The Byronic Hero In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Joel Osteem has once said “ Everyday we have plenty of opportunities to get angry, stressed, or offended. But what you’re doing when you indulge these negative emotions is giving something outside yourself power over your happiness. You can choose to not let little things upset you.” In the article Things Fall Apart, a novel written by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo’s emotions and anger has lead him to his fate. His anger and past has deeply led him to realizing that Okonkwo shouldn’t let his anger corrupts his reactions and actions and through this he seals his fate. Okonkwo’s motivation, interactions, and development as a character all suggest that he is a Byronic hero. Okonkwo has had a lot of stress in the past few years due to Nyowe’s actions and “wrong” doings in which makes him emotionally conflicted. In the article Characteristics of a Byronic Hero it says “Often the Byronic hero is moody by nature or passionate about a particular issue” (“Characteristics”). In Things Fall Apart the author states “Answer me, roared Okonkwo, before I kill you! He seized a heavy stick… and hit him two or three savage blows”(Achebe 132). This quotation from chapter 17
Characteristics of a Byronic Hero says “In one form or another, he rejects the values and moral codes of society and because of this he is often unrepentant by society’s standards” (“Characteristics”). In the novel, the narrator states “Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body” (Achebe 176). This quotation from chapter 24 demonstrates Okonkwo’s defiant attitude towards the Christian’s which leads to the death of Okonkwo and the messenger. This trait is displayed by his motivation of showing his culture, faith, and how he feels when people convince others to join their own religion which leads him to doing bizarre actions. With how defiant Okonkwo is he chooses his fate by his action of