"But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness...It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father." (Achebe, 13)
Hamartia: Okonkwo accidentally shoots a clansmen - a serious crime in Umuofia
"Okonkwo's gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy's heart...Violent deaths were frequent, but nothing like this had ever happened." (124)
"The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan...They set fire to his houses, demolished his red walls, killed his animals, and destroyed his barn." (124)
Peripeteia: Okonkwo and his family are exiled to Onkonwo's motherland
Anagnorisis: Okonkwo realizes that after 7 years of exile his people are permanently changed and he has failed them; Okonkwo kills a Christian messenger
"Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war...They had broken into tumult instead of action. He discerned fright in that tumult." (205)
Nemesis: Okonkwo kills himself. He believes he has become a failure like his father
"Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo's body was dangling, and they stopped dead." (207)
Catharsis: Okonkwo's peers are in grief and the audience feels pity for him because though he always aimed to be the strongest and manliest war-like man, in the end, his fear of weakness and failure was stronger
"That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog..." (208)