In Things Fall Apart, how does Okonkwo's killing of Ezeudu differ from that of Ikemefuna? What is the nature of law and justice in Ibo society?

is
a hypermasculine warrior, a leader with a few titles in his tribe in Umuofia, and he is no
beginner when it comes to killing. However, both the killing ofand that of Ezeudu's son feature
prominently in Okonkwo's character development in the novel.

Ikemefuna is a
boy taken from another villagebasically as a hostage. He is not killed right away, though and
grows up next to Okonkwo's eldest son, , for three years. Okonkwo comes to like the boy (more
than his own son, really), but he is determined to go along when the Oracle decrees that
Ikemefuna is to be taken beyond the village limits and killed. He is advised against doing so,
but Okonkwo is afraid of looking weak. When the sacrificial killing begins, as one of the
tribesmen cuts Ikemefuna from behind, the boy looks to Okonkwo and calls him father.

Okonkwo is emotionally affected, but instead of showing his grief, he decides to take
his machete and finish the killing himself. This is seen as extreme and harsh to his fellow
tribal leaders. Okonkwo feels out of sorts for a while after the boy's death, but his public
demeanor leads people to think he is heartless and unaffected. While Okonkwo's act is frowned
upon by other leaders, he has technically not committed a crime because he was following the
Oracle. He is not officially punished for this act.

The killing of Ezeudu's
son, on the other hand, is totally accidental. He is at the funeral of Ezeudu with the rest of
the village and one of the shots he fires from his gun accidentally hits and kills one of the
sons as he is participating in one of the funeral rituals. This is labeled a "feminine
crime" because it is unintentional. Okonkwo is exiled for seven years to his mother's
village, Mbanta. Clearly, this act of committing a "feminine crime" is ironic, since
Okonkwo cares more about maintaining his masculinity in front of others than anything else. In
the killing of Ikemefuna, for example, his action is motivated by his desire to not be
"thought weak."

Based on these examples, the law in Igbo culture is
based on the society's perception of the gods. The fact that Okonkwo is exiled is aligned with
the belief that his unintentional killing is "an offense on the land" which then has
to be cleansed. It is considered just that Okonkwo be sent to his motherland for committing the
"feminine crime" and that he must stay away from his village for seven years to allow
the land to be cleansed.