The Tragedy of Life
Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe describes to us a tragic story about a "strong man" whose life is run by his own anger and fear of himself. The definition of a tragedy is a drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances. Essentially, Okonkwo and his society compose this novel to be a tragedy.
Okonkwo's life shows how this story is a tragedy. He starts off believing that he will be a rich and famous man, but learns that this cannot be. Okonkwo's life begins to first fall apart when Ikemefuna was killed. Okonkwo had thought of Ikemefuna as one of his own sons, and was deeply saddened when he was killed. The killing of Ikemefuna, which Okonkwo took part in, had an after effect the faith from his family. …
