Things Fall Apart Essay

Okonkwo, A Tragic Hero?
In Chinua Achebes’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo plays the role of a tragic hero
destined to fall from his imposing titles. Since he was a child, he struggled to be the opposite
of what his father was. When working to be successful, Okonkwo “threw himself into it like
one possessed. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father’s compatible life and
shameful death.” Although his father was an unfortunate man in the eyes of the tribe and his
son, he possessed humility and contentment in the simplest of things, unlike Okonkwo. Even
when he was taken away to be left to die in the evil forest, he took with him his flute, a source
of contentment. Okonkwo, on the other hand, with his characteristics doomed for tragedy, led
a seemingly successful life, though a tragic flaw of pride and wrong decisions robbed him off
his self-fantasized luxurious life. However, does this objectively mean that Okonkwo can be
deemed a tragic hero? To answer that question we must start by defining what a tragic hero is
and linking it to Okonkwo.
First introduced by Aristotle, the term ‘tragic hero’ was defined as the character fulfilling
three different requirements. These requirements include the character being larger than life,
and having a high social standing. The character must also have ordinary human qualities and
must have a flaw that leads to his downfall.
“Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on
solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village
by throwing Amalinze the Cat. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the
earth. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the
fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven
nights … That was many years ago, twenty years or more, and during this time Okonkwo’s
fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan” (Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart, page
3)
From this text, we can understand how Okonkwo was a larger than life character in terms of
his physical strength, ticking off the first characteristic of a tragic hero. It is also likely that his
victory over the Cat, who had not been defeated prior to this, had raised him to a higher level
of popularity. Similar to the quoted text above, the first few chapters suggest that Okonkwo
had a high social status not only in the form of titles, but as being the most important man in
nine villages.
Apart from his strengths, Okonkwo also shares the common qualities of a human, with the
combination of good and bad characteristics, ultimately being a character people can relate to.
In the novel, he faces ordinary obstacles and a trait to this can be his pride and ignorance in
being macho, or pursuing a tough image that does not express any feelings of love or
compassion. An example from the novel is how Okonkwo behaves towards Ikemefuna
regardless of his feelings towards the young boy. The protagonist would often take the young
boy to accompany him in big village meetings or ancestral feasts. The novel states,
“Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy –inwardly of course. Okonkwo never
showed any emotions openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign
of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. He therefore treated
Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else –with a heavy hand. But there was no doubt that he
liked the boy…….And, indeed Ikemefuna called him father” (Page 21)
Going back to the theory that a flaw leads to the downfall of the said character, we can
undoubtedly place Okonkwo in this category as well. In the case of the protagonist of the
novel, his obvious flaw is his fear of weakness. This is clear in how manages his household,
“Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives especially the youngest, lived in
perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart
Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure
and of weakness. 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’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself.
It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. Even as a little boy
he had resented his father’s failure and weakness … And so Okonkwo was ruled by one
passion –to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of these things was
gentleness and another was idleness.” (Page 10)
This passage exposes the manner by which Okonkwo manages his household. His constant
fear of failing and following in the steps of his father reflects in his harsh, dominating
character. This trait is also common in the case of ordinary people and thus supports the
requirement of possessing human qualities to be labelled a tragic hero. Furthermore, it is
Okonkwo’s constant fear of failure and weakness based on his father’s failure that can be
considered a flaw. His strong dislike for his father’s likes reflects on his personal character
and the way he treats others that leads to his downfall.
To sum up everything that has been stated, we see that Okonkwo is a person larger than life in
terms of physical strength and is of a high social standing being the most popular person
within the nine villages of the Igbo society. Moreover, we see in him ordinary human
qualities such as fondness, toughness, violence and the struggle or incapability to balance
them. Additionally, we find a rather large tragic flaw in his character, which is his fear of
weakness and failure, and ultimately his loathe for his father’s likings resulted in him being a
failure himself. Seeing that Okonkwo has met all the conditions of being a tragic hero that
Aristotle put forth, it actively illustrates that Okonkwo is worthy to be considered one.
Sources
Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart novel

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Okonkwo, A Tragic Hero?

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