Okonkwo Character Analysis

Although Things Fall Apart conveys its main protagonist Okonkwo as a self-made, well-repected member of the Umuofia tribe, Chinue Achebe creates this character in a far more complex way. Okonkwo plays a great role in developing main themes and concepts throughout the story. In a classical sense, Okonkwo can be seen as a tragic hero."A tragic hero holds a position of power and prestige, chooses his course of action, possesses a tragic flaw, and  gains awareness of the circumstances that lead to his fall. Firstly, Okonkwo has a tragic flaw- his natural balance of manliness, recognition, anger and violence brings him to his own destruction. Throughout the novel it is seen that Okonkwo mainly values these traits and has a strong fear of weakness and failure. Okonkwo is always gruff and usually is unable to express his feelings- throughout the story we see that he holds in most of the actual emotions he felt because he wants to be recognized as a powerful and masculine figure. His emotions are indeed quite complex though- his manly values come in conflict with his unmanly emotions, such as his fondness for Ikemfuna and Ezinma. The narrator privileges us with information that Okonkwo to support this tragic flaw- fro example, a truly worried father beneath the seemingly different exterior while he follows Ekwefi in the forest in the pursuit of Ezinma. With that being said, Okwonkwo never really comes to a realization that his downfall may be a result of his wrongdoings or his tragic flaw. It is believed that Achebe chose Okonkwo as a tragic hero to reflect on the in tire Igbo Culture. Okonwo can be symbolic of the entire society and can explain how their downfall was due to their own doings. While being colonized is not necessarily something that is a consequences of Igbo actions, their inability to resist the oppression and fight back about their personal culture and belief lead them to lose their history and background. Other than showing different aspects of the Igbo culture through Okonwo, Achebe has also been successful in advancing several themes throughout the story. Firstly, there is an underlying theme that is shown through the plot of the story; fate vs. free will. Although Okonko works to reach his first priority of being the exact polar opposite of his father, he faces many obstacles that lead him to die at the same worth of his father. Again, if Okwonkwo represents the entire Igbo society, then colonization and destruction of the culture was an inevitable act. While they may have attempted to calmly drive the Europeans out, the eventual takeover of their land is something that could not have been stopped. 

From this we could see that there is an obvious conflict of fate vs. free will and it is shown that fate overpowers free will at the end of the story. Secondly, the theme of culture vs. personality is something that comes up with Okonkwo and other characters such as Obreika. While cultural beliefs are often forced upon every person in the Igbo society, there are instances where each character must question whether the actions are justified or not. many characters, including Okwonkwo, were attempting to reach and equilibrium between their cultural and personal beliefs.