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Okonkwo as the tragic hero chunua achebe things fall apart
Okonkwo as the tragic hero chunua achebe things fall apart
Central theme of achebe' things fall apart
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Tragic Hero In almost every story that possesses a main protagonist, there is a stereotypical set of accomplishments he or she must prevail over. Generally, the hero must struggle to become great, meet a villain or problem, and then overcome the issue to progress onto more difficult tasks. This format generally makes hero and villain stories simple to follow, as good always beats evil, and the story ends very boring and predictably. However, some authors incorporate the harsh reality of the world, that good will not always prevail. In real life, evil sometimes outmatches the protagonist. In Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, the main character is displayed as a tragic hero through his struggles to be recognized, meets an obstacle and threat to the tribe, but ultimately perishes in his effort to protect his culture. …show more content…
Through his varied accomplishments, he was able to make a name for himself and earn several titles. In his childhood, he was picked on by the failures and lack of work ethic his father possessed. This motivated Okonkwo to rely only on himself to pave his road. Okonkwo grew into manhood doing everything the opposite of his father to create the life he desired. “And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion – to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness” (Achebe 12). As a young child, he made his own farm, worked day and night, and proved his prowess in wrestling. Okonkwo managed to gain several titles, farms, and even overcome his father's’ debt. Eventually, he would face another obstacle preventing him from reaching the highest
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
Okonkwo is one of the most powerful men in the Ibo tribe. In his tribe, he is both feared and honored. This is evident by this quote, "Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond... [He] brought honor to his tribe by throwing Amalinze the Cat..."(3) This suggests that in Okonkwo's society, power is attained by making a name for yourself in any way possible, even if that means fighting and wrestling to get your fame. Although honor is a good thing, when people have to fight to gain it, it becomes an object of less adoration. Okonkwo's "prosperity was visible in his household... his own hut stood behind the only gate in the red walls. Each of his three wives had her own hut... long stacks of yams stood out prosperously in [the barn]... [Okonkwo] offers prayers on the behalf of himself, his three wives, and eight children." (14) Okonkwo has also worked and tended to his crops in a very zealous fashion, and drives everyone around him to work as hard as he does. Because of this, he earns his place as one of Umuofia's most powerful men. In many cultures, a big family is a source of pride. Although Okonkwo is not always pleased by his children and wives, it also brings him a source of pride to have three wives and eight children. Large families mean that the head of the family is able to support all of them. Okonkwo's devotion to his crops and family gives to him the respect that any father and husband deserves, and in his culture, being able to fight and kill as well gives him even more influence and power.
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.
“With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. He neither inherited a barn nor a title, or even a young wife. But in spite of these disadvantages, he had begun even in his father’s lifetime to lay the foundations of a prosperous future” (18). Most of his accomplishments were despite his father, whom Okonkwo loathed, but with whom I connected. In the novel, I relate more to Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, a much more laid back character. Like Unoka, I am in love with life, lazy, not worried about tomorrow, and deeply in debt.
I describe how Othello and Okonkwo are tragic heros with the use of character foils and character types. Although Othello is a dynamic character and Okonkwo is static, I still can classify them as a tragic heros. Using character foils allows us to see the characters progress through the book and change to the actions of others around them.
At the beginning of the novel Okonkwo was a fairly wealthy and well-respected member of the Igbo society, but it had not always been that way for him. Okonkwo?s father, Unoka, had been a lazy man who would rather play his flute than take care of his crops. Unoka was said to be a charming man, and was able to borrow large amounts of money from his friends, but was never able to pay it back. As a result, Okonkwo has grown up very poor and ashamed of his lazy father. At one point in the book, Okonkwo remembers hearing one of his playmates calling his father an ?agbala,? which was the word for woman, but all described a man who had taken not titles (13). Okonkwo never forgets this, and actually develops a deep-seated fear that people will think that he is weak like his father. As I mentioned, Okonkwo became very well known, and his wealth and prestige rested solely on his own personal achievements. Okonkwo had received no inheritance from his poor father, no land and no money. As a young man, Okonkwo had been very successful wrestler, and as he grew older he became a well-known warrior. He was said to have brought home five human heads, which was a great achievement even for men who were much older that he was. At the beginning of the story, Okonkwo had obtained two titles, and had the respect of every man from all nine villages of Umuofia. Symbols of his wealth and prestige were his family and his compound. As I mentioned earlier, Okonwo had received no inheritance, and at the time of this story Okonkwo is still fairly young, and the fact that he had three wives, several children, and a very productive piece of land showed that Okonkwo was a very diligent worker. ?Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially...
