Unoka

Unoka (pronounced Un-oh-ka) is the father of Okonkwo and a man whom Okonkwo is greatly ashamed of. Unoka was seen by the tribe as lazy and unwilling to work hard, having never earned a title, never saved his money, and preferring to drink in revelry and play musical instruments. By the time we come to meet Okonkwo in the text, Unoka has been dead for many years and we only learn of him through the memories of Okonkwo. Unoka comes to symbolise precisely what Okonkwo despises and eschews in how he treats others and how he builds himself as a character.