Okonkwo is a protagonist of high social and moral stature in the Igbo tribe. “Okonkwo is well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements” (Achebe, 3). The description of his stature provides the reader with a sense of Okonkwo’s greatness as a main character. Atistole’s definition of a tragic hero agrees that Okonkwo is a protagonist, a hero who overcomes many obstacles. Okonkwo is seen as a brave man by the tribe who “had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of

Aristotle adds to his theory of a tragic hero by observing the reader’s reaction to witnessing the deep suffering of the hero. The reader’s “emotions of pity and fear lead them to experience a feeling of catharsis, or purgation, that leaves them with a new sense of self-awareness and renewal”(371). Okonkwo “knew that Umuofia would not go to war…they had broken into tumult instead of action” (205). He loses faith because of the tribe’s inability to fight back. So as an “abomination” to the tribe, he takes “his own life” (207). The reader realizes the importance of the individual self through Okonkwo’s pain of his hidden emotions, so much so, that he kills himself from the shameless existence of the tribe. The reader is left with a sense of renewal because of the denial Okonkwo has about his self-awareness, and with a feeling of catharsis, by realizing through Okonkwo’s tragic story, that man should look upon his life at death, and have no memories of pain.

“The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brother, and our clan can no longer act as one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (Achebe, 176). Okonkwo is furious to discover that the warlike Igbo people are under the control of the white missionaries. His dignity is lost to white men. When Enoch, a converted Igbo, kills the Umuofia foundation by interrupting an annual worship ceremony of the earth goddess, “Okonkwo drew his machete…descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body” (Achebe, 204). Even after stopping the messenger, the Igbo tribe is too divided to follow Okonkwo’s warlike lead. “…Okonkwo’s body was dangling,” he had hung him self because he was unable to maintain faith, and he takes the easiest way out, the way of a coward. He hung himself

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