1. What is the significance of Okonkwo’s character? What does he represent or what is he symbolic of?
2. What is the purpose of Okonkwo’s character within the text?
3. How does Okonkwo’s character contribute to themes or meaning?
In my opinion Okonkwo's character as a tragic hero represents the bad aspects of the Igbo culture. He is stubborn and does not listen to anyone. He thinks that he is always right. Okonkwo not only disrespects women but beats them. He also does not take advice from wiser people than him, resulting in his tragedy. Okonkwo is symbolic because he is conservative to a bad extreme. Not only does the highlight the bad aspect of the Igbo culture but he gives a bad reputation to them as a whole. Due to his credibility in their community as a man who won many titles thanks to his achievements he could represent the Igbo people in that sense, however since the start of his downfall in the novel he no longer is able to represent his people.
Although Okonkwo does bring a bad reputation to the Igbo people, the purpose of his character is to enhance the importance of religion and of fear, men, respect, reputation, tradition and customs within the Igbo culture. These themes are highlighted through Okonkwo and he does this through his persistent acts. Okonkwo purpose is to indirectly represent why being extreme is a disadvantage within a community and not being able to efficiently communicate and sacrifice his ideas in order to come to an agreement where all can be benefited through it.
1. What do contradictions between actions, thoughts, description, and speech say about the character?
2. How does tone influence our perception of the character?
Okonkwo is quite a contradicting character. While he claims to follow the Igbo tradition, religion and culture he breaks many rules which are completely against the Igbo beliefs and essentially the steps to his tragedy in the novel. This reveals that Okonkwo is not a consistent character and it is his impulsive acts and dynamic change which make him into a tragic hero. Furthermore his fear of sharing any similarities with his father make him a sour and hateful man, since he does not display any signs of love or joy.
Okonkwo has a very vigorous and ruthless tone to his speech and that only influences the audience not to sympathize with him. Our perception of the character modifies to a more cynical and less forgiving manner.
3. How does the order in which we learn the history of a character influence us?
4. How does the placement within and relationship with family affect our understanding of a character?
The order in which the audience learns the history of the character is significant because in the very beginning of the novel, the audience perceives Okonkwo as someone who rose from nothing and without any aid. Our perception consists of a strong man who realized that he could be much more what his father ever was. Not only that but someone that could potentially become the greatest member of his community. The beginning builds up our expectation of the character and as the plot develops the audience gets more and more disappointed due to our expectations of Okonkwo being crashed to the ground.
The placement of the relationships between Okonkwo and his family tells the audience that due to his experience with his father as a child he clearly had some psychological disturbance where he is simply incapable of displaying love and being gentle, therefore attributing to the "male" characteristics which are interpreted as brutal, violent and non-forgiving.
5. What significance do names have for other characters and for us?
In the Igbo culture every name has a specific meaning. For example the Egwuwus which are the spirits of the Igbo people. However for us as readers of a culture we do not have previous knowledge of, these names are quite insignificant until the book is read.
Furthermore there are some words which Achebe has managed to create meaning within the Igbo culture and connect it with our understanding of what it means. For example, Okonkwo refers to his father as an Agbala. In their tradition Agbala refers to women, therefore comparing his father to a woman insinuating that he has feminine characteristics and that he is not good enough to be called a man.
Furthermore there are some words which Achebe has managed to create meaning within the Igbo culture and connect it with our understanding of what it means. For example, Okonkwo refers to his father as an Agbala. In their tradition Agbala refers to women, therefore comparing his father to a woman insinuating that he has feminine characteristics and that he is not good enough to be called a man.
