Chinua Achebe – “Things Fall Apart” (ch. 5 the end)

The second day of the new year is the day of the great wrestling match, and Ekwefi, Okonkwo’s second wife, is a great fan. She fell in love with Okonkwo when she was a young village beauty and he won the famous wrestling match with the man known as the Cat because of his skill. Okonkwo was too poor to marry her at the time, but a few years later she ran away from her husband and married him. But this part of the chapter is basically a detailed description of Okonkwo’s two wives cooking dinner: Ekwefi pours boiling water over the freshly killed bird, then plucks it with the help of her only daughter, Ezinma. The first wife calls out “Ekwefi!” and Ekwefi replies with the traditional question “Is that me?” because it could be an evil spirit calling your name. The first wife (I wonder why Achebe avoids using her name?) wants to borrow some live coals, and Ezinma brings them to her. She then offers to help her make a fire. The drumming announcing the wrestling match begins, but as we learn from a conversation between Ezinma and Ekwefi, the match itself doesn’t start until the sun goes down. The children of the first wife and Ikemefuna return with water pots, except her daughter Obiageli, who is crying because her water pot has broken. Her mother comforts her and says she’ll buy her a new one. Nwoye’s younger brothers want to say that she broke her pot because she was fooling around with it, pretending that she could carry it on her head without using her hands and swaying her hips like grown-up women. But Ikemefuna gives her a stern look, which warns them not to snitch. When the yam and chicken stew is ready, Ekwefi puts some in the bowl and sends Ezinma to Okoye with it. Obiageli is already there and Okonkwo is eating a meal from her mother. Ezinma asks him if she can carry his chair to the wrestling match, and Okonkwo, although very fond of his pretty daughter, says no, that’s a boy’s job. Obiageli takes the empty bowl and goes home, while Nkechi, the daughter of the third wife, comes in with her mother’s dish.