In Chinua Achebe's short story, "Marriage is a Private Affair," Okeke is Nene's father-in-law, who refuses to have anything to do with her after she married his son, Nnaemeka. Nnaemeka is a young Igbo man from the country, who travels to Lagos, where he meets and falls in love with Nene. Nene hails from the cosmopolitan city of Lagos and laughs when Nnaemeka tries to explain to her how upset his father will be that he rejected traditional marriage customs and got engaged. When Nnaemeka travels home to tell his father, Okeke, that he is engaged to a woman named Nene, Okeke is deeply hurt by his son's decision and shuns him for eight years. Okeke even refuses to accept Nnaemeka and Nene's wedding photo and sends it back to them mutilated. After eight years of marriage, Nene writes a letter to her father-in-law asking him to allow Nnaemeka to bring their two sons to visit him. The story ends on a positive note with Okeke thinking about meeting his grandsons for the first time and experiencing a change of heart.