Things Fall Apart: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

People are struck by Okonkwo's roughness in dealing with less successful men. An old man uses the following proverb to describe him: “Looking at a king's mouth, one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast.” A week earlier, a man with no titles contradicted Okonkwo at a meeting, and Okonkwo responded that the meeting was for men. Everyone took sides with the other man, and Okonkwo apologized before the meeting continued.

Okonkwo struggled against poverty and misfortune, earning success at an early age as the greatest wrestler in the land. The narrator asserts that this wasn't luck. At most, one could say that Okonkwo's personal god or chi was good, but the Ibo proverb says that “when a man says yes his chi says yes also.” The clan chooses Okonkwo to carry a message of war to the Mbaino unless they agree to give up a young man and a virgin to make up for the murder of Udo's wife.

The virgin is given to Udo as a wife, and Ikemefuna is placed in Okonkwo's care until the clan can decide what to do with him, which ends up taking three years. Ikemefuna is afraid at first, even though Nwoye's mother treats him kindly. When Okonkwo hears that Ikemefuna is refusing to eat, he stands over Ikemefuna with a big stick while he eats. Ikemefuna becomes sick for three weeks, but when he recovers, he's no longer afraid or sad.

Ikemefuna becomes popular in the household, and he grows very close with Nwoye in particular. Even Okonkwo grows fond of Ikemefuna, though he refuses to show it, since he believes that showing affection is a sign of weakness. However, he lets Ikemefuna accompany him to big village meetings or ancestral feasts, and Ikemefuna calls him father.

Ikemefuna came to the household only a few days before the Week of Peace, during which no work is done and no violence is tolerated in anticipation of the planting season. However, Okonkwo is provoked when his youngest wife goes to a friend's house and doesn't return in time to cook the afternoon meal. He beats her heavily when she returns, breaking the peace of the sacred week. The priest of the earth goddess, Ani, berates him and commands that he bring sacrifices to Ani's shrine to repent. Okonkwo does so and feels apologetic; however, he doesn't tell his neighbors this, and they conclude that he doesn't respect the gods of the clan. Everyone gossips about the transgression over the week.

After the Week of Peace, Okonkwo begins preparing his seed-yams for planting. Nwoye and Ikemefuna help by counting, and occasionally Okonkwo allows them to prepare a few yams each. However, he always finds fault in their efforts and berates them, even though he knows they're too young to fully grasp the art of preparing seed-yams. Still, because yams are a measure of manliness and ability, Okonkwo wants his son to start early.

The planting of yams—“the king of crops”—begins, and is very labor intensive. The men plant them, and then as the rain grows heavier, women plant other crops between the yam mounds—maize, melons, and beans. As the rain increases even more and the village rainmaker no longer claims to be able to intervene without danger to his health, children sit inside and listen to stories. The heavy rain season brings a brief period of rest between planting and harvest.

Ikemefuna feels like a member of the family, telling his own folktales from the Mbaino. He and Nwoye have become very close. Nwoye looks back on this period fondly. As the rain lightens and children go out to play, they sing a song about someone named Nnadi cooking and eating alone as the rain is falling. Nwoye wonders why Nnadi should live by himself and concludes that he belongs in the land of Ikemefuna's favorite folktale.