Chapte Ten

This chapter was kind of random I thought, because it was again, as normal, about the culture. But what I am a little confused about was, do they have a trial that is held at only specific times or how does it work? I understood it as only being held at specific times because they went through the introductions of the egwugwu while the women and children run in fear, only to return moments later and then the trial began. Egwugwus are “masqueraders who impersonate one of the ancestral spirits of the village,” who also are the judges of the trials. It only goes into detail about one trial, but says that other took place afterwards. The main trial was about a guy who beat his wife, and the wife’s kinsmen took her and her children to their home to protect her from the husband. The egwugwu shrug this of as it being normal, and say for the husband to plead for his wife back and he must take them a pot of wine. Some one even says, “ I don’t know why such a trifle should come before the egwugwu.” So I feel this chapter is pointless because it has nothing to do with Okonkwo or his family, it only states that he is one of the egwugwu. And lastly, I have never heard of this kind of system of judgment before, yes we have Judgment Day, but in this culture, they come when a dispute takes place.