Okonkwo is the protagonist of Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe

Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe popularly known as Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic...

's 1958 novel Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apartis a 1958 English language novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first African...

. A rash warrior who acts upon impulse, he is the first in a series of tragic heroes appearing in the novels of Chinua Achebe.
Okonkwo, the son of the effeminate and lazy Unoka, strives to make his way in a world that seems to value manliness

Masculinity

Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...

. In doing so, he rejects everything for which he believes his father stood. Unoka was idle, poor, profligate, cowardly, gentle, and interested in music and conversation.