Main Characters
Okonkwo:
Okonkwo is the main character of Things Fall Apart. He is depicted as a well known, "strong man" in the nine villages of Nigeria. He gained his fame for his accomplishments in wrestling, particularly his defeat of Amalinze the Cat, a great wrestler who had been undefeated until his match with Okonkwo. Onkonkwo is a tall man with a large exterior. He has bushy eyebrows and a wide nose which makes him look quite severe all the time. When angry, Okonkwo stutters. This, added on with his impatience, makes speaking eloquently very difficult for him and instead of taking time to master the art of conversation and valuing words, like the whole of Umuofia, he gets angry and uses his fists instead of his words. Okonkwo has three wives and eight children. With his first wife, he had a son Nwoye. With his third wife he has a daughter, Ezinma, who is thought to be an Ogbanje.
Ikemefuna:
Ikemefuna is the boy brought to Umuofia as a peace offering. He is sent to live with Okonkwo and, after a case of homesickness, sees Okonkwo as a father like figure and acts as an older brother to Nwoye. In the first chapter, the author foreshadows Ikemefuna’s tragic fate by calling him an "ill-fated boy."(Achebe 8). Three years after being brought to Umuofia, the oracle orders the people of Umuofia to sacrifice Ikemefuna.
Ezinma:
Ezinma is the only child of Okonkwo’s third wife, Ekwefi. She is thought to be an Ogbanje, which is an evil child spirit whose sole mission is to hurt the mother by being born over and over and dying each time. She is Okonkwo’s favorite child, despite her being a girl. She is the only child who understands Okonkwo’s mood swings and acts appropriately to them.
Nwoye:
Nwoye is Okonkwo’s son. He is his only son, besides the “adopted” son Ikemefuna, that is mentioned by name. From the beginning, he is described as being somewhat of a disappointment to his father. Okonkwo would nag and beat Nwoye “to correct him,”(Achebe 13) which had him developing into a “sad-faced youth.”(Achebe 14). After Ikemefuna is killed, Nwoye questions his village's customs, especially the custom of leaving twins to die in the forest. These questioning feelings foreshadow that when the Christians come, they will gain converts.
Ekwefi:
Ekwefi is Okonkwo's second wife and the mother of Ezinma. Before she became Okonkwo's wife, she had married a man named Anene because Okonkwo was too poor to marry. She ran away to Okonkwo after two years with Anene. She has born ten children with Okonkwo but only Ezinma survived.
Obierika:
Obierika is Okonkwo’s good friend. He is the only one mentioned in the novel to visit Okonkwo during his seven year exile. Obierika helps Okonkwo out a lot throughout that time by selling Okonkwo’s crops for him. Obierika is also the only person, other than Nwoye, who really questions the Igbo culture. He mentions how his wife had twins that, because of their culture, had to die. Unlike Nwoye, he does not convert to Christianity.
