Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" Chapters 17-25

But let us ostracize these men.

The other egwugwu immediately surrounded their desecrated companion, to shield him from the profane gaze of women and children, and led him away.

But it was a resilient spirit, and in the end Okonkwo overcame his sorrow.

One of the most infuriating habits of these people was their love of superfluous words, he thought.

The dreaded Otakagu came from Imo, and Ekwensu, dangling a white cock, arrived from Uli. It was a terrible gathering.

Some of the elders of the clan went with them, wearing heavy protections of charms and amulets.

They were still handcuffed, and they just sat and moped.

His voice was unmistakable and so he was able to bring immediate peace to the agitated spirits.

He sighed heavily, and as if in sympathy the smoldering log also sighed.

This woman had allowed her heathen husband to mutilate her dead child.

The royal python was the most revered animal in Mbanta and all the surrounding clans.

There was only a brief scuffle, too brief even to allow the drawing of a sheathed machete.

To abandon the gods of one's father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination.

Enoch's devotion to the new faith had seemed so much greater than Mr. Brown's that the villagers called him the outsider who wept louder than the bereaved.

A sudden fury rose within him and he felt a strong desire to take up his machete, go to the church and wipe out the entire vile and miscreant gang.

The eerie voices of countless spirits, the bells that clattered behind some of them, and the clash of machetes as they ran forwards and backwards and saluted one another, sent
tremors of fear into every heart.

But some of these losses were not irreparable.

Her husband and his family were already becoming highly critical of such a woman and were not unduly perturbed when they found she had fled to join the Christians.

For how else could he explain his great misfortune and exile and now his despicable son's behavior?

Now that he had time to think of it, his son's crime stood out in its stark enormity.

Our Lord Himself stressed the importance of fewness.

He was a person dedicated to a god, a thing set apart—a taboo for ever, and his children after him.

Then he would show his wealth by initiating his sons into the ozo society.

Umuofia was like a startled animal with ears erect, sniffing the silent, ominous air and not knowing which way to run.

Discordant bells clanged, machetes clashed and the air was full of dust and weird sounds.

They did not carry guns, for that would be unseemly.

He made friends with some of the great men of the clan and on one of his frequent visits to the neighboring villages he had been presented with a carved elephant tusk, which was a sign of dignity and rank.

The silence was broken by the village crier beating his sonorous ogene.

Such was the excessive energy bottled up in
Enoch's small body that it was always erupting in quarrels and fights.

But the arrivees persevered, and in the end they were received by them They asked for a plot of land to build on,
An evil forest was where the clan buried all those who died of the really evil diseases, like leprosy and smallpox.

The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed, almost overnight, into a healthy, buoyant maiden.

On the morning after the village crier's appeal the men of Umuofia met in the marketplace and decided to collect without delay two hundred and fifty bags of cowries to appease the white man.

"We shall not do you any harm," said the District Commissioner to them later, "if only you agree to cooperate with us.

The white man had indeed brought a lunatic religion, but he had also built a trading store and for the first time palm-oil and kernel became things of great price, and much money flowed into Umuofia.

And they dispersed.

As the years of exile passed one by one it seemed to him that his chi might now be making amends for the past disaster.

And for the moment the spirit of the clan was pacified.

But the initiation rite was performed once in three years in Umuofia, and he had to wait for nearly two years for the next round of ceremonies.

The Lord shall have them in derision."

They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms.

"We see that every pauper wears the anklet of title in Umuofia.

Living fire begets cold, impotent ash.

How then could he have begotten a son like Nwoye, degenerate and effeminate?

And so it was mutilated to discourage it from returning.

The clan was like a lizard, if it lost its tail it soon grew another.

The eerie voices of countless spirits, the bells that clattered behind some of them, and the clash of machetes as they ran forwards and backwards and saluted one another, sent
tremors of fear into every heart.

When they had harvested a sizable heap they carried it down in two trips to the stream, where every woman had a shallow well for fermenting her cassava.

Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste—long, tangled and dirty hair.

These court messengers were greatly hated in Umuofia because they were foreigners and also arrogant and high-handed.

He disbelieved the story which even some of the most faithful confirmed, the story of really evil children who were not deterred by mutilation, but came back with all the scars.

