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Okonkwo's Tragic Hero In Things Fall Apart

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A tragic hero, every book has one. In things fall apart Okonkwo was the tragic hero. A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. This person is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural force to doom and destruction or at least to great suffering. Okonkwo was a tragic hero because he had one tragic flaw, his fear of weakness and failure.
In the book Okonkwo was well know throughout the tribe as someone of great stature. In the book Achebe said, “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements,” (pg 1). He is a renowned wrestler, a warrior, and a successful farmer. He has three wives and many children on a large compound. He has a …show more content…

“The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it had to flee from the land,”(pg. 110).I would say this lead to his downfall. If he was there the tribe would not have fallen prey to the “tricks” of the white man. He would not have let them stay to where they could put down roots. When he had come back he was ready to be accepted again but he was enraged that the white man had made a divide in his clan. Then an opportunity can to bring the men down, but the people did not see it his way. So he left and was found hanged. He committed suicide, something that was a disgrace to the gods and the earth.
Okonkwo was a tragic hero. He had many achievements but these things could not save him from his downfall. He was the respected man, who had built his life and shrugged off the shame that his father gave him. He was the great warrior that nothing could bring down. But the white man came and struck fear into the clan. Nobody would try to fight back but Okonkwo, who had killed the messenger and saw that fear of his clansmen. He was shamed and died like his father with a shameful and disgraceful death. He showed in the book that even a great man could fall from the highest point and be disgraced by their own

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