Okonkwo Tragic Hero

Okonkwo, the man with many titles, may be perceived by many as a tragic hero. A tragic hero is a person who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his own destruction. Okonkwo is not considered a tragic hero because although his judgements lead to his own death, Achebe is instead making the readers feel unsympathetic towards him, showing us that winning and being perfect shouldn’t always be our main priority. This is important because usually authors make sure their protagonist isn’t hated. Achebe made it clear that masculinity played a huge role in Okonkwo's mindset because he wanted to emphasize his priorities. This left the readers feeling unsympathetic towards Okonkwo due to the rough relationship between himself and Nwoye, and

Okonkwo demonstrates this in the killing of Ikemefuna, “He heard Ikemefuna cry, "My father, they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.” (22) The idea that Okonkwo needs to show masculinity through killing the boy who was a son-like figure in his life makes the readers feel so insensitive towards Okonkwo. Achebe emphasizes this selfish act to set this violent and depressing mood. Okonkwo strives to be perfect, he strives to be the one that everybody looks up to, and he thinks that showing his masculinity through killing Ikemefuna would impress people. This is significant because it shows that he had to be the one to finish him off to show that he wasn’t weak, and this showed the readers Achebe’s point of how masculinity and perfection are Okonkwo’s priorities. Another example would be when he had no problem taking a shot at his wife Ekwefi, “ Unfortunately for her Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun, ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. He pressed the trigger and there was a loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children.” (14) He shot at his wife Ekwefi, similar to when he killed Ikemefuna because he had no problem with almost killing another member of his family. Achebe’s tone shows how fast everything in that scene happened, and how Okonkwo was so quick to act before he thought about what he was doing. This contributes to the fact that Okonkwo feels as if violence is the only manly way to fix things, even when it comes to