The other egwugwu immediately surrounded their desecrated companion, to shield him from the profane gaze ol women and children, and led him away.

He knew that he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan.

But If they chose to be cowards he would go out and avenge lümself.

No clan can boast of greater numbers or greater valor.

Okonkwo, who had begun to play a part in the affairs of his motherland, said that until the abominable gang was chased out of the village with whips there would be no peace.

"Are you afraid you may dissolve?"

At night the messengers came in to taunt them and to knock their shaven heads together.

It was like the laugh of rusty metal.

To fill the Lord's holy temple with an idolatrous crowd clamoring for signs was a folly of everlasting consequence.

It was true his two beautiful daughters aroused great interest among suitors and marriage negotiations were soon in progress, but, beyond that, Umuofia did not appear to have taken any special notice of the warrior's return.

One of the most infuriating habits of these people was their love of superfluous words, he thought.

This growing feeling was due to Mr. Brown, the white missionary, who was very firm in restraining his flock from provoking the wrath of the clan.

Mr. Smith had rebuked him in very strong language, and had not sought his advice that morning.

Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste—long, tangled and dirty hair.

That night a bell-man went through the length and breadth of Mbanta proclaiming that the adherents of the new faith were thenceforth excluded from the life and privileges of the clan.

If a clansman killed a royal python accidentally, he made sacrifices of atonement and performed an expensive burial ceremony such as was done for a great man.

They set out early that morning, some of them with their water-pots to the stream, another group with hoes and baskets to the village earth pit, and the others to the chalk quarry.

For a brief moment the onrush of the egwugwu was checked by the unexpected composure of the two men.

But, all the same, the rulers and elders of Mbanta assembled to decide on their action.

The two outcasts shaved off their hair, and soon they were the strongest adherents of the new faith.

It was a wan smile, but there was deep gratitude there.

A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving.

The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed, almost overnight, into a healthy, buoyant maiden.

Enoch himself was greatly disappointed when he heard this, for he had hoped that a holy war was imminent,- and there were a few other Christians who thought like him.

The over-zealous converts who had smarted under Mr. Brown's restraining hand now flourished in full favor.

The resolute administrator in him gave way to the student of primitive customs.

Umuofia was like a startled animal with ears erect, sniffing the silent, ominous air and not knowing which way to run.

Okeke interpreted wisely to the spirits and leaders of Umuofia: "The white man says he is happy you have come to him with your grievances, like friends.

The footpath that linked them was a very busy one because it also led to the stream, beyond the court.

An evil forest was, therefore, alive with sinister forces and powers of darkness.

Mr.
Brown's mission grew from strength to strength, and because of its link with the new administration it earned a new social prestige.

The resolute administrator in him gave way to the student of primitive customs.

Let us talk about it like friends and find a way of ensuring that it does not happen again."

How then could he have begotten a son like Nwoye, degenerate and effeminate?

At such times the ancestors of the clan who had
been committed to Mother Earth at their death emerged again as egwugwu through tiny ant-holes.

They agreed and were already retiring, when Enoch boasted aloud that they would not dare to touch a Christian.

Okonkwo turned from one side to the other and derived a kind of pleasure from the pain his back gave him.

At first he ignored the warning signs.

Although he had prospered in his motherland Okonkwo knew that he would have prospered even more in Umuofia, in the land of his fathers where men were bold and warlike.

The six men remained sullen and silent and the Commissioner left them for a while.

Okeke interpreted wisely to the spirits and leaders of Umuofia: "The white man says he is happy you have come to him with your grievances, like friends.

The villagers were so certain about the doom that awaited these men that one or two converts thought it wise to suspend their allegiance to the new faith.

But Mr. Kiaga restrained them.

He condemned openly Mr. Brown's policy of compromise and accommodation.

But it was only a momentary check, like the tense silence between blasts of thunder.

As the years of exile passed one by one it seemed to him that his chi might now be making amends for the past disaster.

Everything was possible, he told his energetic flock, but everything was not expedient.

The men of Umuofia were merged into the mute backcloth of trees and giant creepers, waiting.

But he was
looking for one man in particular, the man whose tongue he dreaded and despised so much.

They just pulled the stump, and earth rose, roots snapped below, and the tuber was pulled out.

It was also the dumping ground for highly potent fetishes of great medicine men when they died.

