Nnaemeka, for his own part, was very deeply affected by his father’s grief. But he kept hoping that it would pass away. If it ha
d occurred to him that never in the history of his people had a man married a woman who spoke a different tongue, he might have been less optimistic. “It has never been heard,” was the verdict of an old man speaking a few weeks later. In that short sentence he spoke for all of his people. This man had come with others to commiserate with Okeke when news went round about his son’s behavior. By that time the son had gone back to Lagos. Discuss how the passage illustrates a cultural dilemma.
Responses may vary but should include some or all of the following information:
Nnaemeka is a young man in love who had expected his father to object to his marriage to a woman from another tribe, but he seems unaware of how deep that tradition goes and how hard a barrier that may be to break down. We also see others in his native village becoming involved in the dilemma and siding with the father. Nnaemeka and his young bride, Nene, return to Lagos where the tribes intermix much more freely than in the villages, which tend to remain more insular and only marry within their own tribe (and language).
