Summary

Chapter One

At age eighteen Okonkwo has earned fame for himself by beating Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling match. For seven years Amalinze had gone unbeaten. Now, at thirty-eight, Okonkwo is huge and severe looking with a slight stammer and a quick fist when angry. He has no patience for unsuccessful men or for his father. Although his father had died ten years earlier, Okonkwo is still trying to outlive the shame he felt at being the son of a lazy debtor. Unoka enjoyed music, feasting and playing his flute. Unoka is poor. His wives and children, including Okonkwo, barely have enough to eat.

Okonkwo is lucky because the people of his time judge him not by his father’s reputation, but by the reputation of his own hard work. He is already wealthy with two barns of yams and three...