Okonkwo, Tragic Heroes and Storytelling

Blog Prompts:

-Why does Achebe use a tragic hero for his protagonist in his colonial counter narrative?

-How does Achebe use Okonkwo to develop specific things in TFA?

In Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, the protagonist Okonkwo is a tragic hero. With his choice of a main character, Achebe deviates from the traditional aim of the colonial counter narrative (which is to write against the colonizers), and instead fulfills his aim of making us understand and identify with this culture. 

The classic trope of the tragic hero is one that was (and still is) very common in literature, with a host of European examples including Antigone, Oedipus, Hamlet etc. Most western audiences already know the basic story of a tragic hero, and I believe this is one of the reasons why Achebe 'chose' this role for Okonkwo. By structuring the novel in a way that 'fit' the minds of consumers of western media, Achebe established a stronger connection with them. This is because the general "scaffolding" is the same - except a different culture has been applied. In this sense it balances the 'culture-shock' that the audience might experience with a predictable (to a certain extent) plot line, making them more receptive to the novel. This may even have been instrumental in making Things Fall Apart stand out as a colonial counter narrative. 

Another question that crops up when considering Okonkwo's role as a tragic hero is whether that placement really was Achebe's choice to make. The author has been quoted saying "When you're an African the world is upside down". In his observation that the world is not the same for people of his culture, the role as the tragic hero may have been the only one available to a protagonist in this context.  This is especially significant when considering the view that Okonkwo is symbolic of his Igbo culture. Just like the cultures, belief systems and methods of government of many tribes were destroyed by the colonizers, so will any African character whose life tells a counter colonial narrative have to be characterized by the ending of a tragic hero. 

For example, we know that Obierika is known to challenge the belief systems of his own faith (Chapter 13, last passage), albeit only internally. If one character consciously questions Igbo society, how can we be sure that others are not doing the same? After all, Obierika still respects the customs of their society, so outwardly things seem fine - as is the case with most of the other tribe members. This doubt of Igbo customs can be translated into peripeteia - an error in judgment on behalf of the clan. While the individual flaws and reversal of fortunes may be different, the concluding fate of all tribe members was the same - being resigned to submission by the colonizing forces. 

It seems that almost any character within this context (of colonization) could fit into the tragic hero mold - especially when the focus is telling the story of the subaltern people. Supporting this were the contradictory Igbo values of the individual and the community, which provided the perfect grounds for their culture to falter (since it wasn't well defined). The tragic hero seems to become almost default to telling this story truthfully. 

Okonkwo's role as a mirror to the fate of his culture was one of the major themes he was used to develop. His internal struggle also develops a 'real' character, and an identification within any audiences with Okonkwo. His struggles do not outwardly seem like things we will identify with (e.g. following the advice of an Oracle), but the umbrella of 'individual vs. society' under which they occur allow us to relate. I personally believe this is the most significant thing Okonkwo was used to develop - a genuine desire to hear someone else's story. Even someone not from our culture or time period. Achebe devotes half the book to doing this, and it could be argued that even without the arrival of the colonizers, Okonkwo's narrative alone would still have made a fascinating read.