Detailed Summary:Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Part Two(II)summarizing the chapters Four, Five and Six
Chapter Four of Things Fall Apart analysis
Okonkwo's general behaviour with unsuccessful men was harsh and humiliating. During a kindred meeting he had rebuked one such man with words that "this meeting is for men". He indirectly called him a woman while all the people in the meeting sided with that man and Okonkwo had to take his words back. "Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky. If ever a man deserved his success, that man was Okonkwo".
Ikemefuna was very afraid. He could not run for knew no path. Nwoye's mother was very kind to him. Ikekefuna remained ill for three weeks but later recovered and seemed to have reconciled to this change in his life: "he was by nature a very lively boy and he gradually became popular in Okonkwo's household, especially with the children". Okonkwo "himself became very fond of the boy - inwardly of course", for he never showed any emotions publicly. At times he went to big village meetings or communal ancestral feasts he allowed Ikemefuna to accompany him, like a son".
The year Ikemefuna was handed over to Okonkwo, it was a season of peace and fighting was not allowed. But Okonkwo had beaten his youngest wife who had forgotten to cook food for Okonkwo and had gone to a friend's house to plait her hair. The priest came and fined him heavily and admonished him saying: "our forefathers ordained that before we plant any crops in the earth we should observe a week in which a man does not say a harsh word to his neighbour". "No work was done during the Week of Peace. People called on their neighbours and drank palm-wine". After the error of breaking of peace by Okonkwo, both his enemies and friends were unhappy with him. They thought the success of Okonkwo had gone to his head.
When the Peace Week was over, Okonkwo sowed yams with the help of his son and Ikemefuna. He taught them the art of seeding and cutting yams. He rebuked his son often for not being perfect: "I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands". The yam crop needed much attention for its survival: in hot sun, sisal leaves were put on the seedlings and against heavy rains, beans and other crops were sown by women. That year rains fell so heavily that it became a matter of survival with the crops.
"Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family. He still thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister, and he had moments of sadness and depression. But he and Nwoye had become so deeply attached to each other that such moments became less frequent and less poignant".
Chapter Five of Things Fall Apart Summary
Every year the Feast of the New Yam was held before the harvest. It was to honour the earth goddess, Ani, and the ancestral spirits of the clan. "Men and women, young and old, looked forward to the New Yam Festival because it began the season of plenty-the new year". Special dishes were prepared and meals were arranged for people of the clan. "The New Yam Festival was thus an occasion for joy throughout Umuofia. And every man whose arm was strong, as the Ibo people say, was expected to invite large numbers of guests from far and wide". But Okonkwo was never good at giving feasts.
While all were celebrating the new Yam year, something went wrong in the house of Okonkwo. He found a banana tree's few leaves cut off. He beat his second wife for having done so. Then in his anger, Okonkwo decided for hunting with a gun: "he was not a hunter. In fact he had not killed a rat with his gun". But before he left, his second wife muttered in a low voice: "guns that never shot". Okonkwo overheard her and shot the fire at her. She was lucky to have missed the shot. Despite this incident, Okonkwo's family enjoyed the celebrations of the season.
Ekwefi, Oknokwo's second wife, was a great lover of wrestling matches. "She ran away from her husband and came to live with Okonkwo". Today she is middle aged woman of forty five. Her hands were black and she used to lift the burning pot with her bare hands. She had only daughter Ezinma. Suddenly there were sounds of drum beat announcing the start of wrestling. Okonkwo "trembled with the desire toconquer and subdue. It was like the desire for woman." His daughter, Ekwefie, cried to her mother that they must hurry to watch the wrestling.
Chapter Six in Things Fall Apart Analysed
There had gathered all sort of people for watching the wrestling. The elders were seated there on their own stools. Then the wrestling began first with the young ones to set the tone and later with the real wrestlers. Ekwefi was sitting with a woman, her friend and the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. She seemed very fond of Ezinma. The real match was between the best wrestlers of the villages: Okafo and Ikezue. It was a long and interesting fight after which Okafo was able to throw his opponent and was declared victorious.
