Analysis Of Okonkwo's Tragedy In Things Fall Apart

An increasing amount of contemporary literature traces its origins back to the early works of Greece. For ages, humans have fascinated themselves with the impossible notion of perfection. Unrealistic expectations placed on those who were thought to be the noblest or most honorable individuals have repeatedly led to disappointment and frustration, either on the part of those particular individuals or those they influence. Classic characters, like Odysseus and Oedipus for instance, exemplify the excess of some positive character trait, like pride or honesty, which ironically leads to their personal misfortune.

In Things Fall Apart the protagonist Okonkwo has many identities that have some major impacts to the story. In the book one big thing that happened: “ The British are coming. One if by land, two if by sea,” (Paul Revere). The British are there to to colonize Nigeria. This has led to some disastrous problems. For example, one of the nine tribes are wiped out by the British. The Whites tried to convert them to Christianity and Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, converted and that changed Okonkwo’s identity by making him feel like his father, Unoka. Okonkwo’s cousin told him that he had seen Nwoye with the British. Shortly after Nwoye came in Okonkwo turned to Nwoye with rage and gripped him by the neck. Okonkwo has asked where Nwoye had been and he

Things Fall Apart tells the story of Okonkwo, a tribal African yam farmer, through trials and tribulations that change both him and his tribe. The Umuofia clan values traits such as strength, confidence, crop success, and honor. Okonkwo exemplifies everything that the clan wants in a man, and he was well aware of it. He thrives on being the antithesis of the image of his father, Unoka, who was viewed as considerably more feminine and generally a failure because of his failed harvests and love of the flute. Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, is also considerably more feminine, and therefore lesser, in the eyes of his father. Okonkwo compensated for the failure in his blood line by putting on a front of hyper-masculine fervor; something that leads him down many troublesome roads. While Things Fall Apart is a tale of many things, Okonkwo’s struggle with femininity causes many of the major conflicts the story. Okonkwo’s learned opposition to feminine traits causes him to project machismo in order to cover up for the underlying feminine qualities that he has and is fearful of.

Toil has a negative connotation as it refers to hard work without cessation. While Okonkwo was serving his punishment in exile, Obierika brought word to Mbanta about the government the white men had brought with them. In this government, the District Commissioner oversees the judging of “men who had offended against the white man’s law” (174). The court messengers were the ones who had to do hard work: they, nicknames “Ashy Buttocks,” were responsible for fetching the defendant and forcing prisoners to work (175). When Okonkwo finally returns to Umuofia, the District Commissioner continues to do his facile task of judging the Ibo people and dishing out punishments. To describe the District Commissioner’s work as a toil is an overstatement.

At first okonkwo was high ranking in the nine villages of mbanta for his great wrestling skill and but okonkwo has a terrible downfall that lead to his misfortune and eventually changed his tribe forever.

The metaphor exemplifies a comparison between Okonkwo and a flame. The flame wholly serves a symbol of masculinity, which are a furious temper, destruction, and vigor. Okonkwo ponders about why Nwoye became an utter failure, which is an effeminate man. Okonkwo is severely displeased as he dreads the potential of Nwoye portraying similarities with his father, Unoka. Any display of femininity to Okonkwo is a lack of vigor within a man. He yearns for his sons to become blistering flames, exhibiting traits similar to himself. Essentially, Okonkwo embodying a scorching flame is the utmost demonstration of masculinity, which utterly causes him to scorn the possibility of his son becoming a feminine man.

Things fall apart. Im not saying that just because its the name of the novel. Things do fall apart in life. The irony of this situation now, is that the book, “Things Fall Apart”, is a clear example of the statement. Okonkwo’s view of identity of himself has changed due to the introduction of the Western ideas to the ibo culture. In the beginning Okonkwo started off as the best his life would get, but due to the western civilization, he saw himself as a “no-good”, a savage, and someone undeserving of life. The reasons that were possible to even happen was his thoughts of who he was before the change; the good things he has done, and getting exiled. Ultimately, Western ideas shaped the meaning of the novel by shifting one mans life from the best it could be, to the worst.

In the book “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe, there are many characters that faced the challenge of having two different cultures. The character that stood out the most is Nwoye. He faced a very difficult challenge of not being accepted by his hometown’s culture. He wasn’t accepted by his father because he was very feminine like his mother. Nwoye’s father is Okonkwo, and he expects his children to be masculine and strong like him.

he first part of the book follows the life of the main character Okonkwo, a man from an African tribe village. The first quarter of the book develops and introduces Okonkwo and his surroundings. This character is developed through events in his past, interaction with other and the authors writing style.

