Why does Achebe choose a tragic hero for his protagonist in his colonial counter narrative?

I believe Achebe choose to cast his protagonist as a tragic hero, as his undoing mirrored that of the culture and society he had fought so hard to protect. The tale of Africa’s colonial past was not a happy one. Over night a way of life that had grown and been nurtured over the course of a millennia was seemingly uprooted. Customs and traditions once held dear were deemed as primitive and barbaric by foreigners who set to impose their will over a people they had no right to. Men of old and renown were likened to as beasts, in an effort to justify the actions of their oppressors and their ill treatment. Working with subject material so grim, it should come as no surprise that Achebe’s protagonist bears the scars of his people’s conflict.  More specifically, in casting Okonkwo as the manifesatiom and symbol of these notions, Achebe’s adds an increased sense of truth and solemnity to the proceedings. What happened to his people was real and hurtful and in having his protagonist actively undergo these wrongdoings, Achebe places the reader up and close and personal, with all that the Igbo underwent. Nonetheless it is important to note the balance that Achebe strikes in relaying his story. As to not degrade his narrative into hopeless spiel, Achebe actively reflects upon the good and positive aspects of his homeland, in light of all that transpires. I believe that were Achebe’s protagonist to have met a “happy” end he would have not done justice to the message he set out to convey, that of the injustices committed against the Igbo people, their misconception in society and the far-reaching impact such actions bore on their existence and culture. Finally in choosing a tragic hero for his protagonist, Achebe recognized and called out the flaws evident in his society and that he believed resulted in its investable downfall. Okonkwo’s end was the product of his own doing and though external factors played a part in influencing his final outcome, his demise was the culmination of all his prior actions and deeds throughout the novel.