A Succession of Downfalls

The concept of the tragic hero has permeated literature for thousands of years, and Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart is a perfect example. A tragic hero is marked by a downfall that the protagonist suffers, usually as a result of that character’s flaws. Okonkwo is a tragic hero because he experiences not one, but three downfalls, right in succession.

The first downfall that Okonkwo faces is smaller than the rest, and it does little to affect his life as a whole, but it is still worth noting as part of his tragic hero’s journey. It comes when Okonkwo shoots one of his wives during the Week of Piece. This raises a scandal in his village, and he is punished with a fine of several goods and a large sum of money. Of course, this downfall is a result of a flaw of his: his raging temper. If not for his inability to remain calm when things do not go his way, he would have avoided the whole event, thus avoiding a harbinger for even worse things to come.

The second downfall comes when Okonkwo’s gun misfires at the funeral of a prominent community member. It causes the death of an innocent young man, and Okonkwo is thus exiled from the village for seven years. The punishment is obviously more extreme, in this case, but it is still a downfall and still a result of one of his flaws. This time, that flaw is his antiquated nature. He is obsessed with the great men of his age, always striving to be like the heroes around him when he was mentally and physically in his prime, and thus is clumsy with modern concepts and inventions, like the gun. If he had been more accepting of the changing times, he may have been able to handle the gun competently and avoid killing a fellow citizen.

Finally, the third and final downfall comes when Okonkwo takes his own life. Rather than live with the punishment of killing a white man, or even living under white rule at all, he chooses death, and the loss of his life is the greatest downfall of all. The suicide was caused by multiple factors, including the threat of execution by the new order, but they can all be traced back to one thing: his fear of failure. Mentioned from the beginning of the book, his fear forces him to always be the best, the strongest, the most violent and intimidating. He cannot be seen as weak, he cannot be seen as unsuccessful, and he cannot be seen as succumbing to a new god and a new government. If he had been able to work through this fear, things may have turned out differently.

Of course, there is no telling how the book would have been different if Okonkwo’s flaws disappeared. It may no longer even be a story worth telling. As it is, the story of Okonkwo is very sad, frustrating, and horrible to bear, and it is so because of his status as a tragic hero. He has a great many flaws, and when he falls, these flaws are to blame, every time.