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

that they both had a father-son bonding experience during Ikemefuna's stay at Okonkwo's house. Ignoring their orders Okonkwo joins them reartailing them, when one of the men striked at Ikemefuna causing him to run to Okonkwo. Okonkwo scared he might be considered to be weak kills Ikemefuna when Achebe states that “He was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Okonkwo lets his ego beat him and because he doesn’t want to be considered weak decides that killing him will make him look strong and emotionless when it only angers the elders and puts him on thin ice.
In chapter four during peace week Okonkwo broke the sacred tradition of peace by beating his wife for not returning early enough to cook.

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

weak.
Lastly in chapter Twenty Okonkwo sends forth his 5 sons to join him in Mbanta. There he explains to them that he plans to bring them into the ozo society which is only reserved for the greatest men in the tribe. Okonkwo explains to them about the situation of Nwoye and how Nwoye is “no longer my son or your brother. I will only have a son who is a man, who will hold his head up among my people. If any one of you prefers to be a woman, let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him. If you turn your against me when I am dead I will visit you and break your neck.”(Achebe, 172) Even when Okonkwo is dead he stills wants fear to live in his children so he can have a sense of accomplishment that none of his sons become like Nwoye or his father.
Okonkwo's major flaw is that he lets his ego get the best of him in every situation. He kills some missionaries because he hates what's been done to the clan and is willing to wage war on them if they don’t stop. The only reason why he doesn’t succeed is because the rest of the clan thinks he takes it to far by killing and beheading one of the missionaries. Killing Ikemefuna futhers my point in that he lets his ego get the best of him because he doesn’t want to look weak. He even goes as far as to go against the orders of the Elders to kill Ikemefuna because Ikemefuna called him father and they had a bond together.