Things Fall Apart Tragic Hero Essay
Okonkwo, the protagonist of Chinue Acebe’s 1958,“Things Fall Apart.”, he is also considered a tragic hero. A tragic hero holds a position of power and prestige chooses is course of action, possesses a tragic flaw, and gains alertness of situation that lead to fall. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw is fear of weakness and failure.
Okonkwo is the head of strong man of the Igbo, a Nigerian ethnic community, who live in the village of Umofia. He became the character of the tragic hero, one whose unbelievable talents force him to the altitude of success only to bring about his ruin. Achebe describes him as “tall and huge” with “bushy eyebrows and wide nose him a very severe look.” When Okonkwo walks, his heels barely touch the ground, like he walks on springs,”
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On the strength of this fame, he is able to borrow seeds from a man named Nwakibie in order to start a farm. After years of hardship, he was able to pay his debt and become a rich farmer with several barns full of yams. He has three wives and many children including Nwoye, his eldest son, and Ezinma, his favorite, whom he often wishes were a boy who lives in huts on his compound. His life is subjugated by the fear of weakness and failure. He is also fast to get anger, particularly when dealing with men who are weak, lazy debtors like his father. However, Okonkwo overcompensates for is fathers womanly ways, of which he is humiliated, because he does not tolerate idleness or gentleness. Even though he feels inward love at times, he never portrays love toward anyone. Instead, he isolates himself by exhibiting anger through aggressive, stubborn, crazy behavior. Okonkwo demands that his family work long hours despite their age or limited bodily energy, he nags and beat his wives and son, Nwoye, who Okonkwo believes is womanly like his father, Unoka. In the process, like a true tragic hero, his greatest strength, his masculine power also becomes his greatest weakness, the hamartia flaw that leads to his
Okonkwo's Manliness In Things Fall Apart
1294 Words | 6 PagesBecause Okonkwo fits four out of the five criteria of a tragic hero, he is a tragic hero. Because he was a successful leader and farmer and he earned this success without any help, Okonkwo is better than ourselves. According to the book, Okonkwo “neither inherited a barn nor a title, nor even a young wife.” (18) Despite the fact that he came from a failure of a father, Okonkwo managed to become wealthy and successful. Because of his anger, and his fear of being thought weak, Okonkwo was vulnerable.
How Is Okonkwo A Sympathetic Character
623 Words | 3 PagesThe novel “things fall apart” is about the fatal demise of Okonkwo and the igbo culture of Umuofia. Okonkwo is well known and respected leader in his community, who is successful in everything he does, such as wrestling and farming. He is quick with his hands and takes pride in his accomplishments. Okonkwo’s family relationship makes him a sympathetic character because of his support and an unsympathetic character because of his cruelty. In many ways Okonkwo showed that he had no sympathy for others , However at times he could be sympathetic.
Okonkwo And Nwoye Quotes
802 Words | 4 PagesOkonkwo’s aggressive ways caused Nwoye to rely on Ikemefuna, A boy given to Okonkwo by a neighboring village, as an older brother who teaches him a more gentle form of masculinity. The bond between Nwoye and Ikemefuna was stronger than the bond between Nwoye and Okonkwo ever was because of Okonkwo’s refusal to demonstrate affection towards his son as it could make him appear weak. However, because of the death of Ikemefuna, Nwoye fears having to return to the harsh values of his father. Okonkwo’s stubborn ideas of masculinity ruined his relationship with his son beyond repair. Okonkwo’s refusal to show emotion towards his family pushed them apart which shows that Okonkwo is not willing to give up his stern values and reputation to be emotionally committed to his family.
Okonkwo's Change In Things Fall Apart
1163 Words | 5 PagesRick Godwin once said, “One reason people resist change is because they focus on what they have to give up, instead of what they have to gain”. In the novel “Things Fall Apart”, by Chinua Achebe Okonkwo resists changes when the british missionaries arrive and it causes conflicts throughout the novel. His defiance, warrior-like, manliness behavior leads him to his suicide when he realizes change sometimes can not be controlled. Okonkwo’s nobility and prosperity is revealed through his success and leadership within the clan. Aristotle stated in “On Tragedy” that “He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous.”.
Okonkwo's Hatred In Things Fall Apart
1774 Words | 8 PagesUnoka was described as lazy, improvident and not capable of thinking about tomorrow. From this Okonkwo was ashamed of his father and strives to be nothing like him. Okonkwo’s hatred towards his father has hardened his heart and has made him incapable of being a person of compassion and understanding throughout the novel. His hatred for his father has made him fear failure and weakness throughout the story. His fear of failure has brought him to his downfall.
Things Fall Apart Nwoye Identity Analysis
479 Words | 2 PagesHe became a strong independent man. His true personality showed through. In some people’s cases, things fall apart, but in others, like Nwoye, he found his true purpose in life. At twelve years old, Nwoye was causing his father Okonkwo, “great anxiety for his incipient laziness” (10).
