Thing Fall Apart Chapters 12-13

Chapter 12 In Okonkwo’s village there is much celebration; Okonkwo’s friend, Obierika, is celebrating his daughter’s uri. A uri is an engagement ceremony Ewkefi is exhausted from the previous night. At dawn Chielo returns to Okonkwo’s village with Ezinma without saying a word to anyone. Okonkwo did not sleep either. He made four trips to the caves, although he did not let anyone know he was “gravely worried.”

Chapter 12 Okonkwo’s family prepares for the celebration. Obierika buys a huge goat for his soon to be in-laws. The celebration is interrupted when a woman retrieves an escaped cow. The suitor’s family arrives with fifty pots of wine.

Chapter 13 The ekwe talk to the clan. Suddenly a cannon booms as the village lay sleeping. Somebody is dead. The name is announced. Ogbuefi Ezeudue is dead, and a shiver goes down Okonkwo’s back. Ezeudu was the one who warned Okonkwo to play no part in Ikemefuna’s death.

Chapter 13 It was a great funeral. Ezeudu was a distinguished man and warrior who held three of the clan’s four titles. Because of his titles, Ezeudu is traditionally buried after dark. As the night wares on so does the firing of guns and the beating of the drums. After the one-handed spirit comes and speaks, the drums begin to sound in the last salute to Ezeudu.

Chapter 13 Suddenly, a cry of agony sounds from the center of the crowd. A boy lay in a puddle of his own blood… it is Ezeudu’s sixteen year old son. Okonkwo’s gun exploded; flying metal pierced the boy’s heart killing him. Nothing like this had ever happened in Umuofia, but the law was clear. Okonkwo committed a crime against the earth goddess and must be put into exile. Because the killing was not intentional Okonkwo can return after seven years. Okonkwo knows he must follow the law.

Chapter 13 Okonwko gathers “his most valuable belongings” and takes his family to his mother’s native village, Mbanta. According to tradition, the large crowd of men from Ezeudu’s quarter burn Okonkwo’s compound “cleansing the land Oknkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman.” “They had no hatred in their hearts against Okonkwo.” They were merely following the tradition of their land.