Many literary works incorporate the concept of a character that makes an error of judgment or attains a fatal flaw that leads to their collapse. This creates a vision for a tragic hero who portrays significant and intemperate actions and ideas. Not only does a tragic hero reveal their behavior and thoughts, they exhibit how virtuous they are, a significant flaw they reveal and their reversal of fortune. Their heroic characteristics merit them with the approval and compassion from the audience, but their imperfections eventually drive them to their ruin. Many events play into a story creating the importance of a tragic hero and their demise. In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo's noble status, warped ideals of masculinity, and …show more content…
Although Okonkwo is a man of power, he lacks the ability to control internal fears influencing his dark and tragic ruin. 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” (pg. 12). He fears the thought of being weak or feminine, as his father once was, and resorts to aggressiveness for strength. Although working hard and being strong to conquer fear is important for people, Okonkwo has a hard time controlling his own fear, which causes him to be inconsiderate and aggressive at times, even to his own family. All things aside, this makes him fear only himself due to his constant fear to appear not flawless. Additionally, Okonkwo’s inability to reason and neglect righteousness also leads him to be immoderate of his fears and shockingly kill others to appear more strong than weak. Stunned with fear, “Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (pg. 52). Since Okonkwo fears weakness, this also causes him to fear what he does to his adopted son, Ikemefuna. Even though he knows that killing Ikemefuna is profoundly wrong, he still kills him. By doing so, this exhibits his fear of exuding his masculinity and shows how even though he is capable of putting aside internal fears, he does not try to. Ikemefuna’s death marks Okonkwo’s downfall, …show more content…
His rise to power is demolished because of his wrongdoings and his belongings are taken away from him as if he is worthless. His people “set fire to his houses, demolished his red walls, killed his animals, and destroyed his barn” (pg. 106). After Okonkwo commits a crime against the earth goddess by killing a brother clansman, the village tries to atone for his crime. This atonement includes destroying everything he has worked towards and losing all his belongings because he has sinned and must be punished. Everything he has gained has disappeared with nothing to remember him by. Had he been more careful, he could have avoided committing wrongdoings and remained in power. In addition, with the sad loss of everything, Okonkwo is severed from his luxury lifestyle, his dreams, his own brothers and left to continue his life in isolation. His “life had been ruled by a great passion to become one of the lords of the clan. That had been his life spring. And he had all but achieved it. Then everything had been broken. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry, sandy beach” (pg. 109). Along with losing almost all his possessions, he is left with the failure of not being able to succeed in becoming a lord of the clan. He has worked hard and built upon him two great titles, just to have his plans wrecked because he is in
As a result, of the accidental killing of a clansmen, Okonkwo was exiled from the village for 7 years and his return back home does very little to uplift his spirits as the village he left 7 years ago was no longer the same. He finds that the new religion has taken over the former one and because of that there is a shift in the society. He constantly feels that he no longer belongs here, or that this place is no longer the Umuofia of his dreams. One can sense the displacement that has started to seep into his life as the very question of what exactly is home seems to come to the front.
Fear is a concern about something that threatens to bring bad news or negative results. Okonkwo’s success was founded on the fear of failure, which forced him to resent his father in everyway. His will to succeed, which was strongly influenced by his fear of failure made him successful and respected by his people. Although fear of failure made him an achiever, it was also what led to his downfall. This is the kind of irony that is pervasive in the l...
Okonkwo’s fear of becoming like his lackadaisical father is an internal conflict between Okonkwo and his father. “Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” (Achebe 13). Okonkwo tries to live his life, ideally from his father.
“They will take him outside Umofia, as is the custom, and kill him there. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. He calls you his father. (57)” This quote explains that Ogbuefi expresses concern for Okonkwo, because the Oracle explains how it would be wrongful of Okonkwo to kill Ikemefuna. “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak. (61)” This quote portrays that Okonkwo completely disregarded what Ogbuefi and the Oracle cautioned him about, because he was too concerned about his status of what others thought of him. “At last the man was named and people sighed “E-u-u, Ezeudu is dead.” A cold shiver ran down Okonkwo’s back as he remembered the last time the old man had visited him. (121)” At this point in the story, it appears that Okonkwo is starting to realize his wrongdoings, primarily because he takes religion and his spiritual life very seriously, in regards towards the Oracle. Okonkwo begins to lose trust within his family, especially with Nwoye. (As mentioned in the previous paragraph.) In the beginning of the book, Okonkwo relied on Ikemefuna to help Nwoye become more masculine and tough. After Ogbuefi warns Okonkwo about taking part in the murder, Okonkwo thinks about what could happen to him once the gods find out. Once again, Okonkwo lets his emotions
Okonkwo’s life and his choices are run by the fear he
Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart is a narrative story that follows the life of an African man called Okonkwo. The setting of the book is in eastern Nigeria, on the eve of British colonialism in Africa. The novel illustrates Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs, and his eventual downfall, all of which basically coincide with the Igbo?s society?s struggle with the Christian religion and British government. In this essay I will give a biographical account of Okonwo, which will serve to help understand that social, political, and economic institutions of the Igbos.
