In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Achebe places emphasis on the importance of yams to Okonkwo's Igbo clan within Umuofia. Yams are the essential crop within Umuofia; the yam is a crucial staple in the Igbo diet. The number of yams a man successfully grows indicates his wealth and rank within the society. Additionally, the cultivation of yams is associated with masculinity: "Yam, the king of crops, was a man's crop" (23). Okonkwo takes great pride in his ability to grow this important crop, and uses his skills as a way to display his own manly prowess. Early in the novel, Okonkwo chastises Nwoye for the way that he handles yams, threatening to physically harm his son. After this threat, Achebe writes:

"Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing seed-yams. But he thought that one could not begin too early. Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed" (33).

Yams are of such important to Okonkwo's tribe that there is a festival to celebrate the harvest of yams, The Feast of the New Yam:

"The Feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began, to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan.... The new year must begin with tasty, fresh yams and not the shriveled rand fibrous crop of the previous year" (36).

The yam is incredibly vital to the clan, and more specifically to the traditions of masculinity associated with the tuber.