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Mattison Pierce
4/21/16
Deviant Heroes

People often see the terms hero and protagonist as almost interchangeable. In Western

culture, they frequently are. We follow the protagonist on their journey to defeat an evil force.

As a hero, they have minimal flaws and are able to overcome their obstacles even against all

odds. One fact many readers tend to overlook, however, is that not all protagonists fit this type of

heroic role. One of these deviant protagonists can be seen in the novel Things Fall Apart. But

though he may not fit the hero trope, readers still adhere to his values and root for him. Why is it

that observers very clearly see Okonkwo’s flaws and still sympathize with him? The answers can

be seen in the construction of his story, how it revolves around the characters, and what

Okonkwo represents.

Readers tend to focus on and support the Okonkwo. This is understandable, since his is

the point of view we follow throughout the story. But even if the character is deeply flawed, like

the protagonist of Things Fall Apart Okonkwo, one is still able to relate or at least feel sympathy

for the character. It may just be because we are conditioned to like the character whose

perspective we follow. Or sometimes we are persuaded to think the character is acting for a

noble cause. But this novel almost goes out of its way to show the reader that Okonkwo is not a

traditional hero. He is not altruistic or peaceful, and he is rarely kind. In fact, he tends to see

kindness as weakness, as is shown when he criticizes his sons Nwoye and Ikemefuna in their

work despite his awareness of their limitations (Achebe 21). He frequently beats the members of

his family, and on one occasion he even attempts to murder one of his wives (25). And above all,

he is ambitious, and he lets this trait determine the flow of his and his family’s lives. So, why is
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the reader still drawn to Okonkwo in spite of these flaws? Many stories condition the reader to

identify with the protagonist, especially after a strange or ominous force appears in the story (the

force in this situation being the European settlers). Though a clear enemy to the protagonist’s

way of life does not come into view until part two of the novel, that is when it is clearest that the

reader identifies with Okonkwo. By this time, people have learned to respect the Umuofian

culture and are offended by the attempts being made to suppress it. The protagonist fights against

this change, and we finally see that Okonkwo does not only represent himself but also the part of

his culture that is under attack. And Okonkwo’s eventual death represents the death of the old

Umuofia. Perhaps without their knowledge, the readers’ thoughts have become aligned with

Okonkwo’s, fighting to preserve an endangered way of life.

This kind of bonding might remind one of Stockholm Syndrome, a state of mind that is

cultivated between captor and captive in which the captive identifies with or even defends their

captor. In this novel, the reader is forced to see things through Okonkwo’s perspective from the

very beginning. They see Okonkwo’s father as lazy and a failure (6). Why? Because that is how

Okonkwo sees him. The same can be said for his son Nwoye. But the main reason the reader is

able to so deeply connect with this protagonist is because of the language the author uses.

Okonkwo’s motives are explained. His entire life, he is motivated out of fear of failure and

ending up like his father (10). His anger is made to be understood by the author telling the reader

the frustrations of Okonkwo’s early life, and his pride is justified by the revelation that it is the

result of Okonkwo having built himself up from nothing. The protagonist’s flaws are fully

explained through the stories of Okonkwo and his family, and the captive reader cannot choose

to ignore them no matter how brutal or unforgiving they might perceive him. Understanding is

forced upon them, and so an understanding of the culture, the way of life, and the world views
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are embedded in the readers’ brains, making it impossible to see such a complex network as

anything other than a sophisticated civilization.

There are many important characters in the novel. Okonkwo may be the protagonist, but

there are many stories that cradle and complement his own. The story of his father Unoka

explains Okonkwo’s hard and unforgiving disposition. There are the stories of his wife Ekwefi,

and the stories of his children, in which they are their own protagonists. The story jumps from

Okonkwo’s story to theirs, offering new views and ideas to the main story while still staying

within the protagonist’s perspective. But they ultimately circle back to a situation in his life.

These stories within the story are used to explain or justify Okonkwo’s motives and actions.

So, why is Okonkwo the hero of this novel? Traditionally, at least in Western culture,

there are several other characters that would fit the description of hero better than the main

protagonist. There is Ikemefuna, who is good-natured, gentle, and hardworking, and he has the

potential to be a great man without the anger of his adoptive father. But he is killed by Okonkwo,

cutting his story short; an action that is perhaps not forgotten by the reader, but becomes almost a

footnote of Okonkwo’s life. There is also Okonkwo’s daughter Ezinma, who has all of her

father’s good qualities with few of his flaws. She has the potential to become an influential

leader. This is acknowledged by Okonkwo, but Ezinma is a woman who, because of this fact,

cannot gain titles or hold a direct position of power. Even her father says several times that “She

should have been a boy.” (39). These characters could much more gently convey the beauty of

their culture and the tragedy of losing it when English colonization began. The reason Okonkwo

is the hero is because of his flaws. His stubbornness and unwillingness to change makes him

completely unable to adapt to the new, foreign culture that was being forced upon his people.

Whereas the village of Umuofia and Okonkwo’s family roll with the punches, learning to adjust
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to their new way of life, Okonkwo refuses to move an inch. Instead of accepting Christianity,

and the missionaries, and the soldiers, he pushes back. The other, gentler characters lack one

quality of a hero that is most important: to push back against what one finds unacceptable. This

trait might not be considered noble in some situations, but when combined with the protagonist,

that is what defines a character as a hero.

Okonkwo is a tragic hero. He would have been better off being born a generation earlier

where he could have lived out his life in an unchanging clan, gaining titles and making a name

for himself. But getting this and achieving what he wanted would not have made him a hero. In

order for him to become a hero, without having the good-natured qualities of a traditional one, he

had to become a martyr. One thing that also persuades one to side with Okonkwo is the

realization that he is an underdog. He is an individual, living with the knowledge his son Nwoye

has gone against his wishes and joined what he sees as an enemy, without the support of his

family or clan, going up against the force of an empire. We know from history that he cannot

hope to win against this force. It is just not how events played out, but despite this knowledge,

we still want him to succeed in preserving his lifestyle for himself and for his people. He hanged

himself out of sorrow for his lost ambition, culture, and purpose. He represented the anguish of

his people and the part of his culture that would not change. The pivotal event that defines

Okonkwo as a hero revolves around one very specific point in time combined with one split

second decision: the situation that brought the messenger to Umuofia and Okonkwo’s decision to

kill him. Because of this we see Okonkwo in a new light. He is no longer just an angry, brutal

man. He is someone who fights against oppressors. He is someone who took a stand when

no one else would. He is the tragic character who has lost his purpose and sees death as his only

way to preserve his proud, indomitable sense of self.

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Okonkwo does not achieve victory. But he was never meant to do so. Chinua Achebe

wrote this to emphasize that there were heroes among the old African cultures and that this is

what happened to them. They were forgotten, and their bravery never reached the ears of people

who would have fought for the preservation of their cultures. He wrote it to teach readers that his

people were not victims who needed to be saved or savages that needed to be civilized, but that

they were a proud, complex people. And in the end, Okonkwo would not even let his enemy roll

over him. He took his own life before they could. Okonkwo is a hero in that he stood against an

unstoppable force and refused to move.

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Work Cited

Achebe, Chinua, and Abiola Irele. Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism. New

York: W.W. Norton, 2009. Print.