This quote shows that Okonkwo is really sympathetic and how he has a liking ness to some children for different reasons. This also shows how Okonkwo is not a heartless man and actually cares for his children. “He therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else - with a heavy hand. But there was no doubt that he liked the boy.” (Achebe Ch 4) This shows that Okonkwo even shows sympathy to those that are not related to him. Ikemefuna came in as a prisoner but later ended up becoming apart of Okonkwo's family.
From birth Okonkwo had wanted his son, Nwoye, to be a great warrior like him. His son instead rebelled and wanted to be nothing like Okonkwo. Okonkwo would not change so that his son would idolize him, as he had wanted since his son's birth. He chose not to acknowledge his son's existence instead. This would weigh heavily on anyone's conscience, yet Okonkwo does not let his relationship with his son affect him in the least bit.
In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo starts the story as a strong, successful, and well respected man in the village and neighboring lands. He was a leader in the village, he had a large house with plenty of food, and he had many wives and children. After a series of unfortunate events, Okonkwo loses his titles, his house is burned down, and his oldest son leaves him. Okonkwo tries to drive out the missionaries that were tearing the village apart but fails. He realizes the village he loved had turned against him, and he commits suicide.
In conclusion if the missionaries did not come over he would still be alive. Also if he realized what all his actions would do to his life he would have his family and his son’s. He actually changed from pre-colonial and postcolonial times by going to his motherland and learning that women are the main part of the house. What really changed him was the colonizers and missionaries who came to changed the way they do things. Which made Okonkwo very unhappy and forced him to take action which in the end killed him and hurt his tribe and family.
Okonkwo was ashamed of him and did everything possible to never end up like his father. When the narrator stated, “With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. But he threw himself into it like one possessed. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death” (pg. 18). The.
However, great as he was, “his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness… It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” (P. 13) Driven by such belief, Oknokwo was determined to become the strongest man in this land. He regarded any negative emotion such as grief and despair as weak of which he tried so hard in his life to avoid. But such emotion is such a humanity that none could avoid.
At first, this fear motivated him to rise to success by working diligently and doing everything his father did not do. However, even when Okonkwo establishes an honorable reputation, fear of failure continues to overwhelm him and drives him to perform acts that lead to his suffering. One example of this is when the men of Umuofia decide that Ikemefuna must be killed and Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna even though he is told not to partake in the killing of Ikemefuna. Okonkwo panics when Ikemefuna turns to him and cries for help, and without thinking, Okonkwo slays Ikemefuna with his machete. Okonkwo does this because in the split second where Ikemefuna runs to Okonkwo for protection, Okonkwo is overpowered with fear of being seen as weak and kills Ikemefuna.
Okonkwo’s fear affects his overall personality and behavior; it controls the way he runs his household, speaks with his friends, and deals with certain events. Okonkwo grew up as the son of Unoka, who was an abomination to their village. Okonkwo’s fear of weakness and of failure developed due to his fear of becoming like his father. “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 the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father[…] Okonkwo was ruled by one passion- to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.”(22-23, Achebe). Okonkwo shapes his behavior and personality
Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, uses the changes in African tribal culture brought about by European colonization to illustrate the evolution of the character Okonkwo. As Okonkwo leads his life, his experiences, personality and thought are revealed to the reader. The obstacles he faces in life are made numerous as time progresses. Okonkwo's most significant challenge originates within himself. He also encounters problems not only when in opposition to the white culture, but in his own culture, as he becomes frustrated with tribal ideals that conflict with his own. The last adversary he encounters is of the physical world, brought upon himself by his emotional and cultural problems. The manner through which Okonkwo addresses his adversaries in Things Fall Apart creates the mechanism that leads to his eventual destruction.