Okonkwo as a integrating and disintegrating principle in things fall apart

Okonkwo cannot escape from the traditions of his past and therefore lives in ways that no longer fit with the colonials coming in and taking over. He obeys their laws when he is first exiled, although he has disobeyed when he kills his "foster son" and thus displeases his "gods." He is a hard worker and wants to achieve more than his father; he does this through obeying the traditions. Yet, as he tries to fight against the colonial "occupation" of his area and the way they try to make him believe in a different god. Ultimately, Okonkwo refuses to have them integrate themselves in the colonial religion and hangs himself because he can no longer try to fit in or understand.