Okonkwo as Tragic Hero

Why would Achebe, taking into account the cultural context, choose to characterize Okonkwo using the tragic hero archetype?

In the novel Things Fall apart, written by Chinua Achebe, the main protagonist, Okonkwo shows archetypes of tragic hero. Tragic hero is defined as a character with heroic aspects but with a fatal flaw. Okonkwo follows a stereotypical  standards of a tragic hero in the novel. In this particular novel, Okonkwo has the fatal flaw of fear for a change. Also, he has heroic aspects of being rich, respected, and hard working. A tragic hero is often the protagonist in literature of tragedy. Then, why did the author decided to make the protagonist follow the stereotypical guidelines to a tragic hero?

The background of the novel is based upon the aboriginal culture of Nigeria of 1800's. It was a period of time of massive colonization - colonization have begun and started to gain power over the endemic culture. The Westerners had supreme over technology such as vehicles, and armatures, and the Igbo was defeated by them.

Why would the author choose to characterize Okonkwo as a tragic hero? Considering the time set of the novel, Okonkwo seemed to symbolize the resistance, or possibly the indigenous culture of the Nigerians. He alone stood against the Christianity brought by the Westerners, the last one to stand against the foreign invaders.

Eventually, however, the Nigerian traditional culture was taken over and was colonized by the foreign invaders. In other words, the resistance have failed; Okonkwo have failed. So, the ending of the novel where Okonkwo dies, hanging, further symbolizes the failure of defiance against colonization.