Things Fall Apart

Tragic Hero or Coward? In Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart Okonkwo is arguably made out to be a “coward” due to the killing of the messenger and to himself. Many reader’s don’t see that Okonkwo is no coward at all, but should be considered a “tragic hero”. In the tribe of Umuofia, Okonkwo is considered to be the “greatest men of his time”(Achebe 8), his characteristics fit the definition of an everyday hero, which is a man of distinguished courage, ability, and thought highly of for his brave deeds and noble qualities. Okonkwo is a well respected man in the tribe and rises to the top very quickly “like a brush-fire in the harmattan”(Achebe 3) and at a young age; he is muscular, vigorous, well respected, and wealthy. Achebe describes him as a man who“had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with the kings and elders”(Achebe 8). But when Okonkwo’s gun explodes and kills Ezeudu’s son, forcing Okonkwo into exile in his mother’s homeland, the reader here begins to see the down fall and start of Okonkwo’s way to changing his role as a well respected man to a “tragic hero”. According to Aristotle, common characteristics of a tragic hero are,“usually of noble birth,Hamartia: the tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall, peripeteia: a reversal of fortune brought about by the hero’s tragic flaw, his actions result in a increase of self-awareness and self-knowledge, and the audience must feel pity and fear for this character.” (Characteristics being being linked to Greek plays such as Oedipus Rex or Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, and various other plays or stories where there is a character in the story that is considered to be a “tragic hero”). Although Okonkwo wasn’t born of a “noble birth” he gains sympathy from the readers early in the book because of his hard work ethic and his determination of not trying to be like his father, who is considered a “failure” in the tribe of Umuofia. Okonkwo’s pride is arguably seen as a flaw which helps Okonkwo in killing

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