Okonkwo's Decisions In Things Fall Apart

Although Okonkwo is the protagonist of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe other male characters make important contributions to the story. This character's, Obierika, Nwoye, and Ezeudu, are all connected to Okonkwo of how they all disagree with his decisions when the time of killing Ikemefuna, the sacrifice payment from the other village to Umuofia. All three characters had believed that Okonkwo had a better decision than kill “his” own son. For the past three years, Ikemefuna had been living with Okonkwo's households. Ikemefuna is the part of the payment and sacrificed that one of the village, Mbaino, had to pay Umuofia for killing one of their people. Throughout the three years, Ikemefuna had been considered one of Okonkwo’s son and he "became very fond of the boy"(28). But because he didn't want

Nwoye is considered to be sensitive and thoughtful but that characteristic does not surpass Okonkwo. Okonkwo believes that as Nwoye grows up, he is adapting his own father’s laziness and no ambition in life. Every Time Okonkwo beats Nwoye as a discipline to show him to be tougher, the relationship between the father and son is slowly drifting apart. According to Okonkwo, “Yam stood for manliness”(33), meaning that the yams symbolize the hard working and that he could feed his family. Wanting his son to be a great farmer and a great man but Okonkwo had seen “signs of laziness” in Nwoye. Ikemefuna is one of the only people that Nwoye idolizes the most. But when the time of killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo had killed “his” own son, showing no emotion. Nwoye felt a “vague chill had descended on him”(62) when his father came home. Knowing that Okonkwo had killed Ikemefuna, Nwoye had felt the same feeling when he saw the twin were thrown out in the forest. This act that Okonkwo had committed would be one of the reasons the relationship between father and son would slowly drift