Summary: Chapter 4
The clan decides that Ikemefuna will stay with Okonkwo.
Ikemefuna is homesick and scared at first, but Nwoye’s mother treats
him as one of her own, and he is immediately popular with Okonkwo’s children.
Ikemefuna knows many stories that the children have never heard
before and he possesses many impressive skills, such as making flutes
out of bamboo sticks and setting traps for little bush rodents.
To Okonkwo’s delight, he also becomes like an older brother to Nwoye.
Okonkwo himself grows quite fond of Ikemefuna, but he does not show
any affection because he considers doing so a sign of weakness,
which he refuses to tolerate in himself or others. Ikemefuna soon
begins to call Okonkwo “father.”
During the Week of Peace, Okonkwo notices that his youngest wife,
Ojiugo, has left her hut to have her hair braided without having
cooked dinner. He beats her for her negligence, shamefully breaking
the peace of the sacred week in a transgression known as nso-ani. The
priest demands that Okonkwo sacrifice a nanny goat and a hen and
pay a fine of one length of cloth and one hundred cowries (shells
used as currency). Okonkwo truly repents for his sin and follows
the priest’s orders. Ogbuefi Ezeudu observes that the punishment
for breaking the Peace of Ani has become mild in Umuofia. He also
criticizes another clan’s practice of throwing the bodies of all
who die during the Week of Peace into the Evil Forest.
After the Week of Peace, the villagers begin to clear
the land in preparation for planting their farms. Nwoye and Ikemefuna
help Okonkwo prepare the seed yams, but he finds fault with their
work. Even though he knows that they are too young to understand
farming completely, he hopes that criticism will drive his son to
be a great man and farmer. Ikemefuna settles into Okonkwo’s family
and shares his large stock of folk tales.
Summary: Chapter 5
Just before the harvest, the village holds the Feast of
the New Yam to give thanks to the earth goddess, Ani. Okonkwo doesn’t
really care for feasts because he considers them times of idleness.
The women thoroughly scrub and decorate their huts, throw away all
of their unused yams from the previous year, and use cam wood to
paint their skin and that of their children with decorative designs.
With nothing to do, Okonkwo becomes angry, and he finally comes
up with an excuse to beat his second wife, Ekwefi. He then decides
to go hunting with his gun. Okonkwo is not a good hunter, however,
and Ekwefi mutters a snide remark under her breath about “guns that never
shot.” In a fit of fury, he shoots the gun at her but misses.
The annual wrestling contest comes the day after the feast. Ekwefi,
in particular, enjoys the contest because Okonkwo won her heart
when he defeated the Cat. He was too poor to pay her bride-price
then, but she later ran away from her husband to be with him. Ezinma,
Ekwefi’s only child, takes a bowl of food to Okonkwo’s hut. Okonkwo
is very fond of Ezinma but rarely demonstrates his affection. Obiageli,
the daughter of Okonkwo’s first wife, is already there, waiting
for him to finish the meal that she has brought him. Nkechi, the
daughter of Okonkwo’s third wife, Ojiugo, then brings a meal to
Okonkwo.
Summary: Chapter 6
The wrestling match takes place on the village ilo, or
common green. Drummers line the field, and the spectators are so
excited that they must be held back. The wrestling begins with matches
between boys ages fifteen and sixteen. Maduka, the son of Okonkwo’s
friend Obierika, wins one match within seconds. As the wrestling
continues, Ekwefi speaks with Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, the
Oracle of the Hills and Caves. The two women are good friends, and
Chielo inquires about Ezinma, whom she calls “my daughter.” They
conclude that Ezinma seems to have “come to stay” because she has reached
the age of ten.
