Things Fall Apart Chapter Summary 1 - 7

Chapter 1
Okonkwo is an Igbo Native from the Umuofia clan. He won the respect of all
the clan when he defeated Amalizine the Cat in a wrestling match when
younger. He earned the respect of all nine villages which make the clan. With
this win Okonkwo's tribe "Iguedo" became more important within the nine.
Although his name might be known all over the clan with respect, his father
wasn’t... Unoka, Okonkwo's father was lazy and a no one within the village, the
only thing he was good at was to play music, he borrowed a lot of money but
never paid back and as Okonkwo grew older he began to hate and feel pity for
him for being such a failure.
Chapter 2
The chapter begins with the town carrier gathering every men of the clan to
the market to inform that someone from a neighbor village (Mbaino) killed
someone's wife from the tribe when she was at the local market... Everyone
reacts angrily and send Okonkwe as a messenger because he is the greatest
warrior in the clan and everyone knows him because he has taken the head of
5 hostiles during battle to the hostile tribe in order to make a peace
arrangement before they went to a war in which Umuofia would most
certainly win because of their great reputation as warriors... The peace treaty
consisted in giving Okonkwo's tribe a Virgin and a young man. The tribe
accepts the offering and sends a Woman that would become Ogbuefi Udoe's
wife due to the elder’s choice dead wife and a young lad named ikemufuna,
this kid is sent to Okonkwo because no one knew what to do with him and he
sends Ikemufuna with his first wife. Okonkwo has treated his 3 wives and 8
children bad, and very strict, he hated everything his father had loved. Nwoye
his eldest son was the laziest of them all so he suffers a lot when his father is
nearby and has to stand all of his beatings.

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Chapter 3
This chapter tells how Okonkwo earns all of his wealth, Unoka, his father as I
told before was a failure and had many debts, the oracle said this was due to
his laziness so Okonkwo couldn't use his father to start his richness, here it is
told that Unoka died because of a swelling that in the tribe it is one of the most
shameful things that can happen to someone. If you die by this, you can’t be
buried because it would be an offense to Mother Nature so they send you to
the Evil Forrest to die. Okonwo starts his farm by asking someone already
wealthy within the clan named Nwakibie to lend him 400 seed yams (which
they used as currency in the clan) but he instead gives Okonkwo 800 because
he has always been a hard worker. He began his farm with those and 400 yams
more that a friend gave him. He suffered a lot the first time with the harvest
due to the weather and almost lost everything, but he tells that making some
of the crops survive proves the strength he had.
Chapter 4
Peace week surrounds the village, during this week there is no violence in all
the clan, this to make the crops better and bigger during the year. Ikemufuna
and Nwoye begin to make a great bond as if they were good brothers, but not
only Nwoye makes a bond with him, Okonkwo also begins to bond with this
lad, although he doesn’t show it because he says it only would only prove
weakness it is shown... Ikemufuna begins calling him father. One day Okonkwo
comes to his hut and sees there is no food on the table, soon he realizes that
one of his wives, the one who was in charge of serving him, was braiding her
hair in another hut. When he finds her, he starts to beat her hard although his
other 2 wives implore him not to. This makes him get a punishment for
interfering with the peace week. He is to sacrifice a hen, a goat, give 100
cowries (another form of currency) and give out some cloth. After the week of
peace he begins to settle the land for the crops with Ikemufuna and Nwoye,
they do a bad work and Okonwko criticizes them knowing they do not
understand farming as well as he does, at the end Ikemufuna tells some tales
from home to the Family.

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Chapter 5
Before crops are ready the village throws a feast for the New Yam which makes
everyone decorate their huts, paint themselves with creative designs and they
throw all their old yams to bring in the new ones. Okonkwo isn’t a fan of the
feasts because he thinks it’s a time for laziness. In a point of the chapter
Okonkwo beats his wife Ekwefi and then begins to get ready to begin to hunt.
His wife mocks him in a whispering voice that he has never shot his rifle and
that’s why he is so bad at it so Okonkwo turns around and shoots her, he
misses... Each year along with the Feast there is also the wrestling match in
which many years ago, Okonkwo made Ekwifi fall in love with him when he
defeated the Cat. So much that she escaped from her current husband to be
with him. In Okonkwo's hut Ezinma, Ekwefi's Daughter serves Okonkwo his
meal and as the chapter goes on Okonkwo makes notice that he really likes her
but doesn’t act like it that much. Then another two of Okonkwo's daughters
wait for him to finish his food.
Chapter 6
The Wrestling match takes place, starting with kids of 15 and 16 years. the son
of one of Okonkwo's friend wins a match and the matches keep on, some
women begin to talk one of them Ekwefi and the other one a priestess. They
talk about how a girl who has passed 10 is now "to stay." At the end of the
Chapter a guy named Okafo who won against Ikezue is to represent the Village
wrestling.

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Chapter 7
3 years have passed since Ikemufua has been under Okonkwo's care, he has
bonded with all his family and has been taken as a son for Okonkwo because
he is like a son he never had, one who worked well and wasn’t lazy as Nwoye,
although he has changed to, he has learned to be manlier throughout the years
now just to please his father. Locusts begin to appear in the tribe, thing that
happens once every generation for seven years and this is something the clan
expects because they are great to eat... People even have stories about them
and tales, Ogbuefi comes to Okonkwo's hut just to tell him that Ikemufuna
must be killed as the Oracle said, Okonkwo is sad and he is told not to interfere
with this matter. Later on he lies to Ikemufuna and to Nwoye telling them that
he will be coming back to his family... they both end sad and the journey
begins. Many men escort Ikemufuna outside the village and soon tell
Ikemufuna not to look back, he only thinks of seeing his family and mother, he
thinks she might be dead, he also thinks about his sister who might not
recognize him because he was taken when she was only 3. Then Ikemufuna
feels