Chinua Achebe's All Things Fall Apart

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Pride is before the fall
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels” - St. Augustine. St. Augustine is a hero of the church known for his theological views, furthermore his purpose in life was to help the wrong in the world do good for all those around. Chinua Achebe’s All things fall apart, does not portray the proper criteria of a tragic hero novel. The story's protagonist, Okonkwo, is a strong influential leader of the Igbo tribe in Nigeria. Okonkwo does show some of the traits of a tragic hero, such as strength, and superiority, aside from, realizing his final downfall, and he shows a lack of goodness to all those around.
The protagonist shows the strength of a tragic hero, namely due to Okonkwo …show more content…

Pride is what tears Okonkwo away from his family and throws him down the path of pain and sorrow, as a result of the pride Okonkwo portrays is seen as anger due to his fear of being seen as feminine. Okonkwo is quick to attack someone to seem forceful. “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper”(23). The flaw of pride is what leads Okonkwo to hurting his family, chiefly due to the constant fear of Okonkwo it makes it hard to believe that his family, truly is capable of loving …show more content…

Okonkwo beats Ojiugo for not cooking his afternoon meal, all in all this is not justifiable because it happens during the week of peace. “And when she returned he beat her very heavily”(19). The village elder showed no remorse or sign of goodness as he savagely beat the women. As a member of the tribe with such esteemed ranking, Okonkwo knows that one cannot cause harm during the week of peace, nevertheless, Okonkwo still beats the women. Proving his lack of goodness shown to his family and the people of his

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