Achebe, Chinua
Monarch Notes
01-01-1963
Things Fall Apart: Part One

Chapter One

Things Fall Apart opens with a description of Okonkwo, the protagonist,
which depicts his character, his history, and his physical attributes.

Protagonist comes from the Greek meaning "first combatant." The term is
applied to the central, principal leading character of a literary work and
should be distinguished from Hero, which involves heroic (noble, courageous)
action and, according to Aristotle, sufficient status to make his fall
noticeable and important to society as a whole. (Aristotle was a
fourth-century B.C. Greek philosopher and critic who defined the nature of
classical tragic drama.) In this case, ...