Okonkwo Tragic Hero

In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the main character is a man named Okonkwo who is known as the clans most deadliest warrior. He has killed and beheaded five men and never shows emotion unless it’s to let out a fit of rage. He lets his ego always get the best of him. He never tries to suppress it and will always try to find an excuse to let it out. His ego is the reason why he is known as a tragic hero. He killed Ikemefuna, beat his wife during peace week and disowned his son Nwoye because he converted to Christianity.

In chapter Seven the elders of Umuofia decide the fate of Ikemefuna by leading him away from Umuofia and killing him. The elders didn’t want Okonkwo to join them because Ikemefuna called Okonkwo “father” and they felt

Okonkwo always wanted to be the opposite of his father and by doing so he turned to this emotionless angry man. He asked his second wife where Ojiugo has gone and she replies with “She has gone to plait her hair.” He later asks if Ojiugo told her to feed her children and the second wife lies by saying yes. Okonkwo waits in his hut and when Ojiugo returns he “beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace.”(Achebe, 29) Okonkwo let one emotion guide him to break such a sacred week and caused him to lose respect in his village. Achebe later states that Okonkwo is “not the man to go about telling his neighbors that he was in error.” meaning that he wasn’t worried that he broke a sacred tradition but rather that if he let this slide he would look