Okonkwo: A Tragic Hero

Why would Achebe, taking into account the cultural context, choose to characterize Okonkwo using the tragic hero archetype?

Many African cultures including the Igbo, have faith in the principle that life prolongs from ancestral grounds and chains through the current community to the yet unborn; this insinuates the strong belief in communal rituals of life with their descendants. Thus African literature revolves around the destruction of these traditional, cultural, and economic systems through external forces, in which is disputed by the protagonist who adheres to the old traditions despite the benefits of the new modification. Consequently, this leads to their overthrow and the birth of a "tragic hero": a virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe exhibits a tragic hero by the name of Okonkwo. Okonkwo withheld a high position within Umuofia due to his outstanding victory against Amalinze the cat at 18 years old. Suitably, he was idolized and equally classified as a hero. Then over the gradual years, he gained the trust of the Igbo people and became relied on in times of troubles. Therefore the occurrence accidental shooting, in which lead to his exile, spoiled his name within Umuofia and all his accomplishments that he built, block by block; this was the start of his downfall. As quoted by Achebe: "His life had been ruled by a great passion to become one of the lords of the clan…Then everything had been broken. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto the dry, sandy beach, panting". This reversal of events is traceable to Okonkwo's character traits and personal flaws that include fear of failure and femininity, rooted by his shame towards his father. Furthermore, since Okonkwo witnessed the conversion of the Igbo people to Christianity during return to his motherland, after British colonization, this lead to his sanity and his eventual death. 

Achebe strategically implements the tragic hero archetype to characterize Okonkwo, a community-oriented hero, who is strongly attached to the ancient Igbo ways. But as a result of the hero's strict adherence to Igbo traditions and religion, personal and moral flaws, and the external forces of the British, some reversible actions lead to the construction of the tragedies and Okonkwo's downfall in Things Fall Apart. This however deeply rooted emotions within the novel that as a result taught the readers about the Nigerian colonization of the British and its effect on the members of the community.