Okwonko Character Analysis

The main character in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart Okwonko, is a complex character that was created in order to further enforce the themes in the novel. He is portrayed as a tragic character with his major flaw being his inability to accept change and weakness. This was a result of his father's failure and lack of strength and success in their community. He did not want to follow this path and instead was fully directed to becoming strong and accepted within his town. This flaw ultimately led to his downfall, which can be identified as his act of suicide at the end of the story. After returning from his motherland, Okwonko attempted to regain the power that he had before leaving. Since he was not able to achieve this, he could not live and thereby killed himself. This further proves the idea of Okwonko not being able to accept any change or failure. 

Overall, this character was created in order to make sure that the novel was realistic and relatable to the reader. Had the main character been without flaw, the audience would not be able to relate with him. If he had been a fully bad character, the audience may not sympathize with him at his downfall. Therefore, it was important to strike a balance between a perfectly good character and a fully bad one. This would allow the audience to better appreciate the Igbo culture and to relate to them, which is the aim of the novel. By creating this relatable character, and having him represent the community, Achebe will allow us as readers to understand and appreciate this culture that we may not have full knowledge of.