Heroes, heroes everywhere

The Protagonist of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, is quite the tragic hero.  Aristotle defined a set of characteristics that belong to such characters. They must: come from noble birth, have a tragic flaw that eventually leads to downfall, then there is a reversal of fortune, later his actions result in increased self-awareness and self-knowledge, and the audience must feel pity for the character.

Okonkwo does not come from noble birth; however, he does manage to position himself as a valued member of the Igbo community due to his had working nature, which earns the reader´s sympathy.  His tragic flaw is his pride, fear of failure and of showing weakness.  This flaw leads him to make a series of bad decisions that lead to his downfall. During his seven, which could have been a second chance, his pride eventually takes over again and he ruins it for everyone. Okonkwo believes “Now he (the white man) has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He (the white man) has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart”.

In the old Igbo culture, Okonkwo would have been a hero, since all his action defend their values and traditions, but since the British colonist arrived bringing their own set of values and customs, Okonkwo does not fin in this new scheme. He can´t fit in because he refuses to abandon his own “hero code” (yes, this is a Hemingway reference). Okonkwo could have been great, but his tragic flaw forbids him of ever achieving his true potential and it also prevents him from being happy.

Okonkwo´s Africa was epic, then ruined by colonialism. I believe something of the sort still happens today.

I came across this video (click to open)  and thought how ridiculous some things sound when taken to another context. That is exactly the point of the video. Even though Chile is not a fully developed country, we look at Nigeria with “western eyes”, we want to be the heroes. This leads us to focus on the bad, and we fail to appreciate African culture as such. Of course there are many horrible problems going on in Africa, but that doesn´t mean there aren´t great things too.