1. What is the significance of Okonkwo’s character? What does he represent or what is he symbolic of?
Okonkwo's character, as the protagonist of the riveting piece of literature, is significant in the primary essence that the plot of the novel revolves around the character and develops accordingly, as well. Okonkwo, depicted as an extreme product of the Igbo world, illuminates an exemplary archetype of a tragic hero as his incipient success and recognition is eventually tainted and demolished by his self-destructive hamartia: the unwillingness to accept change in societal conventions and adapt to the life entailed by the European infiltration into Igboland. Nevertheless, Okonkwo stands out in stark contrast to the remainder of his clan as he is not portrayed as the ideal Igbo man, but instead an extremity in his very own world. His hyper-masculinity and excessive hubris are not characteristics so intrinsic to the Igbo clan that they trump all other values and dominate one's character. However for Okonkwo this seems to be a given as his actions repeatedly seem to be centred around not deviating from his central ideals of masculinity and pride.
Moreover, Okonkwo's character is symbolic of the paragon of a flawed fanatic in a world that is undergoing revolution; it symbolizes the downfall of inflexibility in a dynamic realm undergoing transformation that demands just the same. In fact, Okonkwo seems to personify a conflict within the novel as his internal beliefs and personal thoughts contradict his mannerisms and hence provoke the reader to discern the drift in whom Okonkwo truly is and what he symbolizes as a protagonist in the novel.
2. What is the purpose of Okonkwo’s character within the text?
As the central figure of the text, Okonkwo's character indubitably serves the purpose of propelling the progression of the novel. The events that materialize in the novel are all centred around Okonkwo and develop the audience's perception of Okonkwo in conjunction with the Igbo culture and customs. At the onset of the novel, and perhaps for the large part, the audience may be under the illusion that Okonkwo exemplified the ideal Igbo man. Nevertheless, as the novel's scope widens, the audience gets a gist of how Okonkwo perhaps was symbolic of anything but the ideal Igbo man. Okonkwo and his intrinsic flaws coalesced in a grave display of misfortune as his ultimate downfall was an incredibly unexpected one and rendered the audience utterly flabbergasted.
The element regarding Okonwko's character that seems even more perplexing would be the contradicting nature that laces his actions in contrast to his internal thoughts. We can take for instance, Okonkwo's worrisome pursuit of Ekwefi as his daughter Ezinma was being carried away into the darkness, or perhaps his agonizingly anguished state once he had killed Ikemefuna. The sentiments and gist of humanity reflected in these contradictions of Okonkwo's character moulds him to be a relatively complex character that is entrapped in and subjugated by his own fatal flaws.
3. How does Okonkwo’s character contribute to themes or meaning?
Okonkwo's character plays a critical role in moulding the audience's perception of Igboland as the only glimpse that the audience has into the enigmatic realm is from the perspective of events encountered by or significant to Okonkwo. At the same time, his character is a great contributing factor to the theme of duality that manifests in the novel and is the driving force on the central conflict of the plot. The duality in this sense is connotative of the ability of members of the Igbo clan to succumb to the European essentializing of Umuofia, whilst Okonkwo on the contrary seemed to be rigidly bent on holding on to the fabric of the traditional Igbo era, which accents how his inflexibility ultimately brought up about the denouement of "Things Fall Apart" as Okonkwo's ruination parallels the demise of authentic Igbo lives in Lower Niger in the 19th century as European colonization had taken the country by storm.
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