THINGS FALL APART

(Chinua Achebe)

Chapter 11

Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, comes to take Ezinma and Okonkwo begs her to let the child sleep but she forcibly takes her to the sacred cave. Ekwefi follows them because she fears her daughter may not be harmed. Chielo and Ezinma disappear into the cave. Standing at the opening of the cave, Ekwefi gets relaxed when Okonkwo joined her. His strong presence reminds Ekwefi of how she ran away from her first husband to be the wife of Okonkwo.

Chapter 12

The next morning, Chielo returns Ezinma to the parents. She was sleeping. The following day, villagers celebrate Obierika’s daughter. Obierika offers soup of goats to the guests and pam oil to the in-laws. Okonkwo and his family participate in the marriage ceremony.

Chapter 13

An important man Ezeudu, who had won three titles, dies. This was the man who had forbidden Okonkwo to take part in killing of Ikemefuna. Men gathered on the funeral ceremony of Ezeudu. Men dance, fire off guns, and dash about in frenzy. They believed that egwugwu spirits came and danced in circle. Before the burial, the dancing, drumming, and gunshots got increasingly intense.

During these firings, by chance, Okonkwo’s gun exploded and its iron piece went through Ezeudu's sixteen-year-old son and he died. Okonkwo and his family were banished from Umuofia for this accidental incident. Early in the morning, they fled to Mbanta, the village of Okonkwo’s mother. After their departure, the men destroyed his barn, houses, and animals. However, Okonkwo's friend Obierika mourns over his departure and wonders why Okonkwo should be punished so severely for an accident.

Glossary

Mbanta The name means small town and is where Okonkwo's mother comes from, his motherland, beyond the borders of Mbaino (Ikemefuna's original home).

Chapter 14

In Mbanta, Okonkwo’s maternal uncle ‘Uchendu’ welcomed him. He gave Okonkwo some pieces of land to build hut and farming. He grew yams on these lands. Uchendu’s twenty-seven children help him cultivate the crop. However, he blames his ‘Chi’ for all his failures in Umuofia.

Chapter 15

Okonkwo’s friend Obierika comes from Umuofia to see him. He hands over the money he got on selling Okonkwo’s yams left behind in Umuofia. Then they started their lunch and Obierika tells the story of their neighbouring village ‘Abame’.

One day, a white man happened to come to Abame. He was on a bicycle which the villagers mistook as iron horse. The elders of Abame consulted the oracle who informed them that one day, the white man will destroy their clans. The villagers killed the white man and tied his bicycle to a sacred tree. A few weeks later, the white men came in groups and killed the people of Abame and destroyed huts.

Okonkwo, however, claims that he has already heard of white men but he never believed them.