Preview

Okonkwo A Hero In Things Fall Apart

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
454 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Okonkwo A Hero In Things Fall Apart
Aristotle once said, “A man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall. An Aristotelian tragic hero must possess specific characteristics.” According to the great greek philosopher, a tragic hero must fit in 5 characteristics to be classified as one. They are flaw of error or judgement, a reversal of fortune brought due to the hero’s error in judgement, the discovery that the reversal was because of his own actions, excessive pride, and the characters fate must be greater than deserved. Okonkwo, the protagonist in the novel Things Fall Apart, is a man who is blinded by the thought of not being feminine or anything like his father, letting that destroy himself slowly. I think that Okonkwo fits into each category a different way which means that he should qualify as a tragic hero. Hamartia and and hubris are Greek terms describing how the hero …show more content…
In the novel, all of the clansmen gathered for a funeral for a member. Everyone was celebrating his life by firing their guns up in the air. Then all of the sudden, his gun exploded and pierced the deceased man's’ son and killed him instantly. Okonkwo’s punishment is that he has to sent to exile for seven years until he can return. Killing a clansman is an act against the earth goddess even though the killing was involuntary. He and his family had to leave everything behind including his land, belongings, and crops. His obi was burned by the other clan members simply because it was part of the punishment.
Throughout Things Fall Apart, we read that Okonkwo did not have an easy childhood. His father, Unoka, was not a hard worker and failed to maintain a wealthy family and land. When Okonkwo grew up, he was not given a barn, animals, or a big plot of land unlike most people his age. This is why he has such a driven attitude. Okonkwo takes no blame for his rough childhood and puts the blame entirely on his

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Heroes have existed all throughout history, whether in real life or in a novel. On the spectrum of heroes, they can range from epic heroes such as Odysseus and Hercules, who overcome many obstacles and succeed in the end of their stories, to tragic heroes such as Oedipus and Hamlet, who are brought down by a conflict or by their own weakness. Harry Potter could be defined as a hero, for he had faced many, many obstacles throughout his life and spent it fighting against an opposing force. In the end, he sacrificed himself but still succeeded and changed the lives of others for the better. Now, replace “Harry Potter” with “Okonkwo”. Does that still apply to the scenario in the same way? In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo plays the role…

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What is a tragic hero? According to Aristotle " he is a character who is noble in nature, has a tragic flaw and discovers his fate by his own actions". Okonkwo is a tragic hero in Achebe's "Things Fall Apart". Is Okonkwo an Aristotelian tragic hero? By Aristotle’s definition Okonkwo meets all the criteria and although written thousands of years apart and in different cultural settings Okonkwo is comparatively similar to Oedipus in Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King”.…

    • 163 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The failure of Okonkwo’s father turned into hate in Okonkwo’s heart and that hatred lead…

    • 3186 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Is Okonkwo Selfish

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages

    After reading the novel, Things Fall Apart, you would probably wonder why Okonkwo is such a ruthless person? What drives the character? Iyanla Vanzant once said, “ parents are teachers, guides, leaders, protectors, and providers for their children.” We all know that parents greatly affect their children’s behavior. This is also true of Okonkwo, the way he acts is truly affected by his father. Okonkwo’s characteristic is totally opposite from those of his father, Unoka.…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Okonkwo, the main character in Things Fall Apart, is a hard headed man. He is very custom to his tribe's way of life. He believes a woman's place is in the house, cleaning cooking and taking care of the children. Okonkwo's father was not an acceptable man in Igbo society. His father was in extreme debt and was not a very structured man.…

    • 63 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Okonkwo suffers the consequences of his actions being motivated by fear throughout Things Fall Apart. He damages his relationship with his family, and his actions lead to his eventual death. Okonkwo and his son Nwoye could never relate to each other. Both had totally different outlooks. Okonkwo was always trying to appear manly and trying to get Nwoye to appear the same way. These things were not really…

    • 726 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was extremely lazy and sickly, while Okonkwo was constantly active and seen with respect throughout the tribe. Unoka had one wife and no title, which showed his lowly importance in the tribe. Unoka was weak and couldn’t support his family, which causes Okonkwo to start working at a young age, so he could take care his family. “Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat.” Okonkwo lived in constant fear of failure. Okonkwo didn’t like showing emotions, unless it was anger. He ruled his household with a heavy hand and with constant threats to his many wives. “His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children.…

