Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo Is A Tragic

Okonkwo is a tragic hero because has a tragic flaw, is noble, and experiences reversal of fortune. Okonkwo’s tragic flaws include short temper and not wanting to be like his father. He is noble due to his titles and respect throughout Umoafia. His reversal of fortune happens at a funeral.

In the novel, “Things Fall Apart”, Okonkwo, who lead the major role in the story, was characterized by fear and very weak thoughts in his personal life. He doesn’t want his home at Umuofia to be familiar in the change of time and progress. The isolation of his organization in the Umuofia community is considered as worth and meaningful in his own life instead. Okonkwo is very much drifted towards external forces due to stress affiliation with his father since his childhood. When the organization in society of Umuofia altered, his methods and self-assessment failed to adapt to this alteration. So he could not adjust to function his ways into a new environment and thus his fears slowly started to collapse everything around him.

In order to not become like his father, Okonkwo consciously strives to be prosperous, violent, resourceful, unable to show “soft” emotion, and denies music orientation. “And no Okonkwo was ruled by one passion—to hate everything that his

Okonkwo wrestles with his fear that any sign of weakness will cause him to lose control of his family, position in the village, and even himself. Like many heroes of classical tragedy, Okonkwo’s tragic flaw, fear, also makes him excessively proud. Okonkwo’s downfall is a result of the changes created by the coming of the British Colonisers to Igbo. The introduction of the Colonisers into the novel causes Okonkwo’s tragic flaw to be exacerbated. Okonkwo construes change as weakness, and as a result of his interpretation, Okonkwo only knows how to react to change through anger and strength. He derives great satisfaction, “hubris” or proud arrogance, from the fact that he is a traditional, self made man and thinks that to change would mean submitting to an outside force (Christianity).

The character of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was driven by fear, a fear of change and losing his self-worth. He needed the village of Umuofia, his home, to remain untouched by time and progress because its system and structure were the measures by which he assigned worth and meaning in his own life. Okonkwo required this external order because of his childhood and a strained relationship with his father, which was also the root of his fears and subsequent drive for success. When the structure of Umuofia changed, as happens in society, Okonkwo was unable to adapt his methods of self-evaluation and ways of functioning in the world; the life he was determined to live could not survive a new environment and collapsed around

In Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, the impact of British Colonialism in Africa is critiqued through the story of an Igbo man, Okonkwo. Okonkwo is an extremely masculine man who has but one fear, the fear of being weak. Throughout the novel, his actions are motivated by this fear which defines him characteristically as on overly masculine man. This over masculinity is Okonkwo's flaw and it drives his moods and actions, ultimately leading to his demise. In this respect, Okonkwo plays the role of a tragic hero driven by his flaw which leads to his downfall.

Through the character of Okonkwo, Achebe illustrates the dangers of being selfish. Although successful, Okonkwo is one of the most aggressively selfish men among the Igbo people based on his self-centered needs and desires. This characteristic is prevalent throughout the entirety of the novel, and there are always consequences to his actions. For example, Okonkwo is fond of calling men “women” to make himself look more masculine. He does this to Osugo in front of a group of men in a meeting. “Okonkwo knew how to kill a man’s spirit. Everybody at the kindred meeting took sides with Osugo when Okonkwo called him a woman” (Achebe 26). Since the other men sided with Osugo, Okonkwo’s punishment for this narcissistic outburst is embarrassment. Continuing,

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.

The breakdown of Okonkwo’s relationship with his son is evident throughout this novel. The reason for this tumultuous relationship is, Okonkwo is too engrossed in maintaining his status quo, and his relationship was governed by his own beliefs, principles and his own “right way to do right things”. He treated his family very strictly as he believed that showing affection revealed a sign of social weakness; thus the disheartening lack of respect and love was a mal nourishing factor with in the family.

“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.

From Progression to Failure Western ideas changed the perspectives of many people in Africa, but in the book Things Fall Apart it grasps an image of how their identities are altered. Robust, sedulous, and stern was the definition of Okonkwo a man who strived to become the strongest and highest man of his clan. Okonkwo had many setbacks, but always kept pushing forward even when he had to reinstate his life all over again to become the strongest again. But when the Western ideas had arrived in Africa he had slowly fallen succumbed to it and had perished. Yet those ideas had left a mark in his life, even though he had rebuked them, Okonkwo had diminished from taking any action in those ideas, but he had ended his life because of it.

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.

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).

Upon returning to Umuofia after his seven year exile, Okonkwo is met by an entirely new village, run by white men who do not show the slightest respect for the traditional values that he has always known in his community. Pushing him over the edge and forcing him to see the evil that is becoming of him from his immense fear of weakness, Okonkwo kills a messenger who does nothing but carry the word that higher powers of white men are ordering a halt to the clans meeting he is currently at. Expecting that this action of rebellion would unite his fellow clansmen to fight with him against the growing power of the white men, Okonkwo finally becomes conscious of what he is becoming as instead, a tumult of fear and disgust forms of his own men who are asking one another, “Why did he do it?’” (Achebe 188). From there, he leaves and isolates himself.

Okonkwo started with what his father, Unoka, had left him. Unoka left the legacy of "his son [...] was ashamed of him" (Achebe 8.) He left Okonkwo "[having] taken no title and [being] heavily in debt" (8.) However, Okonkwo was able to rise above his being "ashamed" of his father, because despite being left "heavily in debt" he had become "a wealthy farmer" (8) and despite his father not having any titles, he had "won fame [...] and he had taken two titles [...] he was already one of the greatest men of his time" (8.) Okonkwo was able to become successful, despite the disgrace his father had left as his legacy, and because of this Okonkwo received a boy to take care of, Ikemefuna. However, when Okonkwo must allow the boy to be killed, he sabotages his own emotional health by going with the execution party. This moment shows how Igbo culture was not perfect, as this is not a problem within the culture caused by Europeans, but is just an unfortunate part of what their traditional culture is. Okonkwo was warned by Ogbuefi Ezeudu, a man considered wise and given high respect, to not kill "that boy" because "he calls [Okonkwo] father" (57.) Oknonkwo's own insecurities are highlighted just as Ikemefuna is about to be killed, when Ikemefuna cries, "'My father, they have killed me!' as he ran towards [Okonkwo]. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak" (61.) Okonkwo