This novel relates us the story of a man from the Igbo tribe named Okonkwo. Since he was young,
he likes to show he is strongest and bravest man of the tribe. So, that he has to rule his household with a heavy hand. He wants ‘Umuofia’, the tribe where he lives in, to look at him as a leader.
But his father, who has died, was totally different. Unoka, Okonkwo’s father, was known as the laziest man of the ‘Umuofia’. He never participated in festivals and did not like war. He was a debtor and never worked on harvesting as all men of the tribe do. One day he was visited by a man from who he has owed money. When the man asked Unoka for his money, Unoka point at a wall of his house and said: ‘look at that wall... Look at those lines of chalk. Each group there represents a debt to someone… I shall pay you, but not today. The elders say that the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them. I shall pay my big debts first’.
For that reason, Okonkwo wants to gain fame and titles over the nine villages. And what he does to gain that fame is: fighting in the festivals, working in his farm, treating hard to his family and the weaker men of the village.
But the main point of the book is to show, through Okonkwo’s life, the customs and values of the Igbo tribe. In this book, we can found a description of the Igbo religion, age groups, social and political structures, marriage customs, and many other things we found in the Igbo society if we read the book carefully, as it is the example of ‘Male Chauvinism’.