Things Fall Apart: Tragic Hero

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a book about the protagonist, Okonkwo, who is highly acclaimed by his tribe for his accomplishments. Even though his father was shamed across his tribe, he had manage to resurrect his family name. This book was meant to be a reataliation of other books written by white men who try to comment on his society. The book shows that there was a community and structure based on tradition and beliefs that the outsiders could not understand. The main character, Okonkwo, goes through some unfortunate hardships that he doesn’t realize where caused by his own actions until later in the book. Why would Achebe use the tragic hero archetype for Okonkwo? The first reason that would come to mind is to help normalize what the “outsiders” would think about the people. This would help stabilize the view of these cultures rather than exaggerating and misconstruing their society. In more detail, the situation in where Okonkwo climbs and falls in the rankings. He built himself up from the rubble of his father’s legacy (or the lack there of) and then he fell off. People in many society’s outside of the one in the book can relate to this situation. Of course he does include the cultural context (e.g. The locusts ruining their land yet they see it as a fortune, beating his wife during the peace week).  Achebe wants to show how, even though they are originated from different ideals and beliefs, that their system’s structure is organized and somewhat similar to the “outsiders”, more specifically the white Europeans. This similarity could help them stabilize and limit the exaggeration of barbaricness that could be the basis of why the Europeans colonize.