In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo starts the story as a strong, successful, and well respected man in the village and neighboring lands. He was a leader in the village, he had a large house with plenty of food, and he had many wives and children. After a series of unfortunate events, Okonkwo loses his titles, his house is burned down, and his oldest son leaves him. Okonkwo tries to drive out the missionaries that were tearing the village apart but fails. He realizes the village he loved had turned against him, and he commits suicide. Some will argue that Okonkwo is a tragic hero, a noble character that is brought down because of his own undoing and fate. While Okonkwo meets some of criteria of a tragic hero, he is not a tragic hero. …show more content…
A tragic hero can be described as “...well-known, perhaps even of high stature (i.e. Romeo or Wayne's famous families), but not overly virtuous or morally upright. Aside from money or titles, he may also possess extraordinary abilities (i.e. Hercules' strength)” (Wimmer). Okonkwo wasn’t born into a wealthy family, but he earned his titles and stature. Things Fall Apart starts off by describing Okonkwo’s achievements, “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and beyond” (Achebe 1). Okonkwo cares about his family, but he doesn’t openly show it. He is one of the clan leaders that administers justice, but he takes pride in the fact that he had killed five people in various battles. This shows that Okonkwo isn’t overly virtuous, but he is a good person. Okonkwo didn’t have an extraordinary ability like herculean strength, but he was considered one of the strongest people in his village and the surrounding villages during his prime. He defeated Amalinze the Cat, who was undefeated for seven
Hercules, a great figure in Greek mythology who fought off massive beasts with his bear hands, can be considered one of the most popular in Greek mythology. How does Hercules compare to a little known Nigerian boy born to poverty who becomes successful through plain hard work, better known as Okonkwo. These heroes both were helped along by wise men, both had to prove themselves as a hero through tough situations, and They also had to deal with large amounts of pride that initially kept them from fulfilling their destinies. Now let's compare the heroic nature of both Hercules and Okonkwo.
Okonkwo is on two ends of a stick. Sometimes he can be shown to be a caring, sympathetic character, but others he is shown as a ruthless person that is very unsympathetic person. Okonkwo is a man of action that would rather solve things with his fists rather than talking it out. He is a great wrestler hailing from the Umuofia clan that has thrown Amalinze the Cat. Okonkwo is also a very good farmer, where he has been able to grow two barns worth of yams. He is someone that doesn’t know how to control themselves when they get angry as he will then resort to violence. Okonkwo’s family relationships make him a sympathetic character because of his caregiving nature and hospitality and he is shown to be an unsympathetic character because of his
According to Webster’s dictionary, a tragic hero is a protagonist that is otherwise perfect except for flaws that are intrinsic to his or her character, which often leads to his or her demise. In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, the protagonist was unlike tragic heroes such as Oedipus, Iago and Beowulf, because he was not born into nobility, but had to rise to fame and earn respect through his exceptional stamina, hard work and his historic unrivaled success at defeating the famous Amalinze the Cat. Like Beowulf and Oedipus, Okonkwo shares traits that are characteristic of a tragic hero. These traits exposed his mortal fear of failure, his fear of weakness and his fear of becoming like his father who was lazy and poor. Okonkwo also possesses an unwavering pride and an irrepressible anger. Fear, pride and anger are some of the traits of a tragic hero that were inherent in Okonkwo, and this paper will seek to explore how these traits contributed to his downfall Okonkwo’s connection of manliness with rage, ferocity and recklessness eventually leads to his downfall. Okonkwo finds it difficult to accept the changes the Missionaries have brought to Umuofia. The missionaries changed the way the people of Umuofia think, leading to an irreversible division among the people.
A character with a tragic flaw is one who consistently makes a particular error in their actions and this eventually leads to their doom. Okonkwo, a perfect tragic character, is driven by his fear of unmanliness, which causes him to act harshly toward his fellow tribesmen, his family and himself. He judges all people by how manly they act. In Okonkwo’s eyes a man is a violent, hard working, wealthy person and anyone who does not meet these standards he considers weak.
When Okonkwo cut down the guard, he made the swift assumption that his clansmen were as passionate about fighting colonialism as him and would follow him into war. When he found out otherwise, he could not understand what had happened to his village. The next place he was seen was hanging from a noose in a selfish show of hypocrisy. In the end, Okonkwo's status among his tribe counted for nothing because his own despair over the colonization of his village led him to kill himself. His whole life Okonkwo strived not to look weak like his father, but in the end he took the cowards way out, suicide.
