Chapter One
He [Okonkwo] had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists. (1.3)
Chapter Two
“Umuofia kwenu,” he bellowed a fifth time, and the crowd yelled in answer. And then suddenly like one possessed he shot out his left hand a pointed in the direction of Mbaino, and said...
Chapter Three
His father, Unoka, who was then an ailing man, had said to him during that terrible harvest month: “Do not despair. I know you will not despair. You have a manly and a proud heart. A proud he...
Chapter Four
Okonkwo did as the priest said. He also took with him a pot of palm-wine. Inwardly, he was repentant. But he was not the man to go about telling his neighbors that he was in error. And so people sa...
Chapter Five
The drums were still beating, persistent and unchanging. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. It was like the pulsation of its heart. It throbbed in the air, in the s...
Chapter Six
Okafo was swept off his feet by his supporters and carried home shoulder high. They sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands: “Who will wrestle for our village? Okafo will wres...
Chapter Seven
Then quite suddenly a thought came upon him. His mother might be dead. He tried in vain to force the thought out of his mind. Then he tried to settle the matter the way he used to settle such matte...
Chapter Eight
As the men drank, they talked about everything except the thing for which they had gathered. It was only after the pot had been emptied that the suitor’s father cleared his voice and announce...
Chapter Nine
Okonkwo returned when he felt the medicine had cooked long enough… “Bring me a low stool for Ezinma,” he said, “and a thick mat.” He took down the pot from the fire an...
Chapter Ten
“Uzowulu’s body, I salute you,” he said. Spirits always addressed humans as “bodies.” Uzowulu bent down and touched the earth with his right hand as a sign of submissi...
Chapter Eleven
The priestess screamed. “Beware, Okonkwo!” she warned. Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!” (11.32)
Chapter Twelve
[Obierika]: “We are giving you our daughter today. She will be a good wife to you. She will bear you nine sons like the mother of our town.” [The crowd]: “Ee-e-e!” The oldes...
Chapter Thirteen
[Obierika on Okonkwo’s exile]: Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently? But although he thought for a long time he found no answer. He was merely l...
Chapter Fourteen
[Uchendu]: “Is it right that you, Okonkwo, should bring to your mother a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead. Your duty is to comfort your wives an...
Chapter Fifteen
“There is no story that is not true,” said Uchendu. (15.30)
Chapter Sixteen
But there was a young lad who had been captivated. His name was Nwoye, Okonkwo’s first son. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. He did not understand it. It was the p...
Chapter Seventeen
[Okonkwo to Nwoye after he converts to Christianity]: “Where have you been?” he stammered Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip. “Answer me,” roared Okonkwo,...
Chapter Eighteen
Perhaps it never did happen. That was the way the clan at first looked at it. No one had actually seen the man do it. The story had a risen among the Christians themselves. (18.18)
Chapter Nineteen
Ekwefi rose early on the following morning and went to her farm with her daughter, Ezinma, and Ojiugo’s daughter, Obiageli, to harvest cassava tubers. Each of them carried a long cane basket,...
Chapter Twenty
[Obierika]: “In the end Oduche died and Aneto was taken to Umuru and hanged. The other people were released, but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering.&...
Chapter Twenty-One
He [Mr. Brown] had just send Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye, who was now called Isaac, to the new training college for teachers in Umuru. (21.22)
Chapter Twenty-Two
Mr. Smith said to his interpreter: “Tell them to go away from here. This is the house of God and I will not live to see it desecrated.” Okeke interpreted wisely to the spirits and leade...
Chapter Twenty-Three
[Okonkwo]: “An Umuofia man does not refuse a call,” he said. “He may refuse to do what he is asked; he does not refuse to be asked.” (23.6)
Chapter Twenty-Four
Okudo sang a war song in a way that no other man could. He was not a fighter, but his voice turned every man into a lion. (24.7)
Chapter Twenty-Five
He [the Commissioner] had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. (25.22)