Okonkwo As A Tragic Hero

Unoka is Okonkwo’s father, he is a very lazy man and has amassed many debts. Okonkwo is very ashamed of Unoka and seems to hate him very much. Achebe states

He left his people in a way that was disrespectful in the eyes of his clan. To hang oneself in this culture is taboo, so Okonkwo committed a great sin. One reason Okonkwo has such a hard time with finding justice is because of his violence and immediate anger. On page 195 it says, “He carried a strong stick, and he hit each man a

One reason Okonkwo is a tragic hero is because he is important to his society. On page three of thing fall apart it saids “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages even beyond.” It is saying that okonkwo is very famous throughout the land. He owned a lot of things when his famous. On page eight it saids “ He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife.” This says that he was rich and had what he wanted. Okonkwo did want to be lazy and poor like his father so he did everything he could to be a better person than his father. On page eight it saids “okonkwo was still young, he was already one of the

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

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

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

“Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe has a lot of unique characters, but the one that is the most unique and really makes the novel interesting is Okonkwo. Due to his frustrating childhood and exhilarating life, he really adds a lot to the story. Okonkwo may seem flawless, and in some ways he is, but in reality he has a lot of insecurity and worry on his plate.

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

Even if it was an accident killing someone of your own tribe is a terrible crime, so Okonkwo and his family are kicked out of the village for seven years to pay for his crime. They burn down his house and crops and Okonkwo does not take it well.

When committing a crime there are consequences that tends to follows. To support this claim, in chapter thirteen it states, “ It was the justice of earth goddess... they were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a classman.” After committing this crime Okonkwo experienced being exiled from his village. This experience was alienating.

From the bad perspective of Okonkwo, he is known as the value of the igbo people, but he had accidentally shoot Ezeudu son during his father funeral, and soon died after he was shot. And later, his tribe decided to exiled him from Umuofia for 7 years because of the incident the incident and his wrong doings. Which have him, his wives and children to move away from the exiled. But luckily, Okonkwo mother family was able to help take care of him and his families through his

In conclusion, Okonkwo exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero. His character has many tragic flaws, including, fear of weakness, hubris, and his work ethic, which in the end lead to his death. His life and death provoke pity and fear for the audience. Okonkwo becomes noble and is a great leader overall in the story. In the end, Chinua Achebe has shown an expressive character that evidently can be called a tragic

His clan turns against him and refuse to stand up for themselves against the white men. Once Okonkwo realizes he’s alone he is found hung on a tree, having taken his own life. His fatal flaw is his fear of weakness and failure. This fear causes him to act out harshly to his people and his family, “Perhaps down in his heart

“...a manly and a proud heart. A proud heart. A proud heart can survive general failure because such failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone”(21). In Things Fall Apart, a novel by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo can be considered a tragic hero because he follows Aristotle's criteria of being a tragic hero, he was a respected and successful leader until his fatal flaw.

As Okonkwo constantly resents the ways of his father, being weak, Okonkwo turns down the path of being very assertive, aggressive, and controlling. As seen in the book Okonkwo relationships with family and acquaintances is very violent due to his great resent of his father and wanting to be “strong”. He violates the Week of Peace when he beats his youngest wife, Ojiugo. Later, he beats and shoots a gun at his second wife, Ekwefi. Finally, he even kills a boy named