Okonkwo

In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, whilst being the protagonist, Okonkwo’s failure to become a hero in the story and let alone his tragic flaw, classifies him as a tragic hero. However, Achebe claims that he does not have much to do with the hero’s downfall. This is because the character is based on an Igbo Proverb “The thought that led a man to truncate his own existence was not conceived in a day." So the overall meaning behind this was that Okonkwo’s downfall was that it was determined by himself; by his views of the Igbo culture and his father’s shadow that slowly overcomes him had influenced his actions throughout the novel but making Okonkwo a tragic hero was a must.

As we all know at this stage, What Achebe was trying to achieve in this novel was portraying the Igbo people, culture and traditions in order to fully express his views of the culture in a creative yet authentic manner. In the story, Okonkwo (as the protagonist) went through lots of trouble in his life such as the death of his “son” Ikemefuna, his exile from Umofia that prolonged his title holding and most significantly the coming of the missionaries. This is the most significant factor for the readers of things falling apart and for Okonkwo, because in relation to other African countries at the time, colonization was a massive problem too and as a result, the audience can then connect with the story and become engaged because as a writer, that is your goal.  However by making Okonkwo ( the protagonist) the tragic hero, the effect on the reader is developed as the reader follows how things fall a part and how it again would hook the reader’s attention.

More importantly, Achebe does this in order to portray the effects of colonization on individuals like Okonkwo. Although it is right to say that Okonkwo was already facing problems himself and the coming of the missionaries only sparked the tip of the wire in order to trigger the fire inside Okonkwo. As a whole, making Okonkwo’s death a tragic hero’s death would draw connections between the effects of colonization and the effects on readers.