Comparing Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart with Willy Loman.

As depicted in the play Death of a Salesman and the novel Things Fall Apart, their two main characters are similar in how they live tragic lives, and also end their lives. Both story lines are considered to be tragedies by many. Most people believe that tragedies are when a tragic protagonist is either born into or achieves noble status, fails, and then dies, usually due to a flaw in his/her character. Both Willy Loman and Okonkwo kill themselves in the end of the stories due to failure of something they wanted. Arthur Miller’s essay titled “Tragedy and the Common Man” discusses the tragedy genre, and what makes a story, novel, or a play a tragedy. Both Okonkwo’s story and Willy Loman’s story seem to fit under the guidelines of a tragedy, as explained in Arthur Miller’s essay. Three main aspects of what define a tragedy according to the essay are: The tragic character often commits suicide, tries to evaluate him or her self, and has at least one ‘tragic flaw’ to them.

What is a tragedy? Well, according to Arthur Miller’s Essay titled “Tragedy and the Common Man”, a tragedy is when the main character tries to evaluate him or her self. “Sometimes he is one who has been displaced from it, sometimes

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Silk Stockings were very elegant and valuable, so to Willy, it was important that his wife, Linda had them. He had failed to admit his personal failure and his betrayal to his family throughout the play, and he finally admitted to himself at the end, thus killing himself to be happier. This partially led him to his tragic death, because his anger and violence put the spotlight on his bad side, which ended up ruining his life, and he lost control of his village, and couldn’t keep the white missionaries out.

As the missionaries and villagers went to look for Okonkwo, they found him hanging by a tree. But there are among us today, as there always have been, those who act against the scheme of things that degrades them, and in the process of action everything we have accepted out of fear or insensitivity or ignorance is shaken before us and examined, and from this total onslaught by an individual against the seemingly stable cosmos surrounding us--from this total examination of the "unchangeable" environment--comes the terror and the fear that is classically associated with tragedy. He focused on how his brother, Ben was successful, and tried to use that to motivate his son, Biff to become successful. He discerned fright in that tumult. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. The way that the stockings represent his relationships is especially important with his relationship with his wife. The characters shared similarities, as well; such as: the fact that they both wanted what was best for their sons in their minds, and not what was truly best for them in general. Willy, however, wanted his life to be perfect, both for him, and his two sons, Biff and Happy. one who seeks to attain it for the first time, but the fateful wound from which the inevitable events spiral is the wound of indignity, and its dominant force is indignation.

Approximate Word count = 1920
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

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