Okonkwo Tragic Hero Analysis
881 Words | 4 PagesThe post colonial novel, "Things fall apart" by Chinua Achebe depicts its protagonist Okonkwo as great person who falls into the world of chaos to find his own place through his strength and achievements. Okonkwo in few parts of novel touches the traces of epic hero while in other parts touches the tragic hero characteristics. However Okonkwo 's suicide in the end turns the table to reader to view him through different lens than epic hero or tragic hero. According to Aristotle in his poetics, the tragic hero is an intermediate person who is filled with tragic flaw(hubris /hamartia)
Compare And Contrast Okonkwo And Nwoye
1890 Words | 8 PagesSimilarly, Nwoye also resists the reputation of his own father by rejecting this masculine regime of Okonkwo and Igbo culture, showing feminine virtues instead. His intention to carry his beliefs on to his children is established when Okonkwo thinks to himself after he learns of Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity. Nwoye made the decision to leave Umofia after the realization that his views do not coincide with those of his society any longer due to the life time of exposure to the toxicity of Okonkwo’s masculine behavior. It is because he refuses to conform that Nwoye wishes to alter the reputation of himself and his family by joining a culture that he finds to reflect the values that he believes in, instead of those he was dejectedly forced into following by his
Femininity In Things Fall Apart
895 Words | 4 PagesHis fear of weakness and failure is derived from his father, Unoka’s failures, which ignite Okonkwo’s misogynistic views. Throughout his lifetime, Okonkwo associates femininity with weakness because of Unoka, who was called an “agbala” or woman by the people of Umuofia. Since women have this reputation for weakness, Okonkwo lives with constant fear that he will be given the same title as his father. Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye’s effeminacy reminds Okonkwo of his own father. He says, "I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man, but there is much of his mother in him ."(Achebe, 66).
Why Is Okonkwo A Tragic Hero
1038 Words | 5 PagesFrom being nothing in his village he rises to be a great, honorable, successful leader of umuofia. He also has a tragic flaw of being weak, failure and having fear that leads him to fail at things several times because of his fears. All of these failures then lead him to his suicide. Finally, he finds his own tragic fate because of his murder of the missionaries court messenger during his villages meeting. Though Okonkwo's life started out as one of the most successful and leading men of Umuofia but because of his violent and impulsive characteristics, even the most successful and well-respected man can fall from his
Similarities And Similarities Between Okonkwo And Macbeth
946 Words | 4 PagesHis father was the exact opposite of what the Igbo people stand for. Unoka, Okonkwo’s father, is a “coward [who] could not bear the sight of blood” (Achebe 6). In turn, Okonkwo became a ruthless warrior who was known across the different tribes. The worst aspect of Unoka is that he was considered to be a failure. This caused Okonkwo “even as a little boy [to resent] his father’s failure” (13).
Okonkwo And Ezinma, An Unxpressed Love In Things Fall Apart
1346 Words | 6 PagesThe novel narrates the life of Okonkwo. The latter was very successful in everything he undertook. The opening lines of the novel clearly demonstrate his success. He had three wives and eight children. His life, however, starts to shatter little by little through a series of events, leading him to being exiled for seven years from his village.
Okonkwo Tragic Hero Analysis
951 Words | 4 PagesEventually, after numerous hardships, Okonkwo earns his success and obtains several barns and wives. This symbolizes wealth and power which were what Okonkwo had been working for all his life. Moreover, Achebe portrays Okonkwo as a fierce warrior and is also represents him as a model clansman in the society:
Essay On Okonkwo
769 Words | 4 PagesOkonkwo In literature, there are many characters that stand out and show that they have a variety of qualities about them. In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is one character that presents character traits from both the negative and positive sides of him. Okonkwo is portrayed to be a warrior who wanted to become somebody strong and looked up to, but also possesses less favorable qualities. He, however, does not let any one trait dictate his whole personality; he is written to be a well-rounded character.
Masculinity In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
1794 Words | 8 PagesChinua Achebe’s 1958 literary classic, Things Fall Apart (Achebe, 1958), is renowned for its authentic account of the black African experience. Set in post-colonial Nigeria, the fictional novel discusses the cultural roots of the Igbos and follows the life of the tragic hero, Okonkwo. This acclaimed novel deals with strong patriarchal ideals of masculinity within the Igbo culture and how Okonkwo is a direct manifestation of this. Achebe depicts the relationship between masculinity and both male and female characters, and how this, in turn, has an effect on Okonkwo’s relationships. The strongest relationship in the novel is between father (Okonkwo) and daughter (Ezinma); their bond is strong because Ezinma is everything Okonkwo would want in a son.
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