In these few chapters that we read, we have already learned a lot about Okonkwo, his life, and how he shows sympathy to some, but to others he is heartless. Okonkwo is other wise known as an unsympathetic person. Okonkwo is a clan leader of umuofia who holds many titles and is well known among his people. Okonkwo's daily life consists of tending to the three yam farms he has produced and to make numerous offerings to numerous gods and to help himself and his family. Okonkwo's personality is hard driven, since his father did not provide for him and his family Okonkwo had to start man hood early and this led him to be very successful in his adulthood, Okonkwo is an unsympathetic character who only shows sympathy rarely because he believes it's a sign of weakness Okonkwo's family relationships make him a sympathetic character because when his children show signs of manliness or do their jobs right he shows sympathy towards them. He is an unsympathetic character because whenever he get a little mad he has to take his anger out on something and that is usually vented by beating his wife's.
First of all, I feel that one of the main reasons why Okonkwo is considered a tragic hero is due to the weakness of his chi. His chi plays an important role in the novel because, according to Igbo culture, every time something goes wrong it is a result of bad chi. Throughout the beginning of Things Fall Apart Okonkwo seems to be one with his chi and everything seems to be going well. From the beginning the reader is meant to think that Okonkwo can overcome anything that he faces and this his chi is quite heroic up to this point in the story(Friesen).This i...
In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is a tragic hero. Aristotle’s Poetics defines a Tragic Hero as a good man of high status who displays a tragic flaw (“hamartia”) and experiences a dramatic reversal (“peripeteia”), as well as an intense moment of recognition (“anagnorisis”). Okonkwo is a leader and hardworking member of the Igbo community of Umuofia whose tragic flaw is his great fear of weakness and failure. Okonkwo’s fall from grace in the Igbo community and eventual suicide, makes Okonkwo a tragic hero by Aristotle’s definition.
Okonkwo character in all fairness fails to show some real virtues of a true leader, but rather that of a ruler. Okonkwo character was introduced as a heroic and iconic leader that was glorified and patronized by his kinsmen. He took vengeance against anyone who dared go against his wishes and commands. He uses aggression to establish his rule and his action of defiance against the elders and the Gods shows his “king like” status that he so much enjoys.
In the novel, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is a sympathetic character and unsympathetic character in regards to his family relationships with his adopted son, Ikemefuna, his daughter, Ezima, and his father, Unoka, as a result of he appears to genuinely care about his family; but, the pride within himself prevents his expression of such pride and concern openly.
Both characters have life goals before the fall. “In Things Fall Apart, Achebe makes it clear that Okonkwo’s single passion was ‘to become one of the lords of the clan’. According to Achebe, it was Okonkwo’s ‘life spring.’ Okonkwo wanted to be a hero,” claims Nnoromele (41). In becoming a great man and hero he must overcome the shame his father has left upon him. His father was lazy and had no titles. This helps motivate him on the road to heroism.
Okonkwo is portrayed as a respected individual in many ways. He was a well known person through out the 9 villages and beyond. His successes were based wholly on his personal achievements. For example, he was a warrior and wrestler who gained respect through his athletics. Manliness was a characteristic that was greatly valued by the people of the village. Since Okonkwo was a wrestler and a warrior this showed that he was a fierce fear-free individual. And because he hadn't lost one fight or any battles this was more reason for the people of the village to love him. He was also respected because of his wealth. Okonkwo had three wives and m...
In accordance to defining a tragic hero, the protagonist is conflicted with opposing forces. In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the main character Okonkwo, is the depiction of a tragic hero. Okonkwo is a man who accomplished his success by hard work and the motivation to be stronger. In the beginnings, Okonkwo created his own farm by borrowing yam from the rich village man named Nwakibie. His strong willed and the dedication to never end up to be like his father, made Okonkwo strong and power. Okonkwo grew up from poverty to wealthy enough to support three wives, and many children. He was well respected by his clansman from his village. Although, Okonkwo has many great aspect in his life, his tragic flaw is the fear of becoming
Okonkwo wanted to become one of the greatest men in the Ibo tribe, but three unfortunate events occur bringing him closer to his end. Okonkwo was a proud, industrious figure who through hard work was able to elevate himself to a stature of respect and prominence in his community. The one major character flaw was that he was a man driven by his fear to extreme reactions. Okonkwo was petrified of inadequacy namely because his father was a complete and utter failure. This fear of shortcoming made him hate everything his father loved and represented: weakness, gentleness, and idleness. Who was Okonkwo, well Okonkwo was a hero and also he...
Q1. Describe Okonkwo, the protagonist of Things Fall Apart. Consider him as an Igbo hero character: How does he achieve greatness and defined by his culture? How does he differ from Western heroes you are familiar with? What are Okwonko’s strengths and weaknesses?