Second Essay: Achebes Tragedies Gabriel Savage

HIS 112
Dr. Klenbort

Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease are two novels written by Chinua Achebe about

tragedy and its consequences. Things Fall Apart, the first novel in Achebes African Trilogy,

was one of the first novels to gain vast critical acclaim internationally that was written in a native

African language. This came to show that even through the translation there were similarities

between the African cultures and Western cultures like Europeans. Tragedy is as old as the

Greeks. The Oedipus Trilogy being one of the most famous of these Greek tragedies, these

templates were carried on by writers like William Shakespeare and later Arthur Miller. Chinua

Achebe bridges the cultural divide between African and Western cultures in his tragedies Things

Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease through his focus on fatal flaws, clever similes, and study of

masculinity.

First, fatal flaws are staples of the tragedy genre. There would not be Oedipus Rex nor

Hamlet were it not for this aspect. Fatal flaws, also known as tragic flaws, are those qualities of

the main character that are the reasons why he or she falls from grace. A classic example of this

is hubris in Greek tragedies. Achilles in The Iliad is marked with such a trait and it is ultimately

the death of him. There is a reason in the story as to why he dies, but the moral of the story

points to a different means. The same is also true in Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo suffers from

overconfidence and hubris similarly to Achilles. He is so afraid to act like a girl that he fails to

show any emotion except anger. Ruling his household with a heavy hand gets him into more

trouble than he can rectify and ultimately leads to his demise.

Additionally, Chinua Achebe uses similes in both novels to express irony and tragedy. A

comparison as humorous as Okonkwos third strike being an accidentally fatal gunshot fired
during a funeral being likened to a feminine kill as is the custom in the Ibo tribe is a great tool

Achebe uses to his merit. These clever similes are also used in European writings. Shakespeare

uses a multitude of these in soliloquies in Hamlet, one of his many tragedies. The main character,

Hamlet, says my fate cries out, and makes each petty artery in this body as hardy as the Nemean

lion's nerve likening his purposeful craziness in the Kingdom of Denmark to extremely

passionate attitude. These literary devices are just another way Achebe stacks up to the writers of

the Western world.

Finally, Achebe writes on masculinity in a profound way that nearly mirrors such works

as Death of a Salesman and The Great Gatsby. These works of American literature, like many

others, examine the elusiveness of the American dream through showing how young bulls die off

and are crippled by a system that was always against them. This set-up is in some regards similar

to that of Okonkwo and Obi Okonkwo who have such sturdy ideals and moral codes about their

lives, but tragically fall because of their oversights and underestimations. Both Ibo men refuse to

act like women because it is frowned upon in their societies. Even worse is that they deny any

hint of a feminine act because they are so ashamed of who their father was. Getting so caught up

in who their father was and what he accomplished or did not accomplish predisposed them for

failure to begin with. That is truly tragic.

Men often wander not knowing what is coming their way next. Okonkwo surely did not

or maybe he would have stopped his arrogant, ignorant, and headstrong behavior before it was

too late. Obi Okonkwo might have shuttered his eyes a few more times before taking part in

corruption that was the very reason his area of Nigeria is so poor, desolate, and needy for

education. These experiences are stories meant to be didactic to Achebes audience exactly like
stories of Western cultures are to their audiences. That is the beautiful quality of stories they

unite human experience.