An overview of the story:

The central figure in Achebe's tale is a relatively prosperous and well regarded warrior by the name of Okonkwo. He lives in Nigeria in one of the nine related villages that border each other and which constitute the wider world for his tribe. He himself belongs to the Umuofia clan. Umuofia, in Ibo stands for "people of the forest".

Okonkwo is conscious of his good standing in his village and this is in stark contrast with that of his lazy and spendthrift father, Unoka, who borrowed from his neighbours but never settled his debts. In the culture to which he subscribed one became influential by spending some of his wealth on the community and by earning titles. His father had no titles and no money. The son Okonkwo is determined to reverse all of this. He is a determined farmer, a steadfast clansman and a fearless warrior. With many wives and plenty of food in store, Okonkwo looks like making more of his life than the father he so powerfully despised:               

In trying to over compensate for his poor start in life,  Okonkwo became haughty and was very brusque with less successful men. He knew, ‘how to kill a man’s spirit’. On the other hand he was very tough on himself so that in keeping with Ibo belief his little god or chi was with him in what he did simply because he willed that it should be so.

Okonkwo established a great reputation for himself by becoming a champion wrestler. At this time, when Okonkwo was basking in the glow of fame, someone from another village had murdered the wife of Udo, a fellow clansman. Not unexpectedly Okonkwo was chosen by the elders ‘to carry a message of war to their enemies unless they agreed to give up a young man and a virgin to atone for the murder.’ The fearful neighbours quickly submitted to the demands and yielded up a virgin and a boy as Okonkwo demanded.

On his successful return to his village Umuofia, Udo is given the virgin in place of his murdered wife and Okonkwo is requested to keep the boy Ikemefuna. The boy was very popular with everyone in the household and especially with Okonkwo's son, Nwoye. Even Okonkwo ‘himself became very fond of the boy – inwardly of course. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger.’

Anger was something welled up easily in Okonkwo’s breast as when his third wife was late because she had gone to plait her hair. When ‘she returned home he beat her very heavily.  In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace.’ Before dusk the priest Ezeani came to remonstrate with Okonkwo as he had committed an evil that could ‘ruin the whole clan’. Although ‘his enemies and his good fortune had gone to his head’ he submissively offered the atonement that the goddess Ani would require and so Ezeani was satisfied.

All of that was a temporary thing as his temper would flare again and he would resort to violence. Not only did he approve of violence for himself, he advocated it for others too. During the feast of the New Yam he gave his second wife ‘a sound beating’ for cutting off a few leaves from a banana tree to wrap some food. In his view there was no compromise about a man ruling his women and his children with an iron fist. He even implanted in his son Nwoye the notion that ‘it was right to be masculine and to be violent.’

Violence, wherever it is practised, takes on a life of its own. Just when everything seemed to be progressing smoothly and evenly, Okonkwo is informed that the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves had pronounced that Ikemefuna should be killed. This is shattering news. Okonkwo compliantly informs the boy ‘that he was to be taken home the next day’. His son Nwoye bursts into tears. The men of Umuofia escort the boy, and after several hours of walking the ‘man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his matchet’ and struck the boy. Ikemefuna cried out, ‘My father, they have killed me!.’ and ran towards him. ‘Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his matchet and cut him down.’

 When Okonkwo returns home, Nwoye instinctively deduces that his friend is dead. Okonkwo falls into a depression and just when he is about to get over it another tragic event befalls him. His gun accidently explodes and kills Ogbuefi, Ezeudu’s sixteen-year-old son. As the killing of a clansman is a crime against the earth goddess, Okonkwo has to atone for his deed by taking his family into exile for seven years to Mbanta, the village where his mother was born.  As he leaves, his animals are killed by the villagers and his buildings are burnt in order to cleanse the village of his sin.  

During the period of his exile, white men begin coming to Umuofia with the purpose of introducing Christianity. Their missionary endeavours are quite successful and as their penetration grows, they introduce a new administration. The village Okonkwo returns to is very different to the one he had left a short while back. In his usual reactive way, Okonkwo and other tribal leaders try to fight back by destroying a local Christian church that had offended them by insulting their gods and beliefs. The white administration retaliates by taking them prisoners and by humiliating their leaders. As the people of Umuofia prepare for an uprising messengers of the white government try to stop their meeting and  Okonkwo kills one of them. His fellow clansman, however, allow the other messengers to escape and it becomes all too obvious to Okonkwo that the path of revenge he is following is a lost cause.

Okonkwo hangs himself rather than yield himself to the District Commissioner.Unwilling to compromise or face further humiliation, he sacrificed his own life.