Okonkwo: A Tragic Hero

To begin, Okonkwo is shown to be a self made, well respected member of the Umuofia clan. Though, he seems stern, most of his life is dictated with fear. For example,the passage states “ And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death.”(Achebe,18/1). This helps the reader understand that Okonkwo faces many challenges in life to prove to his village and the people themselves that he is nothing like his father, Unoka and is haunted by the fact that one day he will become a man whom he promised he will never become. The passage states “ Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.”(Achebe,61/1). This helps the reader understand the reason why

Okonkwo’s story portrays the major differences between African culture and the idea that the Western society had on the African culture. Okonkwo is native to the Umuofia tribe and represented this oversized human being who with holds no emotion. All this makes Okonkwo seem very unrelatable and unfriendly, but this is what makes his relationships with the characters in the book so entertaining. For example, Okonkwo had a very negative connection with his father that affected him so much that it brought him to the point where it changed his life and is also the reason why he is so strict with his kids. With the introduction of these missionaries into the tribe, it completely changed the way the tribe acted and ended up bringing Okonkwo to a point where he had to pay the ultimate price. It was all because they couldn’t get along.

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.

Okonkwo life is “dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13). When Okonkwo was a boy, his playmates teased him calling, saying that his father was agbala. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was lazy. He did not work on his farm; he died in great debt. He did not acquire a single title. He did not have a barn to pass down to his son. Unoka is a type of man who is scorned in Umofia. He is seen as weak and effeminate. As Okonkwo grows older, he is determined not become a failure like his father. His father was weak; he will be strong. His father was lazy; he will be hard-working. Okonkwo earned his fame by defeating the reigning wrestling champion. Okonkwo diligently plants yam, building a successful farm. He builds himself an obi, has three wives and many children. His fame “rested on solid personal achievements” (Achebe 3). Okonkwo will not let one womanly trait sully his reputation. Therefore, he “hate[d] everything that his father Unoka had loved” (Achebe 13). One of these was gentleness. Okonkwo refuses to show any signs of emotion, except his temper. He

Okonkwo loses his son, Nwoye, to the white men because he converts to Christianity. Okonkwo believes this to be an act of fate, he states, “Why…should he, Okonkwo…be cursed with such a son?” (Achebe 152). This shows that Okonkwo falls victim to his father’s actions, as he was not taught how to be a good father and for this reason Okonkwo is deemed as aggressive towards his children, especially Nwoye , who is quite similar to his grandfather. Consequently, Nwoye drifts apart from Okownkwo, further reinforcing the idea of cause and effect. Okonkwo despised his father, therefore his son Nwoye began to hate him. Furthermore, Okonkwo is “afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61), thus he kills Ikemefuna, despite the fact that he was warned by Ezeudu to not be a part of the killing. This results in Okonkwo “accidentally” killing Ezeudu’s son, hence he is banished for seven years. Okonkwo’s exile is a direct result of his fear of weakness and his need to portray loyalty and strength towards his clan. Ultimately, Okonkwo is portrayed as a victim of karma, as it was the clan who had brought Ikemefuna to Umuofia, and Okonkwo had been compelled to provide Ikemefuna with shelter, due to his prosperity. This prosperity was a direct repercussion of Okonkwo’s hatred towards his father and his fear of failure, because he had to prove himself as a non-failure to the clan. Both of these incidents depict Okonkwo’s victimization as a result of both his fathers, and the clan’s bad karma.

Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected warrior of the Umuofia clan. Umuofia is one of the nine clans that are connected. The village consists of Igbo people in the African country of Nigeria. His fame became solely from personal achievements. Okonkwo was much unlike his father who was poor, a debtor, and basically a failure to his people. When his father died all, he took with him was debts that were never paid. In the village of Umuofia, a man is judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father. Okonkwo had great things planned for his life and wanted to be the nothing like his father whom he was so ashamed of. He had to start from scratch because his father wasn’t able to leave

He doesn’t want to be like his father since he was a coward and debtor. “Fortunately, among these people a man was not judged according to his worth…. or the worth of his father” (Achebe 11). His fatal flaws were weakness, failure and being like his father. His father was known as the irresponsible and lazy debtor of the clan. The way he treats other people such as his son and wives horribly shows how his flaws and insecurities control his life. He expresses more love for Ikemefuna than his real son because Nwoye shows traits of his father. By taking his own life, he escapes his fate of a new religion and reality. “A great deal of your decisions is informed by your emotional responses because that is what emotions are designed to do: to appraise and summarize an experience and inform your actions” (Lamia). Okonkwo’s actions and language towards his family, clan, and himself were all based off of his own insecurities which caused a tragic ending in the story. His unhappiness and pain revealed stress, anxiety and insecurities among

