Ibo Culture

trial: “There were many women, but they looked on from the fringe, like outsiders” (Achebe 87). While seeming to be at least part of the ceremony, in actuality the women were little more than tokens, being present without actually participating. They may have been curious, but they didn’t allow that curiosity to manifest into something more than meek compliance. In the trial portrayed in the novel, a man, who had obviously been battering his wife, was trying to convince the egwugwu to force his wife, who had left him and was living with her in-laws, to come back to him. However, the wife was not even allowed to defend herself, and was obligated to allow her male relatives to defend her to the egwugwu: “ ‘Let us hear Odukwe [the brother]. His words may also be good’ ” (Achebe 91). It was not even considered to ask the woman about her side of the story; it was immediately assumed that the brother would voice in his sister’s defense. She was considered substandard, and the Ibo believed she would not have the ability to defend her own self. Another example of how women, because of their perceived “inferiority,” did not partake fully in rituals was that they did not play a major role in their own wedding rituals, such as bride-price negotiations. In the bride-price negotiations of Obierika’s daughter, she was required to present herself as shy yet marriageable, and could not act more than submissive in front of her future husband: Her suitor and his relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe… When she had shaken hands, or rather held out her hand to be shaken, she returned to her mother’s hut to help with the cooking. (Achebe 71) By not even instigating a handshake, Obierika’s daughter was trying to portray that she was docile and subservient. She returned to her mother’s hut, as it would be unseemly for her to participate in her own marriage negotiations because it would seem too aggressive. Therefore, the daughter didn’t have any voice or opinion on her future spouse, so she wasn’t able to object to any flawed qualities he may have had. Since the Ibo did not trust her judgment, she had to depend on the assessment of her male relatives over her own. It is no wonder that the women of the Ibo people were the epitome of humility; in reflecting the opinion of their culture by being acquiescent, Ibo women did not involve themselves in the many ceremonies that defined the Ibo culture.