English II Honors - Essay
An anylysis of the main character Okonkwo from the story Things Fall Apart
Okonkwo, a Tragic Hero Analysis
The term “tragic hero” was first brought about by a great Greek philosopher named Aristotle. Since then many characters have been created in this image of a majorly flawed hero (or sometimes villian); some common names such as Anakin Skywalker, Oedipus Rex, and even Dr.House from, well, House. Every hero has a flaw, but tragic heroes have five main problems, as stated by Aristotle, and Okonkwo fits every one: hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, a noble birth (or high status in general, in his case), and catharsis. Okonkwo is a classic tragic hero, but I believe there are three that really fit him the most: his hamartia (or fatal flaw), peripeteia (reversal of fortune), and catharsis (sympathy of audience) (Literary Devices 1).
The first thing that makes Okonkwo a true-and-blue tragic hero is his hamartia. This means the one major flaw that eventually brings the character to his downfall. Okonkwo’s biggest flaw in the story is his fear of weakness by far. All of Okonkwo’s decisions in life are driven by his pride, and his fear that people will look down upon him for his birth. His fear of being lesser causes him to do many things that lead to his “fall”, to the extent of killing his adoptive son. Before we touch on why his aversion takes him down, we must first understand why he has such a need to be so strong and powerful. His father was a nobody in the clan, he borrowed and did not return, and he left Okonkwo with nothing. This made Okonkwo strive to be better, but so much so that he feared anything else. He had to be fearless, strong, a “man of action, a man of war” (Achebe 7). Any sort of emotion went against the idea that he could be prideful in how strong he was compared to his father, and it is because of this that he climbs to a top rank in the village (giving him such a long way to fall by the end of the story), and it is also because of this that he treats everyone around him so poorly. One example of this, is how he treats his son, Nwoye. He considers his son low and lazy, and he refuses to accept that anything spawning from himself would be so weak. He almost kills one of his wives just to get his anger out, and he, without needing to himself, killed his adoptive son. His tragic flaw, fear, is enhanced when the English come. Okonkwo sees change as weak, and when he realizes his clan will not fight such change, he believes that the only option would be to kill himself- which he does. It is because of his fear that he has a fall at all, and thus gives him a tragic hero ending. But that ending could happen without the second trait, which brings me to my next point.
The second thing that makes him a tragic hero is his peripeteia, or reversal of fortune. At the beginning of his life he had no status, farm, or wealth; therefore he started out with no luck to lose. This changed when he built his way to a high status within the clan, which set him up to have a long fall back to being disfortunate. The first turn for the worse happened when Okonkwo accidentally shot a boy in the tribe during a ceremony, causing him to be exiled for seven years. Being exiled, having to move into a place with new people, and having to swallow his pride; that is definitely a misfortunate event for Okonkwo but sadly it is just the beginning. Furthermore, another event that really made a bad impact on Okonkwo’s life would be English colonizers arriving, settling, and messing up clan life. This is pretty self explanatory, as it not only leads to Okonkwo’s eventual suicide by hanging, but another major event: his son Nwoye becoming Christian. This was the absolute ultimate betrayal to Okonkwo, his son turning into what he feared and despised the most. ““Where have you been?” he [Okonkwo] stammered. Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip. “Answer me,” roared Okonkwo, “before I kill you!” He seized a heavy stick ... [and] hit him two or three savage blows.“Answer me!” he roared again. Nwoye stood looking at him and did not say a word. The women were screaming outside, afraid to go in.” (Achebe 16-19). This is what really made him start to lose hope in his clan. Speaking of his suicide, this leads me to my last reasoning for why he is a tragic hero.
The third and final thing that makes Okonkwo a tragic hero is the catharsism, or sympathy, the audience experiences near and at the end. Most people do and should feel bad for Okonkwo by the end of the story; he was exiled, he is so messed up from his father’s actions that you can not help but feel bad, and the English coming in and ruining everything is definitely a heart jerker. Maybe none of this affects people on the literal level that it appears in the story, but it is all stuff people can relate to. Accidentally messing up and being wrongfully punished because of it, having to move somewhere totally different (or at least somewhere you do not want to go), having someone you want great things for failing you, and even the massive change of new people coming in and making things different. These are all things most people can understand, so while most people can not relate with hanging themselves; the idea of having so little hope in something that you want to give up… that really hits some people. Not only that, but as the protagonist you can not help but to root for Okonkwo, towards the end you generally crave him to stand up to the English, to fight back for his clan and home. When he anticlimactically kills himself, it adds to the mood of the ending, leaving the reader to feel even more sympathy for him.
In conclusion, Okonkwo’s story is misfortunate and ultimately makes him a tragic hero. From his fear of weakness, to his misfortune, to the reader’s remorse at his suicide. Tragic heroes are one of the most interesting characters to write and read about, they are dynamic and emotion provoking. Just imagine the Star Wars series if Luke had had a normal cookie cutter father who did not almost kill his mom. Not near as interesting. Perfect heroes are boring, and so when they have flaws like real people, it allows a deeper connection with the plot and character. This is probably one of the main reasons why this is such a popular story; as even though the author is biased, he shows flaws on both sides.
"Tragic Hero - Examples and Definition of Tragic Hero." Literary Devices. N.p., 08 Dec. 2015. Web. 26 May 2016.
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor, 1994. Print.
"ARISTOTLE & THE ELEMENTS OF TRAGEDY: English 250." Aristotle's Tragic Terms. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2016.
