Okonkwo is a tragic hero in "Things Fall Apart"

Question ( 2 ): Discuss Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe's “Things Fall Apart” is a tragic hero.

Answer: In Chinua Achebe’s novel “Things Fall Apart” Okonkwo is a tragic hero. Aristotle’s Poetics defines a Tragic Hero as a good man of high status who displays a tragic flaw ‘hamartia’ and experiences a dramatic reversal ‘peripeteia’, as well as an intense moment of recognition ‘anagnorisis’. Okonkwo is a leader and hardworking member of the Igbo community of Umuofia whose tragic flaw is his great fear of weakness and failure. Okonkwo’s fall from grace in the Igbo community and eventual suicide, makes Okonkwo a tragic hero by Aristotle’s definition.

Okonkwo is a man of action, a man of war and a member of high status in the Igbo village. He holds the prominent position of village clansman, due to the fact that, he had shown incredible prowess in two intertribal wars. Okonkwo’s hard work had made him a wealthy farmer and a recognized individual amongst the nine villages of Umuofia and beyond. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw is not that he was afraid of work, but rather his fear of weakness and failure that stems from his father’s, Unoka, unproductive life and disgraceful death.

“…his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness…….

It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself,

lest he should be found to resemble his father.”

Okonkwo’s father is a lazy, carefree man whom has a reputation of being poor and his wife and children have just barely enough to eat... they swear never to lend him any more money because he never paid back. Unoka has never taught Okonkwo what is right and wrong, and as a result Okonkwo has to interpret how to be a good man. Okonkwo’s self-interpretation leads him to conclude that a good man is someone who is the exact opposite of his father and therefore anything that his father does is weak and unnecessary.

Okonkwo’s fear leads him to treat members of his family harshly, in particular his son, Nwoye. Okonkwo often wonders how he, a man of great strength and work ethic, could have had a son who is degenerate and effeminate. Okonkwo things that,

"No matter how prosperous a man was,

if he was unable to rule his women and his children … he was not really a man"

Okonkwo wrestles with his fear that any sign of weakness will cause him to lose control of his family, position in the village, and even himself. Like many heroes of classical tragedy, Okonkwo’s tragic flaw, fear, also makes him excessively proud. Okonkwo’s downfall is a result of the changes created by the coming of the British Colonisers to Igbo. The introduction of the Colonisers into the novel causes Okonkwo’s tragic flaw to be exacerbated. Okonkwo construes change as weakness, and as a result of his interpretation, Okonkwo only knows how to react to change through anger and strength. He derives great satisfaction, “hubris” or proud arrogance, from the fact that he is a traditional, self made man and thinks that to change would mean submitting to an outside force (Christianity).

Following Okonkwo’s seven year exile, the village Okonkwo once knew has changed due to the influence of Christianity and the influence of the British missionaries and officers. Okonkwo’s initial reaction is to arm the clan against the Colonisers and drive the British people out of Igbo.

“He  has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (152).

Okonkwo has always used his strength and courage to protect the community from destabilizing forces, and as Okonkwo is a traditional man, the introduction of Christianity poses a threat to all the values, morals and beliefs he sought to protect. Okonkwo resists change at every step and instead resorts to violence toward anything he perceived as a threat to his culture or values.

Okonkwo’s arrogant pride makes him believe that the clan leaders would eventually reunite the clan and drive the British Colonisers out of Umuofia. Hoping that the clan will follow his lead, Okonkwo beheads a messenger of the British who is sent to break up a village meeting regarding the possibility of going to war. However, the clan instead of following Okonkwo’s symbolic action is shocked by Okonkwo’s brutality. Okonkwo recognizes (“anagnorisis”) that Umuofia would not go to war, because the clan “had broken into tumult instead of action”. Okonkwo knows that he must now face his disgrace alone.

The Igbo culture had made Okonkwo a hero, but the Igbo culture changed with the coming of the British Colonisers. Okonkwo, a hero, would rather die than be humiliated by his enemies and by committing suicide Okonkwo prevented the European Colonisers from getting revenge. Aristotle’s statement, “Man, when perfect, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all”, embodies the rise and fall of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s novel. Okonkwo, like many tragic heroes before him, maybe a hero but his tragic flaw prevents him from achieving true greatness as a human being.

Md. Saiful Alam

B. A. Honours and M. A. in English

Lecturer of English

Queen’s College, Dhaka

E-mail: suman64924@gmail.com

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