How Things Fall Apart

1,694 Words

A tragic hero is considered to be a character, often the protagonist, who is a noble person with a tragic flaw, known as a fatal flaw that eventually leads to his or her demise. The two novels Things Fall Apart and The Village in the Jungle demonstrate corresponding grim finales, where both authors Chinua Achebe and Leonard Woolf do not hesitate in illustrating tragedy to its utmost capacity. In and around Umuofia, the protagonist Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart receives the title of a “roaring flame” owing to his fierce temper, his mighty build, and his bold masculinity. Whilst Okonkwo’s appearance portrays a man that is undeniably feared, it belies everything that Okonkwo himself confines within, up till the point where he virtually defeats himself. On the other hand, in The Village in the Jungle we have Silindu who is recognized as “tikak pisu” (slightly mad) and has the reputation of being the laziest man in Beddagama. Silindu to some extent bends the rules of the classification of a tragic hero, however even he is at the core of misfortune that is attributable to himself. As a whole, multiple observations sanction it reasonable to say that these two narratives are tragedies, but more specifically that they are tragedies due to their respective flawed protagonists.

Already in the introductory pages of both novels we experience the first occurrence of a common flaw among both Okonkwo and Silindu, which is their great disappointment and dissatisfaction of their family. Okonkwo’s father Unoka was a lazy, imprudent and carefree man. He also had a reputation of being “poor and his wife and children had just barely enough to eat. People swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back.” [5] Much to Okonkwo’s embarrassment and discontent, titles and clan traditions did not concern Unoka; he preferred enjoying life, relaxing, drinking with friends, and playing his music. Therefore throughout the novel Okonkwo seeks to become and remain everything his father was not, and takes the fear of becoming a failure like his father to the extreme. Okonkwo’s inconsiderate and severe hostile behaviour towards people is influenced and driven by his fear of developing any resemblance whatsoever to his father, to such an extent that he struggles to repress part of his personality which ends in incredibly bleak results. His personal flaws of the fear of failure and unrestrained pride hinder him from achieving his potential greatness, and undeniably lead to his tragic fall and ultimate disgrace. In a similar way, Silindu is absolutely furious with his wife who gives birth to a set of twin girls in the very early stages of the novel. His final actions towards his wife who in fact dies right after child-birth were to violently kick and curse her. Silindu also does not pay any attention to his two daughters during the first three years of their lives, as a matter of fact he seems to not even be aware of their existence. However everything changes when one day Punchi Menika crawls up to him and becomes an eager listener of his many tales. From then onwards an indescribably close bond forms between Silindu and his two daughters. Consequently however, a long chain of misfortune grips Silindu as a result of various desires from others for Punchi Menika and Hinnihami. In a way it is as if Silindu is punished his whole life for initially dismissing his children, as immoral men’s desires for them continuously threaten to pull them apart with ruthless lies, trickery and false accusations.

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Throughout Things Fall Apart, you are convinced that Okonkwo can endure and survive any hardship or obstacles that he must encounter in the remainder of his life. He had already prevailed over his meagre childhood, the shameful reputation of his imprudent father and one particularly harsh harvest. What is more, he was forced to kill the young boy Ikemefuna that called him father, had continuous anxiety over losing Ezinma after her nearly fatal illness, was forced to go into exile from Umuofia after accidentally killing the young boy, and if that was not enough, having his oldest son abandon his clan and convert to the religion of the white intruders. However, regardless of all these tribulations and ordeals, Okonkwo was able to surmount them by his intense pride and the dignity that he had for Umuofia and its traditional tribal existence. This is what literally keeps Okwonko afloat throughout his life, at least until he finally realises that his cherished way of village life and custom is effectively gone beyond the possibility of restoration. At this point Okonkwo looses it, and his prominent flaw is unleashed: his uncontrollable anger. He eyes the District Commissioner and as he “trembles with hate, unable to utter a word” his temperamental state causes him to neglect all rationality. “And in a flash he drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body.” (179-180) After killing the messenger however, Okonkwo immediately knows that he would be alone in his fight. He knows that Umuofia would not go to war. He knows because they had let all of the other messengers escape. Under no circumstance however would he be a coward, thus he ironically takes his own life which in effect is the most cowardly action possible among his clan. His suicide underlines his loss of all hope and faith because for a man and warrior who knew the traditions better than anyone, it is horrifyingly shocking that he truly goes through with it. He knew that his body would be evil and he knew that his reputation would be ruined; this just highlights the great distance that Okonkwo indeed does fall.

