Chapter Nine

Chapter nine is about Okonkwo's wife, Ekwefi, and her daughter, Ezinma. I was also amazed by the affection that Okonkwo showed in the chapter. Ekwefi comes to him in tears, because Ezinma is sick, she says that she is dying. Okonkwo show affection to Ezinma by going out and collecting different herb/plants to cure her from the fever. He puts them in a pot and creates medicine for her. Once it is ready, he gets her on a stool, and the pot is set beside her, and a mat is thrown over her. Once he felt she was surrounded by enough fume he took the mat off and layed her down and she fell asleep.

This chapter also goes into detail about Ekwefi, by telling about all her lost children, that died a period of time after their birth. After many of the deaths, Okonkwo gets a medicine man who believes that the problem is an Ogbanje, an evil child that repeatedly dies and returns to its mother, causing much grief. The only way an Ogbanje(a special stone that links the ogbanje to the spirit world) will live is if its Iyi-uwa is found and destroyed. To make a long story short, they found and destroyed Ezinma's iyi-uwa, so she should live.

This chapter demonstrates a few more of their cultural beliefs, such as the belief of the evil child and their holistic medicines. I thought it was some what very interesting.