Then an unmistakable voice rose above the tumult and there was immediate silence.

The young ailing girl who had caused her mother so much heartache had been transformed, almost overnight, into a healthy, buoyant maiden.

Wherever he went he carried with him the mark of his forbidden caste—long, tangled and dirty hair.

Everything was possible, he told his energetic flock, but everything was not expedient.

He disbelieved the story which even some of the most faithful confirmed, the story of really evil children who were not deterred by mutilation, but came back with all the scars.

At first he ignored the warning signs.

He went into the obi and saluted his father, but he did not answer.

The band of egwugwu moved like a furious whirlwind to Enoch's compound and with machete and fire reduced it to a desolate heap.

As they deliberated they could hear the Mother of Spirits wailing for her son.

Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph, at any rate.

Okika was a great man and an orator.

"Let us not presume to do so now.

That night a bell-man went through the length and breadth of Mbanta proclaiming that the adherents of the new faith were thenceforth excluded from the life and privileges of the clan.

"Blessed is he who forsakes his father and his mother for my sake," he intoned.

She had, it was true, her moments of depression when she would snap at everybody like an angry dog.

As they deliberated they could hear the Mother of Spirits wailing for her son.

He had shaken out his smoked raffia skirt and examined his tall feather head-gear and his shield.

"The bell-man announced it last night.

He discerned fright in that tumult.

The child had been declared an ogbanje, plaguing its mother by dying and entering her womb to be born again.

Are you afraid he would convince us not to fight?"

There was so much food and drink that many kinsmen whistled in surprise.

Although they had not agreed to kill the missionary or drive away the Christians, they had agreed to do something substantial.

When they had harvested a sizable heap they carried it down in two trips to the stream, where every woman had a shallow well for fermenting her cassava.

At first the clan had assumed that it would not survive.

"When I think that it is only eighteen months since the Seed was first sown among you," he said, "I marvel at what the Lord hath wrought."

He would return with a flourish, and regain the seven wasted years.

His male relations and friends had gathered in his obi, and Obierika was urging him to eat.

Okeke interpreted wisely to the spirits and leaders of Umuofia: "The white man says he is happy you have come to him with your grievances, like friends.

An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree, a man asks his kinsman to scratch him."

But Nwoye resembled his grandfather, Unoka, who was Okonkwo's father.

The times which had altered so unaccountably during his exile seemed to be coming round again.

And so three goats were slaughtered and a number of fowls.

Our Lord Himself stressed the importance of fewness.

But now, as he came up and stood by him confronting the angry spirits, Mr. Smith looked at him and smiled.

Mr. Smith danced a furious step and so the drums went mad.

It was not done earlier because the rains were too heavy and would have washed away the heap of trodden earth, and it could not be done later because harvesting would soon set in, and after that the dry season.

Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father, suddenly overcome with fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck.

He heard the voice of singing and although it came from a handful of men it was loud and confident.

Some of their men had gone out to beg the egwugwu to retire for a short while for the women to pass.

He seized a heavy stick that lay on the dwarf wall and hit him two or three savage blows.

One of the greatest crimes a man could commit was to unmask an egwugwu in public, or to say or do anything which might reduce its immortal prestige in the eyes of the uninitiated.

It was in fact one of them who in his zeal brought the church into serious conflict with the clan a year later by killing the sacred python, the emanation of the god of water.

He would return with a flourish, and regain the seven wasted years.

Each of them carried a long cane basket, a machete for cutting down the soft cassava stem, and a little hoe for digging out the tuber.

The resolute administrator in him gave way to the student of primitive customs.

But Mr. Kiaga restrained them.

It was well known among the people of Mbanta that their gods and ancestors were sometimes long-suffering and would deliberately allow a man to go on defying them.

The villagers were so certain about the doom that awaited these men that one or two converts thought it wise to suspend their allegiance to the new faith.

"When he killed Oduche in the fight over the land, he fled to Aninta to escape the wrath of the earth.

It was the time for treading red earth with which to build walls.

The other people were released, but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering."

My mother's people have been good to me and 1 must show my gratitude."

Three converts had gone into the village and boasted openly that all the gods were dead and impotent and that they were prepared to defy them by burning all their shrines.

They had built a court where the District Commissioner judged cases in ignorance.

They boast about victory over death.