Things Fall Apart Parts I and II

Okonkwo is very cold hearted and vicious. He killed a young man who looked to him as a father, and Okonkwo had even admitted to have liking him. Ikemefuna's death seems to be another hard moment in Okonkwo's life, after he had to make a name for himself by working very hard. When Ezinma gets the fever and the priestess takes her away to the cave, Ekwefi and Okonkwo follow because they are so concerned that the priestess will hurt or possibly kill Enzima because she is believed to be an ogbanje and she is always getting ill. The customs of the clan seem to be very strong within the community. Their system of letting the elders rule seems to be very successful, but their laws seem to be quite cruel. For example, the clan murder's twins and children believed to be ogbanje because they are believed to be evil. Even though the mothers of these poor children are devastated the clan carries on as though it is nothing when in fact they are murdering perfectly healthy babies. The lords of the clan use fear to enforce the laws, claiming that if they do not adhere to the rules the gods will destroy them. When Okonkwo accidentally shoots the boy at the funeral he has to leave for seven years. Okonkwo seems to be a very angry violent man towards everyone even his family sometimes. When Okonkwo is banished for seven years he is devastated because all of his hard work on his farm had been taken away from him and he will have lost seven years that he could have used to earn his way closer to becoming one of the lords of the clan. While he and his family are in Mbaino they hear of the white men that are inhabiting nearby villages and how they savagely murdered one whole clan. The news enrages Okonkwo and he cannot understand why none of the villages are willing to fight the men. When Okonkwo's son Nwoye decides to join a missionary and abandon his clan's faith his father disowns him. Nwoye likes the Christian faith because he disapproves of the practices of his clan.