Okonkwo: Overwhelmed By His Past In the novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe depicts the life of a struggling man, Okonkwo, who is torn between misfortunes from the past, dealing with his father, Unoka, and his ambitions in the present. Struggling to lead his life according to his ambitions, Okonkwo must first overcome his past, and because of forces beyond his control, he is obliged to live a life of inevitable fate. The relationship that Okonkwo has with his father, Unoka, is that of animosity. Okonkwo bore “no patience with his father” (4). He was ashamed of Unoka, who was the village failure, and was afraid