A tragic hero, is a hero that is brought down by their own fatal flaw like Hercules or in this case Okonkwo.In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart we get to see how Africans lived before the modern world through the eyes of a villager named Okonkwo. Although Okonkwo achieves goals that are important to him, he can be considered a tragic hero because there are inner and outside forces that contribute to his downfall.
Okonkwo is a tragic hero because he worked hard to achieve the goals that were important to him, he had to make his own choices and has a tragic flaw. Okonkwo was ruled by 1 passion, to hate everything his father loved (13). Okonkwo’s fatal flaw according to the quote is that is so afraid of becoming his father that he hates everything that is like him and strives to become the complete opposite. During planting season okonkwo worked on his farm from cock-crow till the chickens went to roost (13). This quote shows how hard okonkwo worked for his fame and money. His fame rested on his solid personal achievements (3). In that quote it can be said that okonkwo works tirelessly towards his goals.
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“He mourned for the clan which he saw falling apart (183). That quote shows how his clan, the most important thing to him is falling apart and is taking parts of okonkwo with it.when unoka died he had taken no title at all, and was heavily in debt (8). This quote shows how terrible okonkwo's childhood was, and it lets us know what made okonkwo so scared to be like his father. We should have killed the white man if only you had listened to me (195). From that quote we can see that no one listens to okonkwo anymore and this is effecting okonkwo and most definitely contributes to his downfall at the end of the book because he loses hope and kills