From this text we can see how Okonkwo was a larger than life character in the terms of his physical strength and wrestling abilities. Also it is obvious that his victory o...
The concept of a tragic hero is one of the most notable and widespread literary tropes, having been in existence for over some 2000 years. As defined by Aristotle in his Poetics, a tragic hero is someone who undergoes a struggle far more potent than deserved. Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, exhibits a tragic hero through its protagonist, Okonkwo. Achebe achieves this status through his tragic flaw of excessive pride, his ultimate demise caused by said pride, and his ability to evoke fear and pity within the audience.
While in his prime, Okonkwo is one of the leaders of the Igbo community of Umuofia. Mr. Achebe describes Okonkwo right in the first line of the novel. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond”. (Achebe 1) Right away we learn that Okonkwo is a very well known man. Achebe describes Okonkwo when he walks, “His heels barely touch the ground, like he walks on springs, as if he is going to pounce on somebody." (4) To add to his physical features Okonkwo is a very fierce warrior in the army of Umuofia, also he defeated one of the best wrestlers in the land called the “Cat”, now he is one of the best wr...
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.
Chinua Achebe challenges the social expectations of men through the protagonist Okonkwo. n the opening of the novel, readers learn of Okwonko's strength as "the older men agreed it was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights," which immediately draws readers into a world of competition. However Okwonko's status in the community was not only a result of his wrestling ability, but also because he "had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of his clan." Okwonko is haunted by his father Unoka, who died a man with many debts. He grew up knowing the clan thought his father was a failure because of his soft and happy nature, and the pain fused to his spirit as "his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness," but not just any fear for "it was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw."
Okonkwo is a very strong wrestler and because of that, he is well respected by the village. Though he is not the nicest person alive he respects manly men, unlike his father who which he is afraid of representing. Although he is a good man the wrongs outweigh the rights, making him not very sympathetic.
It becomes clear that he is undoubtedly a critical member of Umuofian society, but has many extreme behaviors that aren’t typical of that culture. When reflecting on his achievements of the past he always stresses the ferocity and heartlessness. He has "brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat" in a wrestling match (Achebe 3). He then begins to emphasize his impatience with “unsuccessful” men, which is clearly shown when he speaks of his “effeminate” son, Nwoye, and father, Unoka. Although a generally harsh view, Okonkwo’s actions more often than not earn him great respect in his
Okonkwo embodies all the ideal and heroic traits of the Igbo culture. He is strong, authoritative, hardworking, and successful. The opening sentence states that “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond” (3). Okonkwo is great and famous because of his “solid personal achievements” (3). Okonkwo first achieved fame and recognition when he became the village’s wrestling champion. At eighteen years of age, he had “brought honor to his village” by defeating the seven-year champion. By winning the wrestling match, Okonkwo demonstrates to his village his great strength and skill as a warrior. After that his fame spread “like a bush-fire in the harmattan” (3). Okonkwo governs his household with authority. He “ruled his household with a heavy hand” (13). His wives and children lived “in perpetual fear of his fiery temper” (13). Okonkwo is a hard task-master. He works on his farm “from cock-crow until the chickens went to roost” and compelled his family to do the same (13). He does not tolerate laziness in his sons. He punishes his son, Nwoye, with “constant nagging and beating” (14). Okonkwo is the sole and unquestionable authority figure in his household.
In Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is an extremely complex character who experiences a variety of emotions which he has a difficult time controlling. He experiences a never ending battle of psychosomatic symptoms, starting with his obsession over the conflict of the past with his father, Unoka. Okonkwo portrays himself as a heroic, strong warrior, only to mask the feelings of intense anger, fear, and selfishness that provokes him, which inevitably leads him down the same path as his father. He feels a strong hatred towards his father because he believes that his father had no masculine qualities, he owed everyone money, and owned no titles. Achebe states: