TFA Characters

Who and what?

Okonkwo

Main character; proud, aggressive, traditional, values strength and masculinity; fears weakness and failure like his father’s; tragic flaw = fear of being seen as weak

Unoka

Okonkwo’s father; lazy, poor, gentle, indebted, fond of music; represents weakness Okonkwo despises; motivates Okonkwo’s obsession with success

Nwoye

Okonkwo’s eldest son; sensitive, thoughtful, struggles with father’s harshness; converts to Christianity → betrayal in Okonkwo’s eyes

Ekwefi

Okonkwo’s second wife; bold, resilient, left first husband for Okonkwo; close bond with daughter Ezinma

Ezinma

Okonkwo’s favorite child; only surviving child of Ekwefi; intelligent, perceptive; Okonkwo wishes she were a boy

Ikemefuna

Boy from another village given as peace settlement; lives with Okonkwo’s family for 3 years; bonds with Nwoye; killed by clan (Okonkwo delivers fatal blow to avoid seeming weak)

Ojugo

Okonkwo’s youngest wife; beaten during the Week of Peace (she left her hut without preparing his afternoon meal) → leads to conflict

Obiageli

Daughter of Okonkwo and first wife; not as prominent as Ezinma but shows family dynamic

Obierika

Okonkwo’s best friend; thoughtful, cautious, questions tradition; contrasts Okonkwo’s rigidity

Ezeudu

Oldest man in the village; warns Okonkwo not to kill Ikemefuna; his death leads to Okonkwo’s accidental crime and exile

Chielo

Priestess of Agbala; close to Ekwefi and Ezinma; spiritual authority in the clan

Nwakibie

Wealthy man who helps Okonkwo start his farm by giving him yam seeds early in his life

Mr. Brown

First missionary; respectful, tries to understand Igbo culture

Reverend Smith

Successor to Brown; harsh, inflexible, worsens conflict

District Commisoner

British official; represents colonial authority; writes book titled The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger