Okonkwo’s personality is mostly resulted from his father, Unoka. Okonkwo doesn’t show any kind of love in dealing with his wives and children. This reveals that Okonkwo’s actions are often imprudent which will be the cause of his fall. He is very stern with his children. He is strict with his wives too and never shows his inner emotions. This drives him to break the rules of the Week of Peace by beating his second wife when she doesn’t send him his food. Breaking the rule of the week of Peace is considered a sin against Ani, the goddess of the earth. This is a serious error against the tribe’s laws. At the New Yam Festival, Okonkwo almost shoots his second wife with a gun as he thinks that she has cut down his banana tree when she actually didn’t. When the Oracle of the Hills and Caves orders the death of Ikemefuna. Ogbuefi, the oldest man in the village had asked Okonkwo not to participate in the killing as he called Okonkwo his father, but in order to show his fearlessness, Okonkwo, strikes the final blow even as the boy call him “father”. Again, Okonkwo commits offence against the tribal laws. At the funeral of the leader of the tribe, Ezeudu, Okonkwo fires his gun, it explodes and a fragment of metal kills Ezeudu’s own son. For this fault, Okonkwo is banished for seven years. All of these show Okonkwo’s impulsive nature and volatile temper.
Okonkwo, for all his greatness, has his faults. His major flaw is his pride. His own success makes him impatient of others who are not as successful. For instance, at a meeting of the tribe’s elders, Okonkwo calls another man a woman and says, “This meeting is for man.” This man had no titles, and so Okonkwo felt that he was not worthy enough hence called him woman. His faults is a reason which gradually lea him to his downfall.
Unoka, Okonkwo’s father, is an indebted, weak-willed, improvident and irresponsible man who left Okonkwo no inheritance and achieved no titles in the tribe. He never lifted his hand to till the earth, and had passed his time playing the flute. He made his own son viewed him as a failure and stove to be a different from him as possible. Unoka died in debt and humiliation, the memory of him gives Okonkwo a terrible fear of failure.
Ekwefi, Okonkwo’s second wife, live under Okonkwo’s fierceness. She is the mother of Ezinma. Many children born to her by Okonkwo died at a young age that the tribe decided for her womb was haunted by a kind of evil spirit which keeps dying in order to return to the mother’s womb and repeat the cycle. But finally she has a daughter named Ezinma who lasts for longer than the others, and she falls desperately in love with her in a way she has not allowed herself to do anymore with other dead babies. She can do anything for even if it means defying tradition. For example, Ekwefi even gave Ezinma eggs, which children are rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal. When Chielo carries Ezinma away one night, the priestess of the Oracle, Ekwefi follows all night and waits desperately outside the cave until Ezinma is allowed out. Ekwefi is brave and determined. She shows the great love of mothers and she is the most dramatic of Okonkwo’s wives.
Okonkwo, the protagonist is introduced in the book “Thinks Fall Apart” along with Unoka and Ekwefi. The author highlights his strength as well as his flaws with success indeed.
