Okonkwo was a very short-tempered and he himself couldn’t control it instead he then later justified it to himself for instance, he beat his wife to a pulp during the week of peace that lead to great shame and a lot of taunts however all of them eventually stopped with time. Determination is one of Okonkwo's most outstanding characteristics. Because of his undying obsession to be unlike his father, Okonkwo is determined to be exactly what is father is not. Since childhood, Okonkwo has been ashamed of his father, because according to the clansmen Okonkwo's father did not meet the standards that the men of that time should have met. Unoka, Okonkwo's father, never had a real job/title. He didn't become a warrior because he hated the sight of blood, which according to their society made him a coward. He often borrowed money from the clan, and hardly repaid them the loan. However, he was not a complete waste of a person, he was talented in music and conversation, and was also thought to be a gentle person. As we see in the novel, Okonkwo was very much the opposite of his father. He had a job/title, he had a large family, he was a warrior, and he never needed to borrow excessive amounts of money from the clan. All of Unoka's Characteristics, even the good ones, Okonkwo didn't want to possess them. It was his ignorance along with his flaw that led him to his ultimate fall. His exile from the village.
In conclusion, Okonkwo was a perfect example of a tragic hero because he under went each stage. He was loved by all, he had a flaw (which was the obsession of not being just like his father), he took a physical journey (he was exiled from the village), and experienced his down fall (religion had changed in the village and he committed suicide).
Tamas
Tamas is one of the most important novels written on the theme of partition. Bhisham Sahni won the Sahitya Akademi Award for this novel in 1975. The novel is a relevant document even today because it not only describes the communal violence that accompanied the partition, but it is an important study of anatomy of communal violence. In the course of the study of the novel Sahni studies the genesis of violence, its impact on the masses, and most importantly its impact on the psyche of secular people. The novel gains even more importance as it is based on the actual events that took place in North Western Frontier Province, the then home of the novelist.
Nathu is who is the protagonist of the book is a hindu, sweeper .Nathu suffers a lot as he feels guilty all the time about the fact that it was he who killed the pig that was thrown in front of the mosque. This was the main event that led to whole riot and all the deaths of all the people and within himself Nathu always felt guilty and often blamed himself for the riot. He gets absolutely devastated as due the dead pig killed by him the riots start leading to the deaths of many Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs equally. Along with that Nathu has been potrayed as a common man who does not understand the needs and clever minds of the political leaders such as Murad Ali, for instance in the book Nathu kills a pig for the money given to him by Murad Ali anxd Murad Ali places the same pig on the stairs of a mosque and therefore leading to communal riots in order to stop the congress from making any progress in their mission of bringing together different people from various religions .
The old man and the sea by Earnest Hemingway:
The old man and the sea is a highly emotional and touching novel. It tells the story of an old fisherman and his fight with the various circumstances.
Santiago suffers terribly throughout The Old Man and the Sea. In the opening pages of the book, he has gone eighty-four days without catching a fish and has become the laughingstock of his small village. He then endures a long and grueling struggle with the marlin only to see his trophy catch destroyed by sharks. Yet, the destruction enables the old man to undergo a remarkable transformation, and he wrests triumph and renewed life from his seeming defeat. After all, Santiago is an old man whose physical existence is almost over, but the reader is assured that Santiago will persist through Manolin, who, like a disciple, awaits the old man’s teachings and will make use of those lessons long after his teacher has died. Thus, Santiago manages, perhaps, the most miraculous feat of all: he finds a way to prolong his life after death.
Santiago’s commitment to sailing out farther than any fisherman has before, to where the big fish promise to be, testifies to the depth of his pride. Yet, it also shows his determination to change his luck. Later, after the sharks have destroyed his prize marlin, Santiago chastises himself for his hubris (exaggerated pride), claiming that it has ruined both the marlin and himself. True as this might be, it is only half the picture, for Santiago’s pride also enables him to achieve his most true and complete self. Furthermore, it helps him earn the deeper respect of the village fishermen and secures him the prized companionship of the boy—he knows that he will never have to endure such an epic struggle again.
Santiago’s pride is what enables him to endure, and it is perhaps endurance that matters most in Hemingway’s conception of the world—a world in which death and destruction, as part of the natural order of things, are unavoidable.