Every tragic hero, no matter how glorious and successful, is eliminated by one or more tragic flaws. Aristotle uses the term "hamartia" in Poetics, his book about dramatic theory, to describe this fault. But there are cases where foreign factors can have enormous impact. Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Chinua Achebe about an African Igbo village before and after European colonization. Okonkwo, the tragic hero, is destroyed by both external and internal elements. Throughout the story, he is slowly degraded mentally as more and more components come into play. Regardless of the few rays of hope, the end of Okonkwo is inevitable. Okonkwo's destruction is caused by factors such as his lack of self-control, intolerance due to colonialism, and his overflowing pride.
Due to his lack of self-control, fueled by anger and violence, Okonkwo cannot keep his composure in stressful situations that require a balanced thought process. Anger clouds his common sense, pride prevents rational actions, and his violent nature makes it easy to take the rash way out. There are many situations in the novel where Okonkwo shows his shortage of self-control. When Okonkwo's household is introduced, one of the very first things that Achebe writes is, "Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children" (13). The first major instance is when Okonkwo beats Ojiugo, the youngest wife, during the Week of Peace because she goes to braid her hair at a friend's house instead of cooking the afternoon meal. It states, "He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo's return. And when she returned, he beat her very heavily. In his anger, he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace" (Achebe 293). This is an accurate example of his common sense being blinded by his anger and lack of composure. His actions would slowly begin to outweigh his accomplishments and fame. Okonkwo automatically resorts to violence in situations that need compassion, composure, and tolerance, such as when "Nwoye overheard [that Ikemefuna was to be taken home the next day] and burst into tears, whereupon his father beat him heavily" (57). These actions slowly degrade Okonkwo's mental thought process throughout the novel as he falls deeper into the abyss of irrationality.
Out of all the villagers, Okonkwo, the man that despised bonds or feelings, was chosen to take care of Ikemefuna. Talk about bad luck. In the long run, growing to love Ikemefuna and then killing him ultimately pushes Okonkwo towards the long fall that eventually results in destruction. Okonkwo actually became fond of Ikemefuna: as it shown in the quotes, "Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy---inwardly of course.".. . "But there was no doubt that he liked the boy" (28). This is one of the few instances in the entire book where Achebe shows the reader that Okonkwo is actually capable of having feelings that are clos...
