This summary provides information about a short story in 3 sentences: The story is about a man named Nnaemeka who falls in love with his teacher Nene. However, his father Okeke disapproves of the marriage because Nene is from a different tribe. Nnaemeka chooses to marry Nene against his father's wishes, prioritizing love over tradition. Years later, after Nene contacts Okeke, he comes to regret rejecting his son's marriage and longs to reunite with his family.

1. By:
Theresa Chermi Legak
Rhessma Nawai
[TL1113]

2. Name: Albert ChinualumoguAchebe
Date of Birth: 16 November 1930 (82)
Nationality: Nigerian
Ethnicity: Igbo
Occupation: Novelist, poet, professor and critic
Religion: Christian Prostetant
Period: 1958 - present
Notable work: (i) First novel;Things Fall Apart (1958)
(ii) No Longer at Ease (1960)
(iii) Arrow of God (1994)
(iv) A Man of the People (1966)
(v) Anthill of the Savannah (1987)

3. “Marriage today is a totally private affair”

4. This story is about a man, Nnaemeka who lives in a city in Nigeria,Lagos.There,
he met with a teacher, Nene and fell in love with her. After some time, they decided
to get married but first he has to ask for his father's consent regarding the marriage.
Nene thought that his father would be happy about their marriage but Nnaemeka
was worried instead because of his tribe's traditional practice of not allowing sons to
choose their own spouses.
When he told his father about his intention of marrying Nene, his father was not
happy at all. In fact, he already has a choice of woman in his mind to marry his son.
Knowing that Nene was not from the Ibo tribe worsened the condition, so he
demanded Nnaemeka to marry off the other woman. He kept on asking his father to
accept his wife but his father totally rejected her. Nnaemeka chose love over
tradition and marry Nene even without his father's blessing. He never came back to
his hometown after his marriage and his father thought that he was already dead.
Eight years later, his father received a letter from Nene. In the letter, she told
him that they were blessed with two sons and they lived happily. She also asked him
to accept her, if not his grandsons and asking him to be a part of their lives.This left a
big chunk in his heart as he felt shameful and guilty for what he has done.That
night, he dreamed of reuniting with his son, getting to know his daughter-in-law and
playing with his grandsons.

5. (i) Time Period
- Mainly morning and afternoon.
(i) Weather
- Hot and sunny, except for the last paragraph when it begins to
storm in Okeke’s head.
(i) Place
- Capital of Nigeria, Lagos.
- Igbo land.
(i) Mood
-Worry.

6. (i) Nene
- A hopeless romantic.
-Very much in love and will do anything to make her dream
come true.
(i) Nnaemeka
-Worried about the relations between his fiance’ and his father.
- Chose love over tradition.
(i) Okeke
- Firmly believes in the ancient traditions.
-Very stern, and a lot of time cold towards his son.

7. 1. CULTURALTHEORY
(a) Arranged Marriage
(b) Igbo tribe vs. Ibibio tribe
1. FEMINISM
(a) Suppression of women’s right
(b) Gender bias
(c) ModernWomen vs.TraditionalWomen

8. Ever since the old days, the Igbo people have been practicing
the tradition of arranged marriage. Up to this day, many
marriages in the Igbo land are still arranged although many
young people are against it.This tradition is portrayed in the
story whereby Okeke abides by the tradition and holds strong
onto it while Nnaemeka constantly fights for his desire to be
with the one that he loves.Thus, this raises conflict between the
two of them and deteriorates their father-son relationship.
“Yes.They are most unhappy if the engagement is not
arranged by them.”
-Nnaemeka

9. Besides that, Okeke has also found a suitor for
Nnaemeka.We can see the culture of Igbo people in which
parents are responsible in choosing their in-laws. Notice that
he does not only judge the suitor based on physical
appearance alone but also her family background.
“ I have found a girl who will suit you admirably-Ugoye Nweke, the
eldest daughter of our neighbour, Jacob Nweke. She has a proper
Christian upbringing.When she stopped schooling some years ago her
father (a man of sound judgment) sent her to live in the house of a pastor
where she has received all the training a wife could need.”
-Okeke

10. This shows that the Igbo culture does not emphasize love
in a marriage.To them, continuing the tradition is much
more important as they believe that love will sprout later. A
perfect marriage is not based on love alone; responsibility
comes with it.
“I don’t love her.”
“Nobody said you did.Why should you?” he asked.

11. In the short story, we can see that the Igbo tribe and the
Ibibio tribe are not in good terms and that is the cause of the
conflict in this story. Nene is from the Ibibio tribe whereas
Nnaemeka is from the Igbo tribe. In the old days, it was a taboo
to marry from another tribe. Some conservative parents still
hold fast to that tradition. Last time, same-tribe marriages were
widely practiced in order to increase the tribe’s population and
retained its purity, also they feared of losing a child to an alien
culture.
“ And this”, he added, “is not peculiar to the Ibos. If your father were
alive and lived in the heart of the Ibibio-land he would be exactly like
my father.”
-Nnaemeka

12. Their action brought about the consequence of being
boycotted and ridiculed by the Ibibio community after they got
married.This shows that both tribe could not accept their
marriage.
“Rather, they paid her such excessive deference as to make her feel
she was not one of them”
-Narrator

13. In the story, women were seen as people who just need to
stay at home and be a good housewife. Since the Igbo culture is
a patriarchal community (men over women), women are
viewed as weak creatures and should never do things that men
do; in this case, having a career. In this story, Nene was a
teacher in the Girl’s School in Lagos. Knowing that she was a
career woman- apart from her background-Okeke
automatically rejected her to be his daughter-in-law.
“Teacher, did you say? If you consider that a qualification for a good wife
I should like to point out to you, Emeka, that no Christian woman should
teach.”
- Okeke

14. According to Okeke, a good wife must be a good
Christian and serves her husband well.
“What one looks for in a wife are a good character and Christian
background.”
- Okeke

15. The story shows that the Nigerian women are not
treated equally as this can be seen through the way the
villagers of Igbo judged the couple. Instead of investigating
the matter, they straightly blamed Nene, saying that she had
been using medicine to make Nnaemeka fell for her. It shows
that the value of women are so low up to the point that they
are to be blamed for everything.
“ But it was her fault.” “ She ought to have gone an honest herbalist. She
was a clever woman, nevertheless.”
- Madubogwu
“ She was a wicked murderess,” saidJonathan who rarely argued with his
neighbours because he often said they were incapable of reasoning.

16. In this story, Nene portrays the character of a modern
Nigerian woman. She represents the new generation of
Nigerian. She is no longer tied to the traditional practices of
her tribe. She is more open-minded and thinks in a more
different perspective.