"On the following morning the entire neighborhood wore a festive air because Okonkwo's friend, Obierika, was celebrating his daughter's uri. It was the day on which her suitor (having already paid the greater part of her bride-price) would bring palm-wine not only to her parents and immediate relatives but to the wide and extensive group of kinsmen called umunna. Everybody had been invited-men, women and children. But it was really a woman's ceremony and the central figures were the bride and her more" (Achebe 110).
Arranged Marriages
In the novel, gender inequality is constantly exhibited. Women are considered the property of their husbands, and husbands have the ability to treat their wives however they wish; which is seen in Okonkwo's constant beating of his wives for minuscule wrongdoings. In Chapter 12, we get a taste of how men and women are brought together. Women are not given the opportunity to choose who they wish to marry based on personality, looks, etc., but rather choose a suitor who can "financially support" them based on their bride-price. This decision of a suitor is done in front of everyone and is in the public eye. Everyone helps out with the cooking of the food, and the preparation for the ceremony. Although this type of marriage proposal is done in almost every marriage in the village, it is interesting to notice that Okonkwo and Ekwefi did not take this traditional route. Okonkwo and Ekwefi fell in love but were not able to marry because of Okonkwo's financial instability at the time. Ekwefi in fact married someone wealthier, but later returned to Okonkwo when he was financially stable.
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