CHAPTER ONE
Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame
rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought
honour to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. Amalinze was the great wrestler
who for seven years was unbeaten, from Umuofia to Mbaino. He was called the Cat
because his back would never touch the earth. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a
fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town
engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights.
The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath.
Amalinze was a wily craftsman, but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. Every
nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms, on their backs and their thighs, and one
almost heard them stretching to breaking point. In the end Okonkwo threw the Cat.
That was many years ago, twenty years or more, and during this time Okonkwo's
fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan. He was tall and huge, and his bushy
eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look. He breathed heavily, and it was
said that, when he slept, his wives and children in their houses could hear him breathe.
When he walked, his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on
springs, as if he was going to pounce on somebody. And he did pounce on people quite
often. He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words
out quickly enough, he would use his fists. He had no patience with unsuccessful men.
He had had no patience with his father.
Unoka, for that was his father's name, had died ten years ago. In his day he was
lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow. If any
money came his way, and it seldom did, he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine,
called round his neighbours and made merry. He always said that whenever he saw a
dead man's mouth he saw the folly of not eating what one had in one's lifetime. Unoka
was, of course, a debtor, and he owed every neighbour some money, from a few cowries
to quite substantial amounts.