A family tree for Things Fall Apart

Unoka is Okonkwo’s father. He died when Okonkwo was young, in debt and disgrace, and the fear of becoming like him drives everything his son does.^2,3 Okonkwo is a leader of the clan of Umuofia, the village of his father.^3,5

Okonkwo’s mother came from Mbanta. Her village is where he flees in Part Two, and her younger brother Uchendu shelters him there.^5,3 A family tree for Things Fall Apart therefore needs both sides, because the mother’s kin take Okonkwo in when his father’s clan sends him away.

Okonkwo has three wives. His first wife is never named in the novel and is called Nwoye’s mother. She is a generous woman with many children.² Ekwefi is the second wife. She lost most of her children, and Ezinma is the only one who lived past infancy.^2,3 Ojiugo is the third and youngest wife, and Okonkwo beats her during the Week of Peace.²

Nwoye is the eldest son. Okonkwo is harsh with him, and in Part Two Nwoye joins the Christians partly to escape his father and is renamed Isaac.^2,4,5 Ezinma is Okonkwo’s favourite daughter, clever and brave.²

The sources disagree on one line of this family tree for Things Fall Apart. The course page of Northern Arizona University calls Nwoye the son of Ojiugo.⁵ The GradeSaver character list calls Ojiugo the third wife and names Nwoye’s mother as the unnamed first wife, and the chart follows that reading.²

Ikemefuna is a boy from Mbaino, the village where a girl of Umuofia was murdered. Mbaino gives him to Umuofia to prevent a war, and the clan places him in Okonkwo’s household.^5,2,3 He lives there for three years.⁴

When the clan decides that he must die, Ogbuefi Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village, warns Okonkwo to take no part. Okonkwo strikes the killing blow all the same.^2,4 The chart draws Ikemefuna under Okonkwo with the dotted line of a child raised in the house, because he is not Okonkwo’s son by birth.

Obierika is Okonkwo’s close friend. He sells Okonkwo’s yams during the exile and visits him in Mbanta.³ Chielo is a widow and the priestess of the Oracle of Agbala. She is a friend of Ekwefi and calls Ezinma her daughter.^3,2

Mr Brown is the first missionary, who tries to compromise with the clan and leaves when he falls ill. Mr Smith replaces him and allows no compromise, and under him the converts clash with the clan.^2,4 The District Commissioner heads the British government in Umuofia.²

The family ends outside the family tree for Things Fall Apart. When Okonkwo hangs himself, his clansmen will not touch the body, because a suicide is an abomination to them, and they lead the District Commissioner to it. The Commissioner then thinks of the book he will write, The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.⁴

A square is a man and a circle is a woman. Okonkwo has a marriage line to each of his three wives, and each child hangs from the line of the wife who bore it. A dotted line marks a child raised in the house, and a cross marks a death.

The rings show the three worlds of the novel, Umuofia, Mbanta and the mission. Okonkwo wears the ring of Mbanta in Part Two, and Nwoye moves to the mission. The red zigzag from Okonkwo to Nwoye marks the break between father and son.

To draw a family tree for Things Fall Apart of your own, open the chart in the editor from this page or start from the story charts. The symbols are set out in the genogram symbols.