Achebe’s essay “An Image of Africa” analyzes the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. He dissects the false representation of the african people and the bias in his book. In “Heart Of Darkness,” Conrad feels that the people of Africa are undeveloped and they are savages; he looks at all their culture and tradition and only sees it as uncivilized, he has no appreciation for their beliefs. This relates to Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, because Conrad’s views represents the white colonist and their feelings towards the africans. The colonists did not respect their culture or their gods. Okonkwo is well-respected by his tribe, he is extremely traditional and values his culture. The colonists are a threat to that because they do not understand or respect the African ways, they want to change it and convert them to Christianity. Okonkwo has a need to stand up for his culture and his beliefs, he feels he has to be able to prove that he is a strong and powerful man. Okonkwo worries that if he does not protect his customs, he will be seen like his father: cowardly and feminine. He has been haunted by that fear his whole life, “It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala”(Achebe 12). His need to distinguish himself from his father and protect his people are what drive him to make do things like kill Ikemefuna and the messenger. Things fall apart for Okonkwo because the other villagers do not have the same passion and drive as him. The

Parents Just Don’t Understand Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe is a novel of plenty misunderstandings between father and son relationships. Okonkwo and his father, Unoka, have several misunderstandings as Okonkwo is influenced by the clan’s traditional views and Unoka is not. The other problematic relationship is between Okonkwo and his son, Nwoye. Okonkwo's traditional viewpoint clashes with his son, as Nwoye has more of a liberal way of living like his grandfather Unoka. These problematic relationships take a toll on Okonkwo as he does not understand how to control his hubris emotions which is factor of his suicide.

Okonkwo also displays evidence of the last characteristic of the tragic template, the fall. In this stage, the character suffers a fall from glory or power. Okonkwo experiences a fall when he makes the decision to take his own life. This is a shocking fall in the Ibo culture, as suicide against the religious beliefs practiced by the Ibo. “It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offense against the Earth,” (207). The offense is so great that any man who commits it must not be taken down and buried by his clansmen. Okonkwo has taken his own life because he is unable to deal with the change that the village of Umuofia is experiencing. This is a shocking thing for a prideful man like Okonkwo to do, since it condemns him to

In the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a book about a stubborn, strong man named Okonkwo. Okonkwo had a happy life and family in Umuofia until he accidentally killed a boy and got exiled out of his village for seven years. During these seven years of exile the Christian church comes into the Igbo tribes and starts telling all the villagers about the religion, later in the book there are a series of events with the Christian church that cause Okonkwo's life to start a downhill decline. After Okonkwo feels he has nothing to lose and wants to be away from the church so badly he believes his only way away from them is to kill himself. Okonkwo’s tragic fate is not his fault, it is the church's fault because they bombarded and caused a multitude of bad things to happen in Okonkwo’s life that he believed the only way to be free was to kill himself.

In Chinua Achеbе’s novеl Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is a tragic hеro. Aristotlе’s Poеtics dеfinеs a Tragic Hеro as a bеnеvolеnt man of high status who еxhibits a tragic impеrfеction (“hamartia”) and еxpеriеncеs a dramatic rеvеrsal (“pеripеtеia”), as wеll as an еxcruciating momеnt of appеrcеption (“anagnorisis”). Okonkwo is a bеllwеthеr and hardworking mеmbеr of thе Igbo community of Umuofia whosе tragic impеrfеction is his grеat fright of his doom and failurе. Okonkwo’s fall from gracе in thе Igbo community and еvеntual suicidе, makеs Okonkwo a tragic hеro by Aristotlе’s dеfinition.

Okonkwo is a strong and confident man who has vowed to never be like his father Unoka. His father was lazy, unsuccessful and carried no titles. The relationship between Okonkwo and his father motivated Okonkwo to gain titles and become successful inside the clan. In this sense, Okonkwo has gained many titles, has three wives, and respected by the clan. Okonkwo chose to feel that identity in the clan was most important, and through this he had become a presence in the clan, noticed by the elders. However after the arrival of missionaries, who had come to convert the clans to Christianity, Okonkwo’s view is completely contradicted by the missionaries. Okonkwo had grown accustomed to members of the clan being ranked by certain tiers, while the