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Okonkwo: The Tragic Hero. By Cherie Law, Allison Bitney, Anthony Warren, & Conall Quinn. Okonkwo: Model Clansmen?. Okonkwo is a model clansmen from based on his success. However, he is more alienated from his culture based on his lack of respect for it.
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Okonkwo: The Tragic Hero By Cherie Law, Allison Bitney, Anthony Warren, & Conall Quinn
Okonkwo: Model Clansmen? • Okonkwo is a model clansmen from based on his success. However, he is more alienated from his culture based on his lack of respect for it. • Okonkwo beats his wife during the Week of Peace. (Pg. 29- 31). • Kills a clansman and feel his situation is unfair doubting his culture. (Pg. 124-125). • Violence is the answer, whereas peace is the solution for the tribe. (Pg. 199). • Okonkwo commits grave sin by committing suicide. (Pg. 207).
Okonkwo • Okonkwo is respected by the tribe because he won wrestling match against the cat. (Pg. 4). • He went from failure to success with his yams. (Pg. 24 & 26). • His chi agreed with him. (Pg. 27).
Okonkwo/Nwoye • Okonkwo and Nwoye have a sour relationship. • Okonkwo sees Nwoye as weak and lazy, just like his grandfather. (Pg. 13). • The relationship deteriorates after Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna. (Pg. 61). • Okonkwo disowns him for converting to Christianity. (Pg. 172). • Other examples: Pg 152.
Okonkwo/Ikemefuna • Okonkwo and Ikemefuna’s relationship is good. • Okonkwo loved him like his own son however kills him out of fear of being weak. • Examples: Pg. 28
Okonkwo/Unoka • The relationship between Okonkwo and Unoka is hate. • Okonkwo hated his father because he was lazy and a debtor. • He hates what his father loves. (Pg. 13). • Examples: Pg. 4, 5, 13.
Okonkwo/Ezinma • The relationship between Okonkwo and Ezinma is happy relationship. • Okonkwo secretly wishes she was a boy. (Pg. 67). • She has the work ethic of a boy. • He shows care for her. (Pg.112 & 172) • Attitude resembles her father, anger. (Pg. 173). • Okonkwo’s character teaches us that he shows no signs of emotions for the ones he loves, but greatly expresses hatred towards the one he does not like.
Public vs. Private • Okonkwo has a public and private self. • Publicly, he wants to be seen as this great clansman who has the absence of fear. • Privately, he had emotions deep within him that he did not want nobody to see, especially himself because to him he seems weak. • Example: We can see Okonkwo’s feelings for Ezinma privately. He secretly wishes she was a boy. Pg. 173 & 174.
Okonkwo Hubris Status: Achievement Tragic Flaw: Fear of failure Character: Savage-like Death: Suicide Achilles Hubris Tragic Flaw: Ankle Character: Savage-like Death: Shot in the ankle Okonkwo and other Literary Tragic Hero
Characteristics of a Tragic Hero • High Status ~Birth ~Achievement • Tragic Flaw • Death or Destruction
Okonkwo • Okonkwo is a tragic hero because he is of high status. He earned it through achievement by the success of his yams. • Okonkwo has a tragic flaw which is fear of failure. • Okonkwo’s death is by his own hands.
Okonkwo • Okonkwo’s tragic flaw leads to his death because he fears failure. • He sees a sign of weakness as a downfall which the idea comes from his father. • Example: “Whenever the thought of his father’s weakness and failure troubled him he expelled it by thinking about his own strength and success.” Pg. 66. • He is so afraid of failure that he brings his own death upon himself.
Conclusion • Okonkwo is a tragic hero through the eyes of the clansmen. • However, the District Commissioner and other colonists see him as a person with no status.
