Chinua Achebe is known as the father of African literature. His first novel, "Things Fall Apart" is an interesting story full of tragedy, set in Umuofia, Nigeria in the 19th century. Achebe sought to correct European writers who misrepresented Africans and life in Nigeria. According to Nnoromele (2000), the Igbo clan is a self-sufficient, complex and vigorous group of African peoples. Achebe wrote “Things Fall Apart” to accurately portray the conflict between Nigeria's white colonial government and the culture of the native Igbo people. “Things Fall Apart” is the perfect title for this novel. As the reader takes the journey through this interesting, yet tragic story, it becomes clear how and why things fell apart. Achebe effectively framed his story around the rise and fall of a tragic hero named Okonkwo. According to Dictionary.com (2011), a tragic hero is defined as “a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, results in a tragedy.” At the beginning, Okonkwo is a powerful and highly respected inhabitant of Umuofia. «But his whole life was dominated by fear, by the fear of failure and weakness» (13). This fear is the tragic flaw that threatens Okonkwo's power and position among clansmen and the Igbo people. Eventually his life falls apart. Achebe's story is also centered on the cultural traditions of the village of Umuofia. Umuofia's confrontation and struggle with Western colonialism are effectively portrayed in the story. “The white man had indeed brought a crazy religion, but he had also built a commercial store, and for the first time palm oil and kernel became things of great price, and much money flowed… middle of paper….. .. father, and succeeded in destroying his relationship with his son Nwoye.Works CitedAchebe, C. (1959) Things fall apart, (1st ed.) Anchor Books, New York, NYHoegberg, D. (1999). Principle and practice: the logic of cultural violence in Achebe's things collapses. University Literature 26(1), 69-78. Kirszner, L. G., & Mandel, S. R. (2010). Compact Literature: Read, React, Write (7th edition) Wadsworth Cengage Learning.Larson, C.R. (1998) Okonkwo in his time. World & I, 13(3), 298.Nnoromele, PC (2000). A hero's situation in Achebe's things falls apart. CollegeLiterature, 27(2), 146-155. Saltau, M. (2003). Inflexibility destroys the tribe; text conversation about resources. The Age(Melbourne, Austrialia), 7.Tragic hero. (n.d.). (2011). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tragic hero