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 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. Tragedy, then, is the consequence of a man's total compulsion to evaluate him self justly." (Miller, Tragedy...). Both Okonkwo and Willy Loman evaluated their lives in both stories. Okonkwo was a very ambitious man whose fear was laziness. He worked very hard in his life and was looked up to by his fellow clansman. "Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to hi...