against the imperialist christians, but Okonkwo
could not get on top again. With a mind full of rage, Okonkwo decided to kill one of the
christians that disrupted his town meeting. Okonkwo’s surge of power corrupted his mind as he
abused his wealth and power among his family. Furthermore, Okonkwo’s loss of power
corrupted his mind even further because Okonkwo wanted to regain something he once had but
was instead being oppressed by the christians. The corrupted mind of Okonkwo evidently lead
him to killing a man and later killing himself.
On another piece of literature, ​The Spongebob Squarepants Movie​, Plankton exemplifies
another character that shows a corrupted mind from the surge and loss of power. In the beginning
of the movie, to gain his power, Plankton comes up with a diabolical plan to steal a secret recipe.
To get to his power, Plankton had to: steal a sacred crown, accuse his enemy of stealing the
crown, steal the secret formula, and brain wash the whole town. On top of all this, Plankton hires
a hitman to “take care” of Spongebob and Patrick. Plankton’s corrupted mind lead him to such
great power to control the whole town of Bikini Bottom. He puts lives in danger as he intended
to destroy Mr. Krabs, Spongebob, and Patrick. Plankton evidently enslaves King Neptune
himself as he wanted to ensure that he had full power of everything. However, when Spongebob
performs the “Goofy Goober Rock” song, Plankton’s power dramastically plummets into the
ground as everyone isn’t enslaved anymore (ending). With his loss of power, Plankton falls to
the ground crying, cuffed, in the hands of the police.
 Now, as Thomas C. Foster said it, “Where have I seen this before?” Foster claims in
How to Read Literature Like a Professor​: “Not just to​ look​ but ​where​ to look, and​ how​ to look.
Literature, as the great Canadian critic Northrop Frye observed, grows out of other literature; we
should not be surprised to find, then, that it also looks like other literature” (Foster 29). Both
these pieces of literature show very similar characters as both demonstrated a very corrupted
mind due to the surge and loss of power. Both characters did as much as they with the power
given. They abused their power and demonstrated a corrupted mind as they continued to put
others in danger. When all power was gone, both of the characters went crazy. They evidently
showed a way of breaking down as their minds couldn’t handle the loss of something they once
had.
To conclude, as it is seen in both the two pieces of literature, two characters demonstrated
a corrupted mind due to power given to them. Okonkwo with his demonstration of power,
abused his authority and strength, showing the greater evil of him. Plankton, on the other hand,
demonstrated his abuse of power to the very next level, by ruling Bikini Bottom. Both showed
their corrupted mind on all the power they had, but once it was taken away, fury and sorrow
filled their minds. Once Okonkwo had his power stripped away, he was oppressed to the point
that he was filled with madness and would do anything to regain his power from the christians.
Okonkwo, to the point, kills himself from all the things he did with his corrupted mind; however,
as for Plankton, Plankton just falls on his knees sobbing on his loss. As shown, both these
characters demonstrated a corrupted mind due to the surge and loss of power.