Chapter Eight
After two days of fasting, Okonkwo drinks palm‑wine nonstop, feels feeble, and finally accepts plantains prepared by his second wife Ekwefi. His ten‑year‑old daughter Ezinma brings the food, water, and his goatskin bag. While searching the bag he finds his snuff‑bottle, a drinking horn, a gourd, and an ivory snuff‑spoon, and uses the spoon to take snuff, repeatedly thinking “She should have been a boy.” He laments his shivering state, questions his manhood, and then goes to see his friend Obierika.
Obierika is making thatch under an orange tree. They greet each other, and Obierika mentions his daughter’s suitor and the pending bride‑price. Their conversation turns to Okonkwo’s children: he worries about Nwoye’s laziness, admires Obierika’s son Maduka’s wrestling prowess, and envies having a son like Maduka. He repeats that Ezinma would be happier if she were a boy. Obierika defends Okonkwo’s concerns; they discuss the recent killing of Ikemefuna, each denying responsibility for the Oracle’s decree.
Ofoedu arrives with news of Ogbuefi Ndulue’s death in Ire village. He explains that Ndulue’s eldest wife Ozoemena, though old, was called to his side; after she knelt and called his name three times, she died instantly, and the drum had not been beaten because she died before the funeral could be announced. The men note the legend that Ndulue and Ozoemena acted as one mind.
Restless, Okonkwo decides to tap his palm trees. He mentions his tapper Umezulike and Obierika muses about the ozo title, lamenting that other clans allow titled men to climb trees. They compare the esteem of ozo across villages, joking that in some places it is worth less than two cowries.
Later Okonkwo returns to Obierika’s compound for the bride‑price ceremony. The suitor Ibe, his father Ukegbu, and uncle are present, along with Obierika’s brothers and his son Maduka. Akueke, the bride‑to‑be, arrives with a wooden dish of three kola nuts and alligator pepper, wearing cam‑wood body paint, a black necklace, red‑yellow bangles, and several rows of jigida waist‑beads. Her mother warns her to remove the jigida before fire. The men drink palm‑wine; Ibe boasts of his tapping skill and receives a horn from Okonkwo.
The bride‑price is negotiated using bundles of short broomsticks. Ukegbu first counts thirty sticks; after a private discussion he returns with fifteen. Obierika’s brother Machi adds ten, raising the total to twenty‑five, then declares the final price as twenty bags of cowries. The negotiation ends at dusk, and women bring foo‑foo, soup, and more palm‑wine.
While eating, the men compare marriage customs of neighboring clans: in Abame and Aninta the ozo title is devalued and men climb trees; in Umunso bride‑price is paid solely in cowries; some tribes claim children belong to the mother’s family. They mock white men’s oddities, mentioning a leper known as Amadi, called “the white skin.” The chapter closes with the men’s laughter and continued conversation about customs.