Essay on No Tragic Hero in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Okonkwo soon learns about this and confronts his son, Nwoye about his secret meetings, Okonkwo soon becomes enraged and disowns his son after hearing about his experience not before abusing him of course. This action causes an effect which ultimately leads to Okonkwo’s downfall. Okonkwo enraged by the spread of Christianity within his own village self-proclaims war on the “white man”. Okonkwo eventually was detained as a result of his actions towards the “white man”. After he was released from detainment Okonkwo killed a courier and began to truly understand he was a rebel without a cause as his fellow Tribesmen would not help him with his internal struggle. Okonkwo knowing, he would be caught and executed for his crimes, instead decided to ultimately end his own life by hanging himself. Okonkwo’s major downfall in the story was his inability to co-exist with the white man and began his own personal vendetta against the Christian missionaries. Throughout the story the main essential theme Achebe tried to relay to us would be the fact that even though individuals may be of different religions, skin color, and have different personalities there is a realization that

Okonkwo becomes furious, kills a messenger, and then commits suicide in order to avoid being captured by the white men. Okonkwo cannot accept the evangelists, as they have made him lose his power and control over the community and his son. The change in Okonkwo’s life is negative as it makes Okonkwo desperately look for solutions, although there are none. His internal struggle with change leads him to kill another human and himself out of inability to do

Going back to the novel, we see Okonwo, who is extremely shocked by the twists which take place in his tribe as a cultural revolution. He sees their ancient religion giving its place to Christianity, and their father’s culture and traditions, which his life was based on, fall apart. To make things even worse, his own son turns his back to him. Okonkwo can not stand this as a result he tries to fight against the people who were the creators of this disaster. But as he fails, he commits suicide, preferring to kill himself, rather than let those strangers kill him.

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.

Still unable to accept and adapt to the change he encounters, Okonkwo uses a method of violence by killing the messenger from the Christians and at last kills himself. Okonkwo’s suicide marks that he finally meets his fate. He stands for his power, strength, and masculinity and has great pride for his achievement. After realizing that he cannot conquer his chi and escape from miserable events, he gives up his life by

Throughout the novel, we see Okonkwo struggling to deal with the constant changes that take place in his tribe. Before the introduction of the white missionaries, he is known as one of the strongest, most honorable tribesmen many have seen. Affected by his father’s weakness, he works to remove the title that was passed on. His actions and display of strength quickly gains him the respect he desired from the other tribesmen. However this benefit does not fall through later effecting Okonkwo, whom has lived a life of power. When Okonkwo kills the colonial head messenger near the end as an attempt to 'save' his tribe from the influence of the white Christians, no one backs his attempt. Okonkwo, realizing that all is lost for what he once called

In conclusion, Okonkwo is a really good character. He isn’t the hero nor Villain in the story. He is in the middle, he committed violence but still did good things for

Okonkwo can be considerate a defiant hero defending his people's way of life, with an act to letting nothing stand in his way. He would kill if needed. Okonkwo acted too early when the man was sent by the district commissioner to come to the meeting, and tell them that the district commissioner ordered them to stop the meeting. Okonkwo quickly drew his machete and swung. The messenger try to avoid his

This makes sense because Okonkwo was not highborn. Okonkwo did not have much when growing up. He was a poor child, who which his father, Unoka, was always in debt. Part of being a tragic hero is being highborn. Although Okonkwo wasn’t highborn, he eventually became wealthy and noble throughout the story influenced his human characteristics and feelings. Lastly, he has a tragic downfall, hanging himself, due to his hubris, violence, and fear of weakness. Therefore, Okonkwo is a tragic hero.

     Knowledge of Africa and the inhabitants of the massive continent were often portrayed as barbaric beasts by the first missionaries to enter the land.  Because of skewed writings by European missionary workers, a picture was painted for their readership of a savage Africa saved only by the benevolent, civilized western influence.  Achebe successfully attempts to redirect this attitude. Achebe educationally has the means to convey a different perspective, an advantage most other individuals of his culture lack.  In his novel Things Fall Apart, rather than glorifying the Ibo culture, or even offering a new view, Achebe acts as a pipeline for information to flow freely without partiality.

Chinua Achebe’s novel “Things Fall Apart” chronicles the life of Okonkwo, a strong man whose existence is dominated by fear and anger, and the Ibo tribe, a people deeply rooted in cultural belief and tradition. As events unfold, Okonkwo’s carefully constructed world and the Ibo way of life collapses. The story of Okonkwo’s fall from a respected and feared leader of the Ibo tribe to an outcast who dies in disgrace dramatizes his inability to evolve beyond his personal beliefs, affecting the entire Ibo tribe beyond measure. The “things” that fall apart in Achebe’s novel are Okonkwo’s life – his ambition, dreams, family unity and material wealth – and the Ibo way of life – their beliefs, culture and values.

In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Achebe narrates the complicated life of a man named Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a man that fears weakness and failure while always striving to be great. This fear of failure was instilled in him by his father's lack of fathering. Okonkwo’s dad was in deep debt and was unsuccessful. This picture of his father is what Okonkwo strived not to be. Okonkwo was a very successful man and to great pride in all that he had learned. He had three wives and many children which was a social status of that time. Okonkwo’s passion to not end up like his father, ultimately was what caused him end up like his father. His impulsive and materialistic behavior puts blinders on his life's vision and leads him to become someone

The structure and beliefs of many cultures are based on religion, and this is clearly evident in Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart. The novel takes place in the in the1890’s, a just before British colonization began in what is now known as Nigeria. In the novel this area of land is recognized as Umuofia, which is composed of nine villages that all speak the Igbo language. The Umuofia is the village where the main character, Okonkwo, is from. Okonkwo’s village was completely run by men, and he was one of the most successful and powerful men in his village. Okonkwo, was one of the reasons that his village was feared by all of its neighbors. The villagers of Umuofia put a lot of emphasis on religion and they used their religious beliefs for formulate their cultural views on things like gender roles, and polygamy. Through reading and analyzing Things Fall Apart, it is made clear that there are several similarities and differences between the culture of the Igbo and the culture of modern day America. The key differences are the societal gender roles, the acceptance of polygamy, and the role of religion. The most substantial similarities are the role and significance of warfare, and the ideas on government and community leadership.

In a time of need, Okonkwo decides to improve his exterior image, instead of being the true father that Ikemefuna thought he was. A true father would have put his son before anything else and would have tried to keep Ikemefuna out of such a fatal situation. Lastly, Achebe states, “Obierika, who had been gazing steadily at his friend’s dangling body, turned suddenly to the District Commisioner and said ferociously: ‘That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself’” (208). Okonkwo knows his clan won’t go to war and he does not want to continue to be a part of such a weak clan. Though his life’s purpose was to be nothing like his father, he is viewed as even weaker than Unoka. Since, suicide is “an abomination for a man to take his own life” (207). Through Okonkwo’s actions, the theme is clearly highlighted.

Additionally, the theme of this meaningful novel is culture conflict. It proves to see if danger that you know is going to overpower your culture and effect your life, do you join it or fight for what you believe in. That is exactly what Okonkwo did. No matter what the issue was he always knew that he had done something wrong and and did his time, but in the end of the day he still stood up for what he believed in. Just like today cultures should still treat each other with respect and respect different beliefs. At the end of the novel, Okonkwo had hung himself because he knew the missionaries would eventually and he wanted to be the one with the power to take his life. He decided to be the bigger person and take his own life instead of giving them the power.