What is the significance of the number of drums used at the wrestling

Brown Ikemefuna Unoka. Why is Ezinma so special to Okonkwo? Why does Nwoye convert to Christianity? Why does Okonkwo hang himself? Quotes Drum language. Previous section Repression Next section Ethnographic distance. Popular pages: Things Fall Apart. In ways similar to today's sports, the wrestling events — even in their violence — provide vicarious pleasure for the spectators who consider the victors heroes and often carry them on their shoulders.

Many years earlier, Okonkwo himself sparked his reputation as a powerful man by defeating an opponent who had wrestled undefeated for seven years. This scene also displays the sense of community and kinship among members of the village, as in the brief exchange between Ekwefi and her neighbor Chielo, the priestess of the Oracle Agbala.

The conversation between Ekwefi and Chielo includes several puzzling references to Ezinma:. Chielo: I think she will stay. They usually stay if they do not die before the age of six. Except for the marketplace and gatherings such as the Feast of the New Yam, the women get little opportunity to visit other villagers who are not in their family.

However, note the concern that Ekwefi has for Ezinma, as well as the Chielo's particular fondness for Ezinma, whom she calls "daughter. Here, the tree is revered because it contains spirits of good children as yet unborn. When his second wife, Ekwefi, admits to taking the leaves, Okonkwo beats her severely to release his pent-up anger.

Then he sends for his rusty gun to go hunting — Okonkwo is not a hunter nor is he skilled with a gun. When Ekwefi mumbles about "guns that never shot," he grabs his gun, aims it at her, and pulls the trigger. Although it goes off, she is not injured. Okonkwo sighs and walks away with the gun. Despite Okonkwo's outbursts, the festival is celebrated with great joy, even in his household and by Ekwefi after her beating and near shooting. Like most people of the village, she looks forward to the second day of the feast and its great wrestling matches between men of the village and men of neighboring villages.

This contest is the same kind in which Okonkwo, years earlier, not only won the wrestling match but also won Ekwefi's heart.

Okonkwo's wives and daughters excitedly prepare the yams for the feast in anticipation of the contest. As his evening meal is served by daughters of each of his wives, Okonkwo acknowledges to himself how especially fond he is of his daughter Ezinma.

As if to offset his soft feelings, however, he scolds her twice while she sits waiting for him to eat. Chapter 4 repeatedly illustrates Okonkwo's volatility — his readiness to explode into violence at slight provocations. His feelings often differ from what he says or does.

Although the people of the village respect him and his accomplishments, he does not quite fit in with his peers, some of whom disagree with his treatment of less successful men.