Essay: Things Fall Apart

A tragic hero is someone of superior qualities and status, who suffers a reversal of fortune due to major character flaws. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the book follows the main character, Okonkwo, but it includes other important characters such as Unoka, Nwoye, Obierika, and Ikemefuna. Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected warrior of the Umuofia clan, a lower Nigerian tribe that is part of the nine connected villages. He is constantly haunted by the actions of Unoka, his coward father, who died in disrepute, leaving many village debts unsettled. In response, Okonkwo became a clansman, warrior, farmer, and family provider extraordinaire. Throughout his journey, Okonkwo makes several choices which ultimately lead to his death. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, despite Okonkwo’s honorable and respectable social status, Okonkwo’s fear of failure, weakness, and resistance to change bring about his own self-destruction.

 

Okonkwo’s first prominent flaw is his fear of failure, which is greatly influenced by his father, Unoka. Okonkwo fears that he will become a failure, like his father – lazy, unable to support his family, and cowardly. “Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure…And so OKonkwo was ruled by one passion – to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved,” (13). Ashamed of his incapable father, Okonkwo felt that anything that resembled Unoka or anything that his father enjoyed were attributes of failure which causes Okonkwo to work hard, provide for his family materially, be brave, and be masculine in every possible way. As a result, Okonkwo becomes successful in many ways – he becomes very wealthy and holds a high-ranked position in Igbo society. Okonkwo’s fear of failure also causes him to take extreme actions which his father did not value. “…[Okonkwo] was not afraid of war. He was a man of action, a man of war. Unlike his father he could stand the look of war. In Umuofia’s latest war he was the first to bring home a human head,” (10). Fearlessness in war is a highly respected and valued quality in Umuofia. Okonkwo, unlike his father, has no fear of violence, but actually revels in it.

Okonkwo’s most debilitating flaw is his fear of weakness which he takes to an extreme, especially in terms of masculinity or his father. Okonkwo had a deep seated fear of being which brings him to not nurture his children. “[Okonkwo] was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue. But his wives and children were not so strong, and so they suffered. But they dared not to complain openly. Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye was twelve years old but was already causing [Okonkwo] great anxiety for his incipient laziness. At any rate, that was how it looked to [Okonkwo], and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth,” (14). Okonkwo’s loathing for laziness, which carried over from his hatred for his father, causes him to lash out on anyone who seems the tiniest bit idle, including his own son, because Okonkwo considers laziness as a prime weakness. Okonkwo had immense hatred for his father, and though he trying to right by his own son, Okonkwo is instead pushing Nwoye away because of Okonkwo’s abusive ways to correct Nwoye’s laziness. His fear is further exhibited, when Okonkwo assists in the murder of Ikemefuna whom he loved. “…Okonkwo drew his machete and cut [Ikemefuna] down. He was afraid of being thought as weak,” (61). Okonkwo’s fear of failure caused him to kill Ikemefuna, because his reputation in society is more important than the life of the child.

Okonkwo’s final flaw is his resistance to change, which is exhibited when the white missionaries arrive in Umuofia and force external social laws. Okonkwo resists the political and religious orders given by the missionaries because he feels that they are not manly and that he himself will not be manly if he consents to join or tolerate them. “‘…[The missionaries] are pouring filth over us, and Okeke says we should pretend not to see.’ Okonkwo made a sound full of disgust. [The missionaries] were a womanly clan, he thought…In the end it was decided to ostracize the Christians. Okonkwo ground his teeth in disgust,” (158-159). Okonkwo thinks of the missionaries as being feminine, and therefore, is uninviting of the missionaries and influences others in the clan to help him get rid of the missionaries. Furthermore, Okonkwo’s final act of suicide is the ultimate demonstration of things falling apart. After finding the dead body of Okonkwo, Obierika converses with the missionaries, “‘That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself,’” (207-208). His father, Unoka, had been such a failure at living up to traditional Igbo values, that OKonkwo’s entire life focus has been to be someone that his father could not be. This focus has made him totally inflexible because all he can see is a goal he has allowed society to set for him. When that society begins to change, Okonkwo cannot change with it. He grasps on to the old values and his rigidity in life has caused things in his life to fall apart.

Despite his several honorable characteristics and high status in the Igbo society, Okonkwo fails to correct his tragic flaws and eventually suffered a terrible downfall. His fear of failure, weakness, and resistance to change lead him to his own death. He let his own fears to take control of him which ultimately ends his life in a tragedy. His death at the end of the novel concludes the life of a tragic hero.