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Chinonchewo: A Tragic Hero Of Okonkwo

1059 Words5 Pages

“‘The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart’” (Achebe 176). This quote foreshadows the inevitable Okonkwo, the hot-headed leader rules with an ample iron fist. He believes that violence is always the answer and showing weakness is not an option. He wants to seem like the strongest person in the tribe to erase the negative connotation that his father Unoka left behind as the past leader. The novel’s main character, Okonkwo, is perceived as a tragic hero because of his unconventional leadership practices …show more content…

Okonkwo feels ashamed of him in multiple circumstances in part one of the book, he feels as though Nwoye takes after his grandfather Unoka and displays some “lazy” behavior according to Okonkwo. Nwoye takes most after his mother and portrays “womanly” behavior and shows his compassionate and caring side. For example, before Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna, Nwoye overhears that Ikemefuna must return to his home village Nwoye bursts into tears only to have his father beat him heavily for it. “‘Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears, whereupon his father beat him heavily’” (Achebe, 57). This shows how Nwoye’s relationship with Okonkwo is going to go downhill because of Nwoye. Nwoye converts to Christianity for multiple reasons, one of them being that he finds it as a motive to get back at Okonkwo for the crime of killing Ikemefuna, and because he wants a different way of life. He also wants to convert so he can learn reading and writing and gain a basic education, which of course Okonkwo is not pleased with, he wonders why and how he was able to father a weak and feminine son. “‘How then could he have begotten a son like Nwoye, degenerate and effeminate?’” (Achebe 153). This shows how Okonkwo is embarrassed and ashamed to have Nwoye as a son. Not being able to handle that his son is converting himself and eventually converting his family to Christianity, Okonkwo urges the town of Mbanta to drive out the Christians with force and violence but instead of following that suggestion, the town decides to alienate them from the rest of the of the tribe, much to Okonkwo’s despair he is losing power within the

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Okonkwo constantly struggled to create the same masculine character in Nwoye that he made for himself and constantly found a reflection of his effeminate father, Unoka, in Nwoye. Chapter two describes the relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye in Nwoye’s youth. “Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness... He sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating” (13-14). Okonkwo’s efforts to change Nwoye’s resemblance of Unoka were causing their relationship to be pushed apart because of Okonkwo’s violence and Nwoye’s resistance.

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Nwoye had first started to become scared of his father at a very young age. “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(9).” Okonkwo was a hard man, not cruel, but hard. He tried so hard to be the opposite of his father.

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“...his father, suddenly overcome with fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck. ‘Where have you been?’ he stammered… ‘Answer me,’ roared Okonkwo, ‘before I kill you!’” (Achebe 151). Okonkwo finds out that Nwoye has been spending time with Christians.

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When Okonkwo first returns back from his exile and hears the news of the white man in Umuofia, his anger increases that no one is trying to fight them. Even after his friend Obierika tells him about how the village Abame was destroyed by similar white missionaries Okonkwo simply thinks “Abame people were weak and foolish. Why did they not fight back... We would be cowards to compare ourselves to the men of Abame” (175). Okonkwo 's aggression blinds him to the dangers of rebelling against the white man, that he is willing to risk the destruction of his whole village just to satisfy his ideology of respecting his religion.

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