Furthermore, he had shown incredible prowess as a strong warrior. Though Okonkwo was on the path to greatness, he still feared ending up like his
However, Okonkwo was born to a poor man and certainly was not noble-born. Yet, Okonkwo displays abundant understanding towards the complications and willing to climb the ladder to achieve his success in his young age, which is other common trait in tragic hero. The advantage that he has is in Ibo society, they allow each man to earn their own titles without family inheritance so Okonkwo able to take this opportunity to create his own fortune separate from family bequest. In his young age he is able to have two barns full of yams and also three wives. He does not want to turn out to be just like his father poor, ignorance and nwaanyi (womanly in Ibo).
Just like Okonkwo, his village had high expectations for all it people, but those expectations were not kept for long. The colonization of Okonkwo’s home was the final part to push Okonkwo over the tipping
Rather than being killed by the men he despised he took his own life. Actions have consequences and in killing three people he realized he was not exempt from that rule. Upon his newfound cognizance he took a cowards way out which is also an abomination to their clan. While Okonkwo was an impressive figure to the people of Umuofia because of the warrior he had become for his own self-gratification he died just like his father; titleless. If Okonkwo hadn’t been so petrified of being seen as weak he could’ve lived to be more, but the persona he built wasn’t prepared to enter his new world of an
Okonkwo was one of the most famous and fearful member not only of his clan in Umuofia but other nine villages as well. He worked hard to become a renowned and prosperous member of his clan and to break away from the legacy of his father Okoye who was referred to as ‘agbala’, a man who has not won any title and was another word for woman. Okonkwo was not an evil man but his life was dominated by fear of weakness and failure which made him extremely violent and aggressive. He hated everything associated with his father- music, gentleness and laziness. But much to the anguish of Okonkwo, Nwoye embodied most of his grandfather’s traits and this enraged Okonkwo deeply.
Okonkwo’s motivations, character development, and interactions suggest that he is a byronic hero. Okonkwo's rambunctious outburst and defiance of the gods shows his arrogance. In the hero source “characteristics of a byronic hero” its states “In one form or another he rejects the values and moral codes of society..”. Okonkwo's’ arrogance is shown in chapter four when he was being described as “Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half way through. Not even for fear of a goddess.”(Achebe31).
Okonkwo has a response to the collision of his culture. Okonkwo tries to fight the changes made by the Western people. Okonkwo’s response to the Western people trying to bring Western ideas into the Ibo culture are simply trying to fight back at the Western people with violence. Okonkwo is a strong and fierce leader, but throughout the story, he is challenged by the Western people and the cultural collision because Okonkwo is supposed to be the leader of Umuofia. Okonkwo is supposed to fight back for his village and not stop until he gets it done.
Okonkwo is very aware of his self-image and wants to be viewed as a hero in the Ibo tribe. If Okonkwo was to act feminine he would not be seen as a hero, but he would be insulted instead. Okonkwo’s father was a very lazy, weak man with no desires or ambitions. Okonkwo strived to be the opposite of who his father was and wants to have a totally different reputation than his father. ‘Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala.
“ Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond” (Achebe 1) In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo had the perfect life. He was wealthy, powerful, and loved by all. There was nothing more he needed. Though when the white man came into his life and changed everything, Okonkwo’s response to the westernization of his tribe was a negative one. He followed every custom with a heavy hand, and understood the natural order of his tribe in its rightful setting.
Okonkwo was a very powerful person that considered the whole Umuofia as family. Could no one come between the clan and if they tried it would be war that no one would forget. Considering Umuofia as a big family they do have their problems just like everyone else. As in things fall apart someone could be killed and it would break the clan apart for a