“Ekwefi knelt beside the sick child, occasionally feeling with her palm the wet, burning forehead.
Ezinma was an only child and the centre of her mother's world. Very often it was Ezinma who decided what food her mother should prepare. Ekwefi even gave her such delicacies as eggs, which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal. One day as Ezinma was eating an egg Okonkwo had come in unexpectedly from his hut. He was greatly shocked and swore to beat Ekwefi if she dared to give the child eggs again. But it was impossible to refuse Ezinma anything. After her father's rebuke she developed an even keener appetite for eggs. And she enjoyed above all the secrecy in which she now ate them. Her mother always took her into their bedroom and shut the door.
Ezinma did not call her mother Nne like all children. She called her by her name, Ekwefi, as her father and other grownup people did. The relationship between them was not only that of mother and child. There was something in it like the companionship of equals, which was strengthened by such little conspiracies as eating eggs in the bedroom.
Ekwefi had suffered a good deal in her life. She had borne ten children and nine of them had died in infancy, usually before the age of three. As she buried one child after another her sorrow gave way to despair and then to grim resignation. The birth of her children, which should be a woman's crowning glory, became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise. The naming ceremony after seven market weeks became an empty ritual. Her deepening despair found expression in the names she gave her children. One of them was a pathetic cry, Onwumbiko--
"Death, I implore you." But Death took no notice,- Onwumbiko died in his fifteenth month. The next child was a girl, Ozoemena--
"May it not happen again." She died in her eleventh month, and two others after her. Ekwefi then became defiant and called her next child Onwuma--
"Death may please himself." And he did.
After the death of Ekwefi's second child, Okonkwo had gone to a medicine man, who was also a diviner of the Afa Oracle, to enquire what was amiss. This man told him that the child was an ogbanje, one of those wicked children who, when they died, entered their mothers' wombs to be born again.
"When your wife becomes pregnant again," he said, "let her not sleep in her hut. Let her go and stay with her people. In that way she will elude her wicked tormentor and break its evil cycle of birth and death."
Ekwefi did as she was asked. As soon as she became pregnant she went to live with her old mother in another village. It was there that her third child was born and circumcised on the eighth day.
She did not return to Okonkwo's compound until three days before the naming ceremony. The child was called Onwumbiko.
Onwumbiko was not given proper burial when he died. Okonkwo had called in another medicine man who was famous in the clan for his great knowledge about ogbanje children. His name was Okagbue Uyanwa. Okagbue was a very striking figure, tall, with a full beard and a bald head. He was light in complexion and his eyes were red and fiery. He always gnashed his teeth as he listened to those who came to consult him. He asked Okonkwo a few questions about the dead child. All the neighbours and relations who had come to mourn gathered round them” (101-103).
The relationship between Ekwefi and Ezinma shows not inequality, but the effects of it. Ekwefi who is one of Okonkwo’s wives shows a close relationship with her only daughter. This close relationship isn’t typical because their relationship is rather close because Ekwefi had so many children who previously died during infancy. Because Okonkwo has multiple wives and he’s barely ever there for Ekwefi, she values her daughter because they have each other, in which they must survive together. It’s basically the championship that Ekwefi loves about Ezinma. Not to mention she’s the only child that managed to survive; but because Ekwefi is basically scared of that Ezinma’s sickness may cause death – she’s scared that she’ll lose her only true friend in the world she can depend on. Since Okonkwo has multiple wives and children, whenever a new wife was introduced, the other wife did not hold animosity towards the other. This is because Okonkwo is known for power, he beats his wives whenever he’s angered causing them to have to band together in order to tell each other everything will be fine. This demonstrates the inequality and powerless Okonkwo’s wives have because they had no choice but to marry Okonkwo and they all have to face his abusiveness. They can’t run away because Okonkwo is the chief of the tribe and nor can they go against him or they’ll be murdered. They’re basically trapped since they depend on Okonkwo to survive.
This is important because women were known as inferior and in some countries still are, they are forced to come together because they have nothing else. Men who had the power could constantly abuse them because they could. Also, women couldn’t do anything about it because society had disallowed them from acquiring any source of power; thus they were belittled into following everything they were told to do. No matter how much they wanted to talk back or go against their husbands, they couldn’t because they would be killed. As a result, women needed to form together in order to go against the regime and fight for their freedom – they all had the same cause and purpose for doing so, which indicated that their only choice was to have faith in each other, not hatred.
Inequality had negative effects on women because they wanted to have jobs and roles just like men had. They were capable of doing the same things, and yet they were looked down upon. In some places today, they still are because men don’t want them to acquire power. In fact, it took so long for America to finally allow them to work in places considered too masculine or a man’s job. Thus, they create their own unions and meetings in order to establish their own power and role in society – clearly they want to be equal to men, not discriminated against because they’re weak – when in actuality they’re not.
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