Is Okonkwo a tragic hero deserving of our sympathy or a violent Essay Example

consistently acted out of fear and made decisions based on how he would reflect on his reputation (But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness. ).

Nobody could change his mind and way to see the world that surrounded him; for him, any kind of tenderness is a sign of weakness and effeminacy. Male power lies in authority and brute force; a good example was when he killed Ikemefuna. Ikemefuna was a young man who lived in Okonkwo's compound. They both had come to love and care for each other. Ikemefuna called Oknokwo father and Oknokwo thought of him as a son. Umuofia decided to kill Ikemefuna and Oknokwo was warned not to take part in his death. Despite the warning he still took part in his murder. He did it so he wouldn't look weak in front of the other men in the village.

It was clear that he was very unsure about whether or not he should strike him, (He heard Ikemefuna cry, "My father they have killed me"! as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his matchet and cut him down. ) But in the end "He was afraid of being thought weak. " Okonkwo's harshness drives his own son, Nwoye away from the family and into the arms of the new religion the Christian religion (Okonkwo on further thought he told himself that Nwoye was not worth fighting for .

Why, he cried in his heart, should he, Okonkwo, of all people be cursed with such a son? . Perhaps Okonkwo's worst mistake because of his proudness was that of the Christians. During Okonkwo's absence

the Christians built a growing church and a government rising in power in his village Umuofia. Okonkwo hated the new religion and wanted to destroy it. So he decided to take matters into his own hands. During a village meeting in the middle of the marketplace and in front of most villagers he killed the head messenger of the new religion. Okonkwo knew the District Commissioner was going to murder him for killing his messenger, so he hung himself.

Okonkwo hung himself because he was unable to maintain a particular faith, and he takes the easiest way out, the way of the coward. Okonkwo killed himself because he refused to change, he gave up before he had done any good and therefore failed in his quest to save the clan (He wiped his matchet on the sand and went away). In my opinion Okonkwo brought himself to his own destruction. Everybody makes mistakes; it's just that some mistakes could lead us to a fatal end, like the ones that Okonkwo made. He was too proud to respect anybody or anything that didn't coincide with his believes; this ultimately destroyed him.