"Every Hero Becomes a Bore At Last."

In my original essay, I believed that Okonkwo was indeed a hero, but now I no longer think this way.  Before, I thought that Okonkwo displayed a lot of determination and strength in his pursuit for success, but towards the end of the novel, he seems to give up.  The conclusion of the novel, where Okonkwo commits suicide, shows that he stopped believing that his village could fight against the missionaries.  He lost all hope, as well as his self-respect, and committed one of the greatest offenses of the Ibo culture; to kill oneself.  In my opinion, heroes aren’t ones to give up easily; they stick to what they believe in and don’t stop until they achieve. 

He also used to be very strong, mentally and physically, as he worked hard to build up his farm.  However, his mental strength began to decrease significantly after he chose to take part in killing Ikemefuna.  Okonkwo suffered very much after that event, and “was so weak that his legs could hardly carry him”, showing that his physical strength was affected also (61).  Since heroes should be fairly stable and able to control themselves, Okonkwo can no longer be considered a hero, since he has lost this control. 

If looked at from other points of view, Okonkwo can however be seen as your classical tragic hero.  He possesses a flaw of not wanting himself or his children to be like Unoka, his father, and he lets this want control his life.  He is not aware of how much he lets this affect him, or responsible for hating his father so much, but he is responsible for his outrageous actions throughout the story.  The way that he treats Nwoye and his complete hatred towards the missionaries are derived from his loyalty to the Ibo culture, but also essentially lead to his death. 

The idea of post-colonialism also comes into consideration.  With the presence of the missionaries, many of the members of his village change their views towards the Ibo culture, and consequently, their views towards what defines a successful man.  With the development of the Christian school, their expectations may have changed in favour of someone more educated or civil.  This results in Okonkwo being less respected among his community, which explains his village’s less than ecstatic response to Okonkwo’s frightening action of killing one of the messengers.  This change in expectations is what led to our main character’s, and the Ibo culture’s, downfall.  Just like the quote in my title, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the village becomes “bored” of Okonkwo because new heroes and new expectations come around.  As the Ibo people are affected by the European culture and grow out of their traditions, they grow out of what were once their heroes, leaving them hopeless. 

In conclusion, Okonkwo is a tragic hero in a sense, but counteracts any chance of the reader feeling sympathy for him because of his actions; his behaviour throughout the story shows that he is not a true hero at all.