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In most stories there is a distinct hero. One person that stands above all else, and really shows the human struggle. It is safe to asume that the main character in the hero in most stories. Howerver in the book Things Fall Apart the main character Okonkwo does not show heroistic atributes. At times during the book, he even could be classified as the antagonist. Okwonkwo was not a hero.…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children,' (quoted on page 10). This quote explains directly how strictly he ruled his household and his family. He was a man who would lose his temper over small things, even if it was not a legitimate reason such as the dead banana tree incident in the following quote (page 28), ‘As…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Okonkwo is a man who was possessed by his extreme fear of weakness and failure. We see that very clearly here. In the novel, after the men were released, Okonkwo wanted the clan to fight back, and gain their rights. Hence, he proceeded to kill the head messenger to prove to them that they should fight back. However, the missionaries were allowed to run away and he would bear the consequences. But since Okonkwo previously knew about the "men in Abame" and "the hanging incident", he could have chose suicide as an option over public humiliation. Since he was so afraid of failure and of seen as being weak or vulnerable, there was a high possibility that he would not want to face a public death and be subjected to the White man's tortures. Thus, the only way of an escape was for him to take his own life. This resulted in his suicide in the…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    English

    • 1799 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In “Things fall apart” by Chinua Achebe. The main character Okonkwo is portrayed as a tragic hero. A tragic hero is a central or main character who is usually of high noble birth and demonstrates a “fatal flaw”. A fatal flaw is a characteristic that prompts him or her to take an action or make a decision that ultimately leads to his downfall or death. Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero has four parts in order to be in order to determine if okonkwo is one he has to set examples to show that he is one. As of chapter twenty, part 3 okonkwo does seem like a tragic hero.…

    • 1799 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Norman Mailer Quotes

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages

    He was masculine, hardworking, reputable, and wealthy. He didn't want to be like his father, a failure. Okonkwo believed his father was a failure because the man was very lazy, disgraceful, and poor. Over the years in his village it was said by the elders, “...if a child washed his hands...and so he ate with the kings.” This quote indirectly characterizes Okonkwo, displaying how he knew what he had to do if he wanted to be a great hero, furthermore developing his character as a young man. Towards the end of the novel one can imagine Okonkwo as a tragic hero because, like other tragic heroes, he has one major flaw. His main flaw develops from his fear of being like father, whom he dispised. He as well can't display his emotions because he doesn't want to look weak or sissyish, and when he does show any emotion, it is an uncontrollable rage. As a result of his flaws, Okonkwo has suffered countless tragedies, which ultimately leads to his ironic death. Okonkwo's tragedy was due to many things that happened in Umuofia, but the main reason was the arrival of the white missionaries, “Does the white man understand our custom about land?” (chpt. 20). Okonkwo says this, due to his…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A firm belief in his way of life forced Okonkwo into his success at the beginning of Things Fall Apart. As it is noted in chapters one to three, Okonkwo’s birth had left him much to be desired. “Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had (Achebe 16).” Indeed, with a father like Unoka, a “lazy and improvident” man, it is hard to imagine how Okonkwo left his circumstances when his father was one that “was poor” and left “his (Unoka’s) wife and children had barely enough to eat” (Achebe 04 & Achebe 05). Yet these experiences forced Okonkwo toughen up early in life. Okonkwo’s “whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13). After considering how Okonkwo’s spent his entire childhood under the shameful shadow of his father, it makes sense that “even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala” (Achebe 13).…

    • 831 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Okonkwo's Story

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Okonkwo's story is similar to the western tragedy and the tragic hero because in the…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes an error of judgement or has a fatal flaw that brings on a tragedy. Okonkwo is somewhat a tragic hero because at the beginning of the book Okonkwo had a great title, and was looked up to by the people. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements.” (online 1) Toward the end of the book Okonkwo had a downfall, which made him a tragic hero. He had to leave and move to his motherland. Once he moved he wasn’t looked up to by people or had any titles. His downfall was that he had to start over, with his farm, and his house in Mbanta. He had to flee his land because his gun had accidentally exploded and killed a clansman. “The…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays