In the village Ilo, large crowds had gathered for what seemed like a significant ceremony. By looking at the audience, the ceremony was mainly for men, but the women were allowed to stand in the back row. A loud gong gonged and nine egwugwus came out of the egwugwu house. The egwugwus represent the nine spirits of the ancestors of the nine villages that form the Umuofia clan. The nine form the highest tribunal in the land. During the ceremony, a married couple of the clan came forward and presented their dilemma to the masked figures. The Umuofia clan have great respect for the egwugwus and always follow their advice.

One dark night when Ekwefi and her only daughter Ezinma exchanged stories about how they thought the tortoise had gotten its patterned shell, Chileo, the priestess of the Oracle, stopped by. Chielo claimed that the Oracle wished to see Ezinma. She promised to bring her back the next morning, but Ekwefi loved her only child too much, and her love and worry overcame her fear for the darkness. She followed them on their long roundabout route to the cave. By sunrise she was all worn out, but now certain that her daughter was safe. In her exhaustion, she started thinking about the old days, when she and Okonkwo were happily in love. Outside the cave she discovered that Okonkwo too had followed.

The following day was the day of the wedding feast for Obierika´s daughter. Obierika is a friend of Okonkwo. The whole village was in a festive mood and Obierika´s wife had started to cook early in the morning, she was after all cooking for a whole village. While the other wives in the village helped her, the men were discussing how much palm-wine they thought the new in-laws would bring. They were pleased to see that when the in-laws arrived, they had brought no less than 50 pots of palm-wine. And then the festivities began. The feast involved singing, dancing and telling of tales.

Before the first cock had crowed the next morning, the ekwe signalled to the nine villages of Umuofia that a man had died. It was a man of Iguedo, in Okonkwo´s village. When Okonkwo heard that the man was the well respected Ezeudo who had warned him to have no part in the slaughter of Ikemefuna , shivers went down his back. He remembered the last thing the old man had told him: “That boy calls you father, bear no hand in his death.” Because Ezeudo had taken three titles and was one of the oldest men in the village, his funeral was performed with great dignity. Particularly, it was marked by the firing of guns. However, there was a dreadful accident. Okonkwo´s old gun had exploded and hit Ezeudo´s son! Okonkwo knew he had only one thing to do. It was the only thing a man could do if he had killed a fellow clanman. He had to flee. He packed his most valuable objects and by the next morning he and his family were gone. In a ritual to cleanse and purify Okonkwo´s sin, his compound and possessions were destroyed by his fellow tribesmen.

 

Analysis:

During the ceremony we hear how justice is carried out in Umuofia. The case was presented to the highest tribunal, made up of nine egwugwu. The actors in the trial were mainly men. However, the parts in the conflict were both a man and a woman. Women do have legal rights. I think the ceremony with the nine egwugwus is described in a sarcastic tone. For example, one of the egwugwus had some of Okonkwo´s characteristics, and several people notice that Okonkwo is not present, but they keep it to themselves. I therefore think that the ceremony is mainly performed as a tradition, not because they so much believe that the nine, covered up characters are the spirits of the ancestors. The people of Umuofia do however believe that evil spirits exist and they do believe in gods.

When Ekwefi decides to follow the priestess without permission, she disobeys the gods. She chooses her daughter over the religious authority. In doing so, forcing herself to walk in the darkness that she fears, she also disproves Okonkwo´s belief that women are weak. Disobeying the gods would have great consequences if she were caught. Fortunately, the priestess never realized that Ekwefi had followed her. It is also revealed in the story that it is not only Ekwefi that followed Chielo and Ezinma. Okonkwo had also brought his machete and had gone out to look for them. FOUR times he did! I think that my prejudices about Okonkwo being a heartless man might have been wrong. In this part of the book he does show that he actually cares. This night forced Okonkwo to show his real emotions.

Noticeable, the wedding feast is a social event, not a religious ceremony.

Now that Okonkwo and his family had to flee the village, I am excited to see where the story is going!