ALICE SEKYERE OBENG
AUUG09120013
CLASSIFYING OKWONKWO IN “THINGS FALL APART” AND NANAYAA IN “ IN THE CHEST OF A WOMAN” AS TRAGIC HEROE AND HEROIN RESPECTIVELY, WITH REFERENCE TO THE BOOKS.
In every story or novel, there is both a protagonist and antagonist ,the protagonist could either be a tragic hero, a hero, or a heroine among others .In things fall apart which was written by Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian, there is a tragic hero who is okwonkwo, the story weaves itself around him till the end and tells of how he and his people lived without the white man, when he came and after he came and also tells of how Okwonkwo forced to fight change which eventually lead to his death. With “in the chest of a woman” however, Efo Kodjo Mawugbe, a Ghanaian writer who unfortunately passed away recently tells his story in legs instead of acts and scenes which makes it unique, and also woven around Nanayaa who comes off as a strong, bold and daring character comparable to a heroine. In the play, she would stop at nothing to achieve her lifelong dream and selfish ambition of becoming a queen instead of her younger brother, and when that is not possible she resorts to disguising her daughter as a male, so she could be king. This plan backfires as the true identity is revealed at the end.
Although these characteristics classify them both as a tragic hero and heroine, there are also some major characteristics that enforces that fact including that they were both noble persons, or usually of noble birth. Although Okwonkwo wasn’t born of noble birth, he achieved greatness through determination and hard work as seen in chapter 3 where due to his father’s lazy and unsuccessfulness, he didn’t have the start in life which many young men had and had to work for a very wealthy man called Nwakibie for seed yams in order to start his own farm, and despite a very bad year it was, he