Throughout The Village in the Jungle Silindu demonstrates practically no similarity in character with that of Okonkwo, indeed however he possesses traits that are very parallel to those of Okonkwo’s father who he greatly shunned upon. Silindu’s main and only aims in life were to be able to hunt whenever he pleased, to accumulate enough food to simply survive, and finally to be left at peace with his family. Evil schemes however persistently threaten the lives of Silindu’s family where he too is pushed to his breaking point. He becomes ragingly infuriated and is convinced that he must take action himself, thus he guns down the headman Babehami and Fernando Mahatmaya in order to dispose of all evil. Silindu’s impulsive murders however of the two men do not at all solve any of his problems. Despite of having the two perpetrators permanently out of the picture, Punchi Menika is now completely alone, consoled only by wishful thinking that her husband will return from prison. Silindu is well aware of the consequences that he must face for his spontaneous crimes. This is why he turns himself in, literally giving up and marking an end to his long battle being under the belief that all is now well. However all is most definitely not well and in a very abstract way, Silindu’s immediate surrender parallels Okonkwo’s suicide. Our protagonist once again fails by giving up too quickly and failing in making rational, enduring and thought through decisions.

Both Okonkwo’s and Silindu’s flaws cause them to fail. Ironically however, if you were to literally switch them and put Okonkwo’s character in Beddagama and Silindu’s character instead in Umuofia, arguably they would have been much more successful, compatible and better suited. Okonkwo without a doubt would have been better off in Silindu’s position as he could have achieved everything he ever asked for: respect for being the most successful farmer, a fiery and powerful leader, an unbeatable protector of his family and he would have been able to sustain the indigenous traditional village life. At the same time Silindu would have adapted or assimilated perfectly into Umuofia. Although his drawn back, reserved and relaxed personality would not earn him any titles, he would not even be bothered because he instead would have his treasured peace and quiet. Possibly he would not even mind converting to the white men’s religion, if it would just simply imply that his family and he would be left alone. The probable fact that a character with a differing personality, behaviour and priorities would be more successful in the situations of the protagonists themselves in both novels confirms that it is in fact the flawed protagonist who is the source of tragedy.

Both Okonkwo and Silindu in effect have straightforward goals that they want to achieve for their lives. Okonkwo wants to “wash his hands” of the poor reputation of his father, be a respected clan leader and finally to maintain the ancient way of village life in Umuofia. Conversely Silindu simply desires to be left in peace so that he can live his life with his daughters. The ill-fated fact of the matter is however, that both of these central characters slip further and further away from achieving their aims, caused directly and occasionally also indirectly by their own faults. After Okonkwo’s collapse, it would be interesting to see how he would be remembered by his clan and how the way he died would affect his remaining family. To Okonkwo his own father was a letdown and an impediment to success, ironically however, it is possible that his family would be similarly ashamed of him, his actions and his suicide. Likewise, in The Village in the Jungle we must witness the brutal ending of Punchi Menika’s life, the only remaining inhabitant of Beddagama. Silindu has miserably failed; he despondently sits in a prison cell locked away from his essential environment and struggling desolate daughter. In both Things Fall Apart and The Village in the Jungle, it is evident that the faulty perceptions and actions of the two protagonists do in fact result in stimulating barriers to form between them and their life aspirations.

Bibliography:

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Oxford, Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1958.

Woolf, Leonard. The village in the Jungle. India, Oxford University Press, 1913.