Plot Overview

Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected warrior from the Umuofia clan, part of lower Nigera. His father, Unoka, was very unsuccessful and he fears that he follow in his footsteps. Okonkwo takes in a boy won by the village named Ikemefuna. Ikemefuna becomes close friends with Okonkwo’s son Nwoye, but when the clan tells Okonkwo that the boy must be sacrificed because he has become too close to Okonkwo– Okonkwo murders him, even though he isn’t supposed to be a part of the death.

A respected elderly villager, Ezeudu, dies and at the funeral Okonkwo’s gun explodes and kills Ezeudu’s son. Okonkwo is exiled for 7 years because he killed a fellow clansman. Okonkwo travels with his family to Mbanta where his uncle Uchendu lives. He is warmly welcomed and starts to build a farm and huts for his wives. Missionaries come and try to convert the villagers, Okonkwo resists the change. Okonkwo and his clan, the egwugwu, burn the Christian church to the ground. They are thrown in jail where they suffer physical abuse.

After they are released the clansmen hold a meeting which is interrupted by missionaries – Okonkwo kills a messanger with a machete attempting an uprising, but no one follows him. The District Commissioner arrives at Okonkwo’s compound to find that he has hung himself. The commissioner is writing a book and decides Okonkwo’s rebellion and death will make a good chapter, the book is to be called: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.