The definition of hero is a man admired for his achievements and qualities, especially one displaying great courage. The presence of a hero has been around in nearly every novel of some nature. Throughout the book, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe presents many aspects of how the tragic hero, Okonkwo, portrays the author's own characterization of a tragic hero. Okonkwo is a tragic hero in the typical sense: although he is a superior character, his tragic flaw, the equation of manliness with rashness, anger, violence, and arrogance brings about his own destruction.

Okonkwo, the main protagonist of the novel, expresses many stereotypical personality traits of a hero. The narrator states, "At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all of the land."(27). In the village Umuofia, where he lived as well as the other tribal villages, this title was held with great esteem...