Okonkwo’s hunger for power is greater than any others in the Umuofia village. Okonkwo’s thirst for power is greater than just doing it for publicity and for the people. Okonkwo endless hard work to gain titles is personal for him. Okonkwo wanted to be nothing like his father Unoka since he was a child. Unoka resembled all the things Okonkwo was not such as weak, a liar, cheap, couldn’t take care of his own family, and considered a women to the rest of the clan members. Okonkwo rarely speaks about

Nwoye, the actual son of Okonkwo, was very damaged by the killing of Ikemefuna. Nwoye would've been upset over the incident, whether his father was involved with it or not, but because his father was apart of it, Nwoye used all of his frustration on his father, even though he wasn’t the only one guilty for doing the crime. Because of the death of Ikemefuna, Nwoye will never be the same emotionally because he had never had a brother like figure in his life and that was taken away. Due to his father being apart of the killing of him, the connection between Okonkwo and Nwoye has been impaired (and may lead to what Nwoye does in the next significant change). Okonkwo also was afflicted by the killing of Ikemefuna. Ogbuefi Ezeudu, an elder of the tribe highly advises him to not before he went on the walk with his son. When he made the choice of helping kill his son, it was because he wanted to fit in and didn’t want the other guys in the tribe to think less of him. “He was afraid of being thought weak,” Because of him murdering Ikemefuna, his heart becomes harder by trying to become more manly even though an elder of tribe advised against it. However, he is being more like Okonkwo’s father. Okonkwo is a role model in the tribe because of where he came from and is work ethic. He even beat the top wrestler and got more famous. The tribe also thinks that Okonkwo is becoming tougher.

In Shakespeare's’ Macbeth, the titular character Macbeth is a tragic hero based on the description of one by Aristotle. He displays the ability to be good and noble, he has and even understands a flaw within himself and his flaw eventually leads to his downfall, or removal of high status. Shakespeare creates Macbeth as a tragic story and the play features a main character that has all the traits of a tragic protagonist that falls from grace.

Okonkwo’s merciless violence gave him the appearance of being impenetrable. His brutality in the book categorized him as emotionless and callous. His drive to become greater than his father meant he cared only about himself and his own success. Okonkwo beat his own son, Nwoye, for fear he was growing lazy like

Okonkwo used brutality and force throughout Nwoye’s childhood, causing him to drift away from his family. As a small child Nwoye was the constant object of Okonkwo’s criticism. When Ikemefuna, Nwoye’s adopted brother, moved into his home, Ikemefuna filled the role of the father, the brother, and the best friend. They were inseparable from the beginning and their relationship grew stronger as time passed. When Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna it destroys Nwoye. “...Nwoye knew that Ikemefuna had been killed, and something seemed to give way inside him, like the snapping of a tightened bow. He did not cry. He just hung limp.” (44). Nwoye found comfort in the arms of the Christian religion. He saw the Christian religion as a more forgiving and loving community, compared to Igbo

Nwoye is Okonkwo’s eldest son who Okonkwo considers unforgivably emasculate and very much like his father, Unoka. As a child, Nwoye usually receives the brunt of his father’s criticism and remains feeling unwanted. Eventually, Ikemefuna comes to fill that void and Nwoye, in his adoration of his adoptive brother, begins to takes after him. Also In a take strange way, Ikemefuna fills the role of both father and brother for Nwoye, providing him with a peer to share his thoughts and a person to look up to. As Ikemefuna rubs off on Nwoye, Okonkwo begins to find more favor with both of the boys. As a result , the three begin to form an unbreakable bond, or so they thought.

First, Okonkwo starts off as a poor child, as shown when the book states, “Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had, he did not inherit a barn from his father. There was no barn to inherit” showing that Okonkwo and his family were penurious, compared to others in the Igbo tribe (Achebe 16). Eventually, through his hard work and effort, he became a noble leader, which emphasizes his role as a tragic hero. Throughout the story Okonkwo goes through many challenges, but “In the face of futility, however, he maintains his nobility of character”(Gaydosik).

Okonkwo is initially introduced as a proud, hardworking, successful warrior. He is described as "clearly cut out for great things" (6). But he is the son of a ne'er-do-well father; though genial and inoffensive, Unoka must certainly have been considered a failure. He is lazy and does not provide for his family. Not only is this disgraceful, but life-threatening as well. He is dependent on other members of the clan and must have been considered unsuccessful. Okonkwo chafes under such disgrace and his success is a consequence of his desire to be everything his father is not; society's vision of an exemplar citizen. The fact that Okonkwo is able to rise above his poverty and disgraceful paternity illustrates the Igbo's acceptance of individual free will. But Okonkwo's fate and his disharmony with his chi, family and clan are shown to cause his ultimate disgrace and death.