Things Fall Apart Chapter 13

The drums woke Umuofia in the early morning to tell that Ezeudu had died. All the clan came to the great man's funeral and an egwugwu would appear every now and then from the underworld. Because Ezeudu had been such an important man to Umuofia, cannons were shot and rifles fired in his honor. During one such salute, Okonkwo's gun had exploded and killed a young boy in the middle of the funeral crowd. Although Okonkwo's crime was female (accidental) in nature, he was forced to flee from his home because killing a clansman was a crime against the earth goddess. Okonkwo and his wives and children gathered up their things and left Umuofia to spend seven years in Mbanta, where Okonkwo's mother had lived before she married Unoka. Obierika stored Okonkwo's yams for him, and the next morning clansmen came into Okonkwo's empty home and destroyed it -- the required justice of the earth goddess for Okonkwo's crime. Obierika was perplexed at the calamity that had befallen his friend, and he didn't understand why such a penalty was demanded for an accidental crime, in much the same way that he couldn't understand why twins had to be abandoned. All he understood was that the earth goddess expected the payments she demanded, and if punishment were not extracted from the guilty party, the entire clan would suffer for the offense. The elders said that, "if one finger brought oil it soiled the others." Part 1: Chapter 13, Pg. 111

Topic Tracking: Religion 9