Things Fall Apart - Chapters eight, nine and ten

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 3

Chapters eight, nine and ten

Traditions and Customs

In chapters eight, nine and ten, Chinua Achebe, the author, tells us a lot about the traditions and customs of the Ibo tribe.

• page 60 - Courtship: "It was always said that Ndule and Ozoema had one mind". "I remember when I was a young boy there was a song about them. He could not do anything without telling her.
• Page 70 - Obanje:  Everyone knew she was an Obanje (P185) a changeling child
• Page 78 - The egwugwu (system of law) : 
• Page 81 - Treatment of women: 1) When she was pregnant he beat her until she miscarried. 2)  If he begs her to return, and if she does, and he ever treats her this way again, we will cut off his genitals for him

Note: 

The next slides contain summaries of Chapters 8, 9 and 10

These are NOT as a substitute for reading the book, just as a refresh!

Summary Chapter 8

Okonkwo sinks into a depression. He feels weak, and he cannot sleep or eat. When Ezinma brings him his evening meal three days later, she tells him that he must finish everything. He repeatedly wishes that she were a boy, and he berates himself for acting like a “shivering old woman.” He visits his friend Obierika and congratulates Maduka on his successful wrestling. Obierika, in turn, requests that Okonkwo stay when his daughter’s suitor arrives to determine a bride-price. Okonkwo complains to Obierika that his sons are not manly enough and says that he would be happier if Ezinma were a boy because she has “the right spirit.” He and Obierika then argue over whether it was right of Okonkwo to partake in Ikemefuna’s death.

Okonkwo begins to feel revived a bit. He decides that his unhappiness was a product of his idleness—if Ikemefuna had been murdered at a busier time of the year, he, Okonkwo, would have been completely undisturbed. Someone arrives to report the death of the oldest man in a neighboring village. Strangely, the old man’s wife died shortly thereafter. Okonkwo questions the man’s reputed strength once he learns how attached he had been to his wife.

summary ..... Chpt 8

Okonkwo sits with Obierika while Obierika bargains his daughter’s bride-price with the family of her suitor. Afterward, Obierika and his future son-in-law’s relatives talk about the differing customs in other villages. They discuss the practice of, and skill at, tapping palm trees for palm-wine. Obierika talks about hearing stories of men with skin as white as chalk. Another man, Machi, pipes in that such a man passes through the village frequently and that his name is Amadi. Those who know Amadi, a leper, laugh—the polite term for leprosy is “the white skin.”

Summary Chapter Nine

Ekwefi awakes Okonkwo very early in the morning and tells him that Ezinma is dying. Okonkwo ascertains that Ezinma has a fever and sets about collecting medicine. Ezinma is Ekwefi’s only child and the “center of her world.” Ekwefi is very lenient with her: Ezinma calls her by her first name and the dynamic of their relationship approaches equality.

Ekwefi’s nine other children died in infancy. She developed the habit of naming them symbolic things such as “Onwumbiko,” which means, “Death, I implore you,” and “Ozoemena,” which means, “May it not happen again.” Okonkwo consulted a medicine man who told him that an ogbanje was tormenting them. An ogbanje is a “wicked” child who continually re-enters its mother’s womb only to die again and again, causing its parents grief. A medicine man mutilated the dead body of Ekwefi’s third child to discourage the ogbanje’s return. When Ezinma was born, like most ogbanje children, she suffered many illnesses, but she recovered from all of them. A year before the start of the novel, when Ezinma was nine, a medicine man named Okagbue Uyanwa found her iyi-uwa, the small, buried pebble that is the ogbanje’s physical link to the spirit world. Although the discovery of the iyi-uwa ought to have solved Ezinma’s problems, every illness that Ezinma catches still brings terror and anxiety to Ekwefi.

Summary Chapter 10

The village holds a ceremonial gathering to administer justice. The clan’s ancestral spirits, which are known as egwugwu, emerge from a secret house into which no woman is allowed to step. The egwugwu take the form of masked men, and everyone suspects that Okonkwo is among them. The women and children are filled with fear even though they sense that the egwugwu are merely men impersonating spirits.

The first dispute that comes before the egwugwu involves an estranged husband and wife. The husband, Uzowulu, states that the three brothers of his wife, Mgbafo, beat him and took her and the children from his hut but would not return her bride-price. The woman’s brothers state that he is a beastly man who beat their sister mercilessly, even causing her to miscarry once. They argue that Uzowulu must beg Mgbafo to return to him. If she agrees, the brothers declare, Uzowulu must understand that they will cut his genitals off if he ever beats her again. The egwugwu decide in favor of Mgbafo. One village elder complains that such a trifling matter should not be brought before them.

Why is Ekwefi so distraught by Ezinma’s illness?

1. Because all of her children died early in childhood
2. Because Okonkwo will become angry and beat her
3. Because Chielo said Ekwefi would likely die soon
4. Because she is afraid she will get sick too

Who cures Ezinma?

1. Ekwefi
2. Chielo
3. Nwoye
4. Okonkwo

On what condition can Uzowulu have Mgbafo back?

1. If he pays a heavy fine
2. He must ask her three times to return and build her a new hut.
3. He must beg her to come back, and if he beats her again they will cut off his genitals.
4. If he wins a series of wrestling matches with Mgbafo’s brother

Homework

Do the Quiz questions on slides 8-10 to check your understanding of chapters 8-10

Read Chapters 11 and 12 before the lesson on Friday the 3rd of April: