Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna because he doesn’t want to appear weak in front of his fellow clansmen. Ogbuefi Ezeudu, a village elder, informs Okonkwo that the Oracle has decreed that Ikemefuna must be killed but that Okonkwo should not be the one to kill him, since Ikemefuna regards Okonkwo as a father.

Okonkwo’s suicide is an unspeakable act that strips him of all honor and denies him the right to an honorable burial. Okonkwo dies an outcast, banished from the very society he fought to protect. The novel’s second tragedy occurs on the broader level of history.

Summary: Chapter 8 Okonkwo sinks into a depression. He feels weak, and he cannot sleep or eat. When Ezinma brings him his evening meal three days later, she tells him that he must finish everything.

Summary: Chapter 19 Okonkwo’s seven years of exile in Mbanta are drawing to an end. Before he returns to Umuofia, he provides a large feast for his mother’s kinsmen. He is grateful to them but secretly regrets the missed opportunity to have further increased his status and influence among his own clan.

Ikemefuna cries for Okonkwo, running towards him, and Okonkwo strikes the killing blow, afraid that other will find him weak. Ikemefuna’s fate is finally carried out in this passage, and he’s killed by none other than Okonkwo, who deals the killing blow because he’s afraid of seeming feminine and weak.

Ikemefuna. A boy given to Okonkwo by a neighboring village. He develops an especially close relationship with Nwoye, Okonkwo’s oldest son, who looks up to him.

His tribal leaders greatly respect Okonkwo in his efforts to provide for his family. In Okonkwo’s tribe, it is a respectable trait to work hard and produce many barns filled with yams. Okonkwo is also a great warrior. He has many human skulls to prove his bravery.

Okonkwo built his fortune alone as a sharecropper because Unoka was never able to have a successful harvest. When he visited the Oracle, Unoka was told that he failed because of his laziness.

Okonkwo’s pride grows from his upbringing and is portrayed by his actions throughout the novel. In the novel, Okonkwo is portrayed as a strong, prideful, and arrogant man. HIs emotions are always extreme, and his pride and arrogance lead him to make questionable decisions.

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Why is it important? He came to see Unoka to get his money back, but Unoka laughs, and shows how he’s in-debt with him.

Because of his high rank in the village, he’s given the responsibility of caring for a young boy the Umuofia have received from another tribe as a peace offering. The boy, Ikemefuna, lives with Okonkwo, his wives and children for three years. Okonkwo secretly becomes fond of the boy, and Ikemefuna calls him father.

How does Unoka react when Okoye asks him to repay the two hundred cowries owed to him? laughs, then cries, then shows wall of all debts and says he pays highest one first.

Bad fortune followed Unoka, even to his death. He died of swelling in his stomach and limbs — an affliction not acceptable to Ani, the earth goddess. He therefore could not be buried properly, so he was taken to the Evil Forest to rot, making Okonkwo even more ashamed of his father.