Okonkwo Tragic Hero

For all of his desire to be strong, Okonkwo is caught up by the constant fear of being perceived as weak. He is afraid of failure and afraid of being considered weak. This fear drives him to do whatever he can to not become a failure like his father which ironically contributes to his death. While Okonkwo was a strong and important figure in his tribe, he had to keep his reputation that way by making some hard decisions. One of them was when he had to kill Ikemefuna, a young boy from the neighboring tribe. Okonkwo started accepting the decision to kill Ikemefuna because he started to call Okonkwo father. He had to keep his own valor intact and kill the boy to prevent himself from showing any weakness, but deep down, Okonkwo was really upset because of what he did which was ironic, “’When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'" (Achebe 65). He continued to roll downhill when the white man comes to try and convert Okonkwo’s tribe. Okonkwo responds by killing one of the messengers that were sent. This cause Okonkwo's own tribe to question his actions. “"Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape.

A tragic hero is a hero who goes though a lot of things. Okonkwo is a tragic hero because is important in his society and he meets death of choices with courage. In things fall apart Okonkwo gets a lot of fame because he has three titles and three barns of yams.

Okonkwo had a lot of flaws. He was stuck on having a good reputation and raising the best family he could. He feared for his children to become like his father and his wives to become lazy. He got mad frequently and took it out on his family if they did anything wrong. But one of his flaws were involved with the killing of his adopted son Ikemefuna. A group of elders had gone with Okonkwo and Ikemefuna to a forest, where one of them swung their machete at the poor boy and destroyed. Ikemefuna ran to Okonkwo for help, but “dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down” (61). The man was afraid of being thought of as weak. Then again, he had always had a tough image around others. Of course, accidents happened quite a lot for Okonkwo because he accidentally killed a higher up in the village during Ezeudu’s funeral and “he could not return to the clan after seven years” (124). He had to start all over with his family and return to his motherland. Life was never fun for Okonkwo. Hard work and strict punishment was basically what he was known for. So when Okonkwo and men from Umuofia went to visit the District Commissioner, they were taken as prisoners and whipped along with being shaven until a certain price was paid. Once they were released and they went home, people in the village were accepting until “nobody else spoke but they noticed the long stripes on Okonkwo’s

The ancient Greek Philosopher known as Aristotle, defined a tragic hero as someone who has heroic traits that earn them the sympathy of the audience. But, they have possess flaws or make mistakes that lead to their downfall. Aristotle also described several characteristics that portray a tragic hero. Although, there are five main important qualities that he talked about include hamartia, hubris, peripeteia, nemesis, and catharsis. The main character in the book Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, exhibits these five traits throughout the entire story.

He did it because he knew Umuofia wouldn’t go to war because they let the other messengers escape. Which also resulted in his death. He feared that nobody would follow his expectations on killing the white man. He thought his clan was weakening, he kilt himself in fear of being weak and thought killing the messenger would restore his manhood. In all, Okonkwo ended up how he didn’t want to end up, in

He had no patience with his own father” (page 6). Okonkwo sees himself more powerful and more wise than any other man in the village could be. He often disrespects the clans gods by disobeying their commandments for peace. A great example of this is when Okonkwo beat his wife for little to no reason. Okonkwo was looking for any reason to beat his wife or disobey the religious rules “Okonkwo, with no work to do had been walking aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger, found an outlet.” (page 37). Okonkwo will do anything to maintain his self molded figure of his character being characterized by strength of power. Okonkwo will go to any extent to keep his character. While reading Things Fall Apart the reader see Okonkwo going to extremes when he killed his son Ikemefuna. The reader can see he loved and cared for and had a strong connection to Ikemefuna and for him to to kill him without thinking twice shows the

In the book, Okonkwo was the tribe leader in Umuofia and wants to carry on the traditions that have been in his tribe for years. While he is known as being a leader, the character struggles daily with not wanting to be like his father who is lazy, and weak. Therefore he avoids everything possible to not be like him. Which leads into more of a bigger issue that is not being weak in front of anyone.

