The novel Things Fall Apart was written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. The novel follows the life of the protagonist, Okonkwo, as missionaries come into his native Igbo tribe. Throughout the book it is clear that Okonkwo finds it very hard to accept the change brought on by the missionaries, and in the, end after being unable to assimilate he commits suicide. Okonkwo can be defined as a tragic hero due to his actions and thoughts found in the book. The term ‘tragic hero’ was first coined by the Greek philosopher Aristotle in his work Poetics. According to him a tragic hero refers to someone who is of a high ranking and has a flaw that ultimately leads to their destruction. Okonkwo is a tragic hero because he holds a high position society, has a …show more content…
From the beginning of the novel it is understood that Okonkwo is highly ranked and regarded in society. In fact, in the first two sentences it is stated that “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements” (Pg. ). Early in his life Okonkwo knew that he wanted to become an important person in society. When he was eighteen years old, Okonkwo was able to win a fight with Amalinze the Cat who had been undefeated for seven years. The story of this feat was spread all over his village, Umuofia, and to many neighboring villages, making Okonkwo very well known. As he grew older, Okonkwo was able to marry 3 wives and have many children, he also had many barns full of yams. In the igbo tribe a man's wealth was determined by how many yams and …show more content…
Okonkwo achieves this by gaining awareness of circumstances that lead to his fall, through a dramatic reversal of fate. At the end of part one and during part two of the book it's is revealed that Okonkwo would have to leave Umuofia for seven years because of a crime he committed. During the funeral of Ezeudu, a respected elder and warrior, Okonkwo accidentally kills the son of the deceased. Because his crime was an accident it was deemed as 'female’, this meant that as a punishment Okonkwo had to leave Umuofia for seven years and go to his mother's village in order to cleanse his own village of his sins. When Okonkwo arrives in his mother's village he is very sorrowful because everything he had worked for in Umuofia would be taken away. In order to cleanse the earth of Okonkwo's sins the people of Umuofia burnt down his obi and other structures in his compound, Okonkwo was also stripped of his titles and his position as an egwugwu. Almost everything that Okonkwo had done in order to have a high standing in the village was reversed. Okonkwo's plan was to return to Umuofia after the seven years and be the talk of the village, “he was determined that his return should be marked by his people. He would return with a flourish, and regain the seven wasted years”
" Okonkwo was too proud to have stayed home and done the ethical thing. Okonkwo's pride is displayed throughout the entire book with his constant focus on strength and his fear of being thought of as a coward. Going from the beginning to the end, in chapter 24 Okonkwo kills a head messenger during a meeting. " He knew that Umuofia would not got to war.
As highly regarded and elevated members of their community, their rise to power is short lived as they lose their legacy as respected men in their lands. They are united by kingship, and are driven to their tragic end by forces within and outside of their control. Okonkwo is responsible for the disasters that come to him and his tribe, while divine forces conspired against Oedipus, who must accept the brutal truth of his life and his role within it. Okonkwo and Oedipus are doomed heroes, as facets of their character, such as their social status, imperfections, and self-righteousness, play a huge role in how much these men can determine their own disastrous fate. A tragic hero, by short definition, is someone who falls because of a tragic flaw and not because they are evil or a bad person.
“The elders, or ndichie, met to hear a report of Okonkwo’s mission. At the end they decided, as everybody knew they would, that the girl should go to Ogbuefi Udo to replace his murdered wife…. During the planting season Okonkwo worked daily on his farms from cock-crow until the chickens went to roost. He was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue. But his wives and young children were not as strong, and so they suffered.”
In the text, “ The only course open to Okonkwo was the flee from the clan. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land. The crime was two kinds, male or female, Okonkwo had committed a female. He could return to the clan after seven years” (Achebe 124). If Okonkwo was not there , the young boy would still be alive and Okonkwo would still be in Umuofia , his fatherland and had all of his items.
Rick Godwin once said, “One reason people resist change is because they focus on what they have to give up, instead of what they have to gain”. In the novel “Things Fall Apart”, by Chinua Achebe Okonkwo resists changes when the british missionaries arrive and it causes conflicts throughout the novel. His defiance, warrior-like, manliness behavior leads him to his suicide when he realizes change sometimes can not be controlled. Okonkwo’s nobility and prosperity is revealed through his success and leadership within the clan. Aristotle stated in “On Tragedy” that “He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous.”.
At the opening of the story, a description of Okonkwo was greatly mentioned
The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is about the Ibo Tribe in Nigeria, Africa. Achebe’s purpose in writing the novel is to show how the Ibo culture acted and how they responded to colonization. The story is based on the strong village leader Okonkwo and his life. Okonkwo has a strong sense of identity and responds to the cultural collision of colonization in a way that results in many consequences that Okonkwo didn’t see coming. His stubbornness and choice to respond to the changes of colonization with anger and a refusal to change take him on a wild series of events that negatively change his life forever showing that being a stubborn, angry person rarely results in a good ending.
Okonkwo was a big supporter of physical and verbal abuse in his home, especially towards his wives and Nwoye. To Okonkwo, physical abuse was another language. This is how he spoke, and punished, on the occasion of the abuse, and how he had handled the situation. Women was treated poorly in Umuofia because men believe that they were weak and in inadequate. “ Even as a little boy Okonkwo had represented 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.
A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. In the Book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo is a tragic character because he was an important figure in the Igbo tribe, his tragic flaw and outside forces led to his downfall. Okonkwo is Honorable character. He was so honorable that “He had brought honor to his village.”
The post colonial novel, "Things fall apart" by Chinua Achebe depicts its protagonist Okonkwo as great person who falls into the world of chaos to find his own place through his strength and achievements. Okonkwo in few parts of novel touches the traces of epic hero while in other parts touches the tragic hero characteristics. However Okonkwo 's suicide in the end turns the table to reader to view him through different lens than epic hero or tragic hero. According to Aristotle in his poetics, the tragic hero is an intermediate person who is filled with tragic flaw(hubris /hamartia)
He got power through his ideals. He also obtains fame through the Igbo culture. In the Igbo tribe there are wrestling games and because of that “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond.” (Achebe 1). This is the Okonkwo before the white men come.
A tragic hero is a term that describes a character who displays certain characteristics which affect their future significantly. In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo’s fate as a tragic hero to an extent is greatly true as he portrays hamartia, a fatal flaw, and hubris, excessive pride. Even though the author describes Okonkwo as a hardworking, African farmer, it contradicts his rash decisions following numerous events. Therefore, Okonkwo’s tragedy is true as his fear of weakness and excessive pride lead him to his downfall. Even though Achebe sets Okonkwo to his downfall, it is evident that Okonkwo is a great hero despite his rash behavior and temper.
Okonkwo In literature, there are many characters that stand out and show that they have a variety of qualities about them. In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is one character that presents character traits from both the negative and positive sides of him. Okonkwo is portrayed to be a warrior who wanted to become somebody strong and looked up to, but also possesses less favorable qualities. He, however, does not let any one trait dictate his whole personality; he is written to be a well-rounded character.
He became respected ever since he defeated Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling match many years ago. As British missionaries invade their village, many changes have been occurring. Okonkwo struggles adjusting to the way of doing things and questions his identity when he gets banished from Umuofia and learns of the disconnect of his men. Through the disconnect
In the quote”The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansmen, and a man who committed it must flee from the land. The crime was of two kinds male and female. Okonkwo had committed the female, because it had been inadvertent. He could return to the clan after seven years”(Achebe 124).