Okonkwo Rough Draft

Things Fall Apart Essay Rough Draft

In his book, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achabe presents the main character, Okonkwo, to us as a tragic hero. We watch Okonkwo progress through the book, and observe as his tragic flaw leads to his ultimate downfall. Obierika, Okonkwo’s best friend, always stands by Okonkwo and serves as Okonkwo’s voive of reason as they face the British colonozation. The way Achebe presents these characters to us as the reader help shape the overall theme of the novel: the interpretatuions people have of one another’s cultures can lead to their downfall when they clash. More specifically, the mis-interpretaions the Igbo tribe had of the British led to their downfall then the cultures clashed in Things Fall Apart. Opening

Obierika tells Okonkwo about some of the changes, and he reacts by saying, “‘What is it that has happened to our people? Why have they lost the power to fight?’” (175). Achebe then took the chance to use Obierika as Okonkwo’s Voie of Reason. He describes how the White men have come quietly and then slowly won clansmen to their side, and have caused the clan to fall apart (176). Okonkwo grieves the changes he missed during exile. “He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women” (183). Obierika is not as upset about the British arrival as Okonkwo, but merly helps identify the theme of how the Igbo mis-interpreted the motives of the British missionaries, and allowed them to build a church and start converting Igbo tribesmen to their religion, and tearing apart the tribes. Then the British send a messenger to ask the leaders of Umuofia to stop their meeting against the missionaries, and Okonkwo kills the messenger. This is where he realizes that the rest of the village doesn’t want to fight back against the British. They interpreted the British motive too late, and know that fighting back was useless. Okonkwo realizes their thoughts, and not wanting to face the consequences, he commits suicide. Obierika is very sad when Okonkwo kills himself. He says to the British, “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog…” (208). Achebe has completed Okonkwo’s development as a tragic hero, and has told the story of Okonkwo’s reaction to the British arrival. Achebe has used both Okonkwo’s and Obierika’s reactions to the British to display that mis-interpretations of another culture’s motives will lead to downfall when the cultures