He feels that the changes are destroying the Igbo culture, changes that require compromise and accommodation - two qualities that Okonkwo finds intolerable. Okonkwo is advised not to participate in the murder of Ikefemuna, but he actually kills Ikefemuna because he is "afraid of being thought weak." When the white man brings Christianity to Umuofia, Okonkwo is opposed to the new ways. Consequently, Okonkwo offends the Igbo people and their traditions as well as the gods of his clan. Okonkwo is impulsive he acts before he thinks.
Okonkwo demands that his family work long hours despite their age or limited physical stamina, and he nags and beats his wives and son, Nwoye, who Okonkwo believes is womanly like his father, Unoka. Instead, he isolates himself by exhibiting anger through violent, stubborn, irrational behavior.
Even though he feels inward affection at times, he never portrays affection toward anyone. However, Okonkwo overcompensates for his father's womanly (weak) ways, of which he is ashamed, because he does not tolerate idleness or gentleness. He is quick to anger, especially when dealing with men who are weak, lazy debtors like his father. Throughout his life, he wages a never ending battle for status his life is dominated by the fear of weakness and failure. He has three wives and many children who live in huts on his compound. Okonkwo is renowned as a wrestler, a fierce warrior, and a successful farmer of yams (a "manly" crop). Achebe describes him as "tall and huge" with "bushy eyebrows and wide nose him a very severe look." When Okonkwo walks, his heels barely touch the ground, like he walks on springs, "as if he going to pounce on somebody." Okonkwo "stammers slightly" and his breathing is heavy. In his thirties, Okonkwo is a leader of the Igbo community of Umuofia. Okonkwo's tragic flaw is his fear of weakness and failure. A tragic hero holds a position of power and prestige, chooses his course of action, possesses a tragic flaw, and gains awareness of circumstances that lead to his fall. The protagonist of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is also considered a tragic hero.