The destruction of Okonkwo was revealed slowly throughout the books. He started to make some poor decisions, which became the beginning of his downfall. He killed Ikemefuna just because he didn’t want to be thought weak. He made unwise decisions to only appear to be strong and manly to others in the village. He did not realize how he lost so much from living that way. When, Okonkwo kills Ogbuefi Ezedu’s son, the real tragedy begins. Other tragic heroes usually have a steadier downfall, but Okonkwo had a direct fall in society due to this event. This puts his family into exile for seven years. After a short period of time, white missionaries arrive to Umuofia. When “The

Okonkwo has many errors judging the complexity of many big decisions. He also has a major weakness, that being his pride and constant battle-ready state. These end up being a major downfall in his life. Ikemefuna ends up being a part of Okonkwo’s errors in pride when the Oracle decrees Ikemefuna’s death. One blow from a machete didn’t kill him and having seen this, “Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (61). This quote shows Okonkwo’s kryptonite, being thought of as a weak person. This would eventually lead to him and five others being captured by the missionaries and brought to a jail. “The six men ate nothing throughout that day and the next. They were not even given water to drink. ‘We should have killed the white man if you had listened to me,’ Okonkwo snarled” (195). This quote shows Okonkwo’s failure to judge just how serious the situation is with him saying what they should have done is listened to him. Both of these events lead Okonkwo down a dark path. While taking some of the missionaries on a path to find Okonkwo, they see his body hanging from a tree. Obierika, a long-time friend of Okonkwo starts to yell at the missionaries, blaming them for his death by saying, “That man was one of the greatest in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog” (208). This quote shows the end of a long chain of events that drove Okonkwo to his destruction of

A hero is one who is “admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities”. Many people can go under this category based on this broad definition of a hero, but what is real hero? A real hero is one who assists others, puts people’s needs before theirs, is brave, courageous, caring, and is looked up to by many. Okonkwo in the novel, “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, is a very complex character with many characteristics varying from corrupt to decent. But as the story continues, his ruthless characteristics are more evident. Okonkwo cannot be considered a hero, although he may fit into some of the characteristics. Okonkwo is known as violent, narrow- minded and possesses hubris. Throughout the book,

The description given early in the novel clearly establishes his character as being a strong and wealthy man who is well respected among the rest of the tribe due to his superior fighting abilities and his influential personality. Having achieved such elite status within the Umuofia clan, Okonkwo appears to be old-fashioned as it is seen in his approach in raising his family and tribal people. However, Okonkwo’s character changes incrementally with the emergence of a boy, Ikemefuna, from a neighboring village, who was brought to him because of his brutal attack against his wife Ojiugo during the ‘week of peace’. Amongst the Umuofia clan, the ‘week of peace’ is a tribal ritual whose conditions are not to complete any evil sins in a certain week span. After having accepted Ikemefuna into the family, Okonkwo experiences a shift in his mental state. Shortly hereafter, he questions this change, which demonstrates his lack of willingness to change which is clearly demonstrated in the book in several different ways like in chapter Eight, Okonkwo proclaims to himself, “When did you become a shivering old woman, you, who are known in all nine villages for your valour in war” (Achebe 56). This represents that his character has become a weaker, less influential individual amongst the nine tribes where he is well known. Symbolically, this depicts a fragile reputation in Okonkwo’s status within the community to which he belongs.

Throughout the novel, we hear about Okonkwo’s father Unoka, a lazy old man who was in debt to almost all the villagers. After growing up with his father, Okonkwo becomes determined to be successful, not wanting to be seen as weak or unsuccessful: “He had no patience with unsuccessful men” (Achebe 1). Okonkwo’s life was run off of being successful, growing yams, having power in the village. He was embarrassed by his father and did not want to be seen by anyone as weak or a failure. Okonkwo also takes pride in his physical strength, which he demonstrates through violent activities.

A hero by definition, without regards to religion or race, is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, many criticize whether or not the protagonist, Okonkwo, is a hero based on his actions toward others and himself from the Whiteman had arrived in the Igbo community. As new changes were being introduced in the Igbo community, so were new emotions within the tribe. Okonkwo, because of these emotions, commits violent attacks against others and then himself. In Patrick Nnoromele’s article “The Plight of a Hero in Achebe's Things Fall Apart”, he argues Okonkwo is a hero of the Igbo culture who is destined to fail due to his devotion to his culture and

Hero is a character with better qualities and abilities that most boys would like to become even when they grow up. Some heroes have wonderful endings while some ones, which are called tragic heroes do not. Aristotle stated that “tragic hero will most effectively evoke both our pity and terror if he is neither thoroughly good nor thoroughly bad but a mixture of both(Abram, 322) The protagonist Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, Which was written by the Chinua Achebe, was respectable at the beginning of the novel but suicided at the end of the story. We define Okonkwo as a tragic hero because he was a successful man, he had fatal weakness and he had a tragic ending.

Aristotle once said “A man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his downfall.” The protagonist of the book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo demonstrates characteristics of being an Aristotelian tragic hero. According to Aristotle, a Tragic Hero is one who exhibits a tragic flaw that causes a reversal of fortune to him in his own error of judgment. Okonkwo is a leader and a hardworking member of the Igbo tribe of the village of Umofia whose tragic flaw is his immense fear of appearing emotionally weak in his community.