Things Fall Apart

Uchendu, the man who greeted Okonkwo when he last visited Mbanta on the occasion of his mother’s death, greets him and his family again. He guesses the circumstances of their arrival and waits for Okonkwo to tell him the story of his female crime.

The village gives Okonkwo’s family a plot for a compound and some land to farm. Uchendu’s family contributes labor and seed-yams. After “two or three months,” during which “the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth,” the heat wave breaks and the rains arrive (130). This refreshment brings the earth “to life” and disseminates “a vague scent of life” (130).

Life in Mbanta is “like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth, like learning to become left-handed in old age” (131). Work is no longer pleasurable without the goal of becoming “one of the lords of the clan,” the goal that always motivates Okonkwo (131). Noticing Okonkwo’s bleak attitude, Uchendu decides to speak with him after his son’s final marriage ceremony, or isa-ifi.

At the large family isa-ifi, Uchendu’s oldest daughter interrogates the young bride about her sexuality, making her swear that she has never lain with another man.