Okonkwo's murder

I was surprised that Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna. It's as if Okonkwo's warrior instinct had kicked in. There was a 'man' on the ground dying that needed to be put out of his misery. At that moment, and only that moment, Okonkwo disregarded who this dying man was. He ignored the fact that 1) it was a child, and 2) it was his child. Okonkwo's actions haunted him later throughout the season of rest, but why was he not affected in the slightest by almost killing Ekwefi? What is the distinction between family? Yes, Ikemefuna is a child, but is there something more than that? I do not yet understand the boundaries of family in Umuofia, but I hope that as I continue to read I will. After finishing the novel, there is a shift from what Achebe describes as a family focused life to an Okonkwo-focused life. Maybe, it is not a shift but just a zooming in. Towards the end of the novel we as the reader are less concerned about Okonkwo's relationship with his family as we are about Okonkwo's steady demise and intra-personal breakdown. It is possible to look back on the death of Ikemefuna and recognize that the purpose of this tragic death was just to add another weight onto Okonkwo's heavy conscience.