Okonkwo + Willy Loman As depicted in the play Death of a Salesman and the novel Things Fall Apart, their two main characters are similar in how they live tragic lives, and also end their lives. Both story lines are considered to be tragedies by many. Most people believe that tragedies are when a tragic protagonist is either born into or achieves noble status, fails, and then dies, usually due to a flaw in his/her …showed first 75 words of 1931 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1931 total…that they both wanted what was best for their sons in their minds, and not what was truly best for them in general. Okonkwo did go against that and killed his adopted son, but only in fear of being considered weak by his fellow clansmen. Willy wanted Biff to be successful, but mainly because deep inside, he knew that he wasn’t successful, and he wanted his son to have what he never really had.