In "Things Fall Apart," by Chinua Achebe the protagonist Okonkwo, represents the classical tragic hero who must undergo many sacrifices in order to atone for his sinful actions. Okonkwo fits this title for he has many of the same aspects of a tragic hero. Although there are many characteristics, which define him as a tragic hero, the outcome actually reflects his personae as being more of a sacrificial scapegoat.
             Okonkwo has a very distinct sense of hubris - overbearing pride or presumption - which is conveyed through his "manly actions." These manly actions and his inability to adapt with the coming of the white man is his hamartia, the character flaw which embodies his image of tragic hero that in turn leads to his downfall. As presented by Aristotle, and by Achebe, one of these flaws is Okonkwo's quickness to anger - usually from his family's disobedience. This infatuation with obedience and hard work is a direct ramification of Okonkwo's childhood and his animosity towards his father. Unoka, his father, was lazy, improvident, and could not plan for the future. Thus when his father dies deeply in a drunken debt, and leaves no inheritance for Okonkwo, Okonkwo knows that he must work himself to the fullest to gain a title, a home, a farm, a family, and a presentable name. This character flaw of elitist disciplinary perfection was not Okonkwo's fault, as said by Aristotle, but was progressed by Unoka's shameful past, thus making Okonkwo work his strong labor-driven body to the bone, and demanding the same from his seemingly weaker family - in order to keep his name in high esteem. As a result of his childhood his whole life was dominated by fear, and the direct offshoot of that was fear of himself. This fear culminated into a detrimental passion – "to hate everything his father Unoka had loved." (Ch. 2, Page 9) His fear is what causes him to rule "his household with a heavy hand," and h
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