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Okonkwo The Hero In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

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Okonkwo The Hero In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
Okonkwo the Hero: A Nonexistent Character Heroes have existed all throughout history, whether in real life or in a novel. On the spectrum of heroes, they can range from epic heroes such as Odysseus and Hercules, who overcome many obstacles and succeed in the end of their stories, to tragic heroes such as Oedipus and Hamlet, who are brought down by a conflict or by their own weakness. Harry Potter could be defined as a hero, for he had faced many, many obstacles throughout his life and spent it fighting against an opposing force. In the end, he sacrificed himself but still succeeded and changed the lives of others for the better. Now, replace “Harry Potter” with “Okonkwo”. Does that still apply to the scenario in the same way? In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo plays the role …show more content…
One of the main reasons supporting this statement is because Okonkwo was always a coward. Everything he acted on was driven by a fear of appearing weak. What he did not understand was that this mindset automatically makes him weak. A stereotypical hero is brave and overcomes his fears. In the end of the novel, Okonkwo tries to run from his phobia one last time by killing himself and leaving his clan to the colonizing dogs. By doing so, he did not leave a significant impact on his people. Although he attempted to gather them together to fight back against the colonists, he failed and let his anger get the best of him. All he did was intensify the fight by killing the messenger, and killing himself when the white men demanded to see him. Before returning to Umuofia, Okonkwo also did not pay any respects to his people. He tried to keep his friends close but completely disregarded his family in light of his malevolence. Eventually, he killed his own “son” and his own clansman. Did he save anyone in the process? No, he did not; he lost the respect he gained from others towards the beginning of the book, and ultimately gave
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