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Chapter 6 Summary and Analysis
This chapter consists entirely of a recreation of all the wrestling matches at the Feast of the New Yam, one of the most important traditions in Igbo culture. Young men of the nine villages come to prove themselves in the ring and build their reputations. Okonkwo was once one of these boys (a fact which is not forgotten). During the matches, Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, comes up to Ekwefi, asking about her daughter Ezinma, whom Chielo affectionately calls "my daughter." In her everyday life, Chielo is a widow who shares a stall with Ekwefi at the market, but when she feels the spirit of Agbala inside her, she becomes the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. She will show an even greater interest in Ezinma in the chapters to come.
The celebratory villagers use hyperbole when they ask, "Has he thrown a hundred Cats? / He has thrown four hundred Cats," which the reader of course knows not to be true, because Okafo, the boy they're singing about, has only fought one match that we've seen.
Motifs
Drums. Achebe continues to build on...
(The entire section is 376 words.)