Things Fall Apart

The fundamental element of Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" is that of struggle. The main character Okonkwo is at odds with himself, the world, and his future throughout the story. Over the course of the book, Okonkwo overcomes obstacles arising from the conflicts of man vs. self, man vs. society, and man vs. destiny, through which he gains inherent morals and life lessons that make the story as a whole a sort of personal growth, by depicting the personal growth of its main character. “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe follows the classic model of a tragedy and can be compared to several works, particularly works from antiquity such as Oedipus the King and stories from Shakespeare such as Macbeth and Hamlet. One of the reasons why this is a tragedy and can be related to so many other tragic works is because the main character, Okonkwo, fits the classic example of a tragic hero. A tragic hero is, by short definition, someone who falls because of a tragic flaw and not necessarily because he is a “bad” or evil person. For this essay, do a character analysis of Okonkwo and map the ways he is a tragic character. For help with this essay, you might want to look back to other works or find ways Okonkwo has good intentions but because of his flaws (pride, anger, etc) cannot see a positive resolution to his troubles. For more assistance with this topic, check out this article on the tragic nature of Okonkwo compared to another tragic character from literature, Oedipus.