Okonkwo is anxious about Nwoye because he sees him as weak and effeminate, unlike what he believes a son should be. Okonkwo wants Nwoye to embody the masculine values of strength, aggression, and success, which causes tension in their relationship.
Okonkwo treats Ikemefuna almost as if he were his eldest son. He wishes that Nwoye would become like Ikemefuna, even though Nwoye is his true eldest son.
Okonkwo treats Ikemefuna almost as if he were his eldest son. He wishes that Nwoye would become like Ikemefuna, even though Nwoye is his true eldest son.
Okonkwo disowns Nwoye after he joins the Christians, claiming Nwoye is no longer his son, no longer his children's brother. Okonkwo tells his children, "You have all seen the abomination of your brother."
Okonkwo was upset with his son Nwoye for not meeting his expectations of being strong, masculine, and ambitious like himself. He viewed Nwoye as weak and unmanly, which was a source of great disappointment for him.
The book does not say this explicitly until Nwoye joins the Christians, when Okonkwo calls him an abomination. However, Okonkwo often wishes that Nwoye was stronger, saying that at his age, he should already have impregnated a wife and taken a farm. Okonkwo also wishes that Nwoye were as strong a wrestler as Obierika's child, Okafo.
Subjective answer: The thing that upsets Okonkwo the most internally, is the fact that Nwoye is too much like his grandfather Unoka. The one action that gets Okonkwo the most upset externally is finding out that Nwoye has been hanging around the Christians, at which point Okonkwo confronts Nwoye and nearly chokes him to death.
Nwoye's actions prove to show him to be a man of Unoka's caliber, not Okonkwo's. It reflects badly on Okonkwo, and makes it hard for him to distance himself from his father. Further, Okonkwo has always had high hopes for his son up to this point, despite what has happened so far. This reality disillusions Okonkwo.
Okonkwo was a masculine man, and expected his son to follow in his footsteps. Nwoye ended up being more effeminate, and either way could not follow in his father's footsteps, instead being obscured by his shadow.
Okonkwo was pleased that Ikemefuna was helping Nwoye become more manly and less effeminate. Nwoye complained less, outwardly shunned feminine stories (although he secretly still liked them), and seemed to work harder.
Nwoye is Okonkwo's first son, and serves as a contrast to the manliness of the Igbo his father exemplifies. Nwoye's like for the feminine, in particular the stories his mother tells, causes him to not relate well with his father. Further, Okonkwo expects him to be as strong as he was, and to have taken a woman by now, but he is not as strong, and has not yet taken a woman. Okonkwo fears that Nwoye will be like his grandfather Unoka, who was a lazy drunkard debtor and tied without title or property.
Obierika suggested that Okonkwo should let him take care of the crops until Okonkwo could repay him. He also proposed that Okonkwo should leave his son Nwoye with him as a pledge to ensure Okonkwo's return.
Oh, dude, that's because in Chinua Achebe's novel "Things Fall Apart," Okonkwo's first wife is always referred to as Nwoye's mother because, well, she's Nwoye's mother! It's like a super fun naming convention they have in the book. So, like, whenever you hear "Nwoye's mother," just remember, it's not a secret code or anything, it's just a way to say who she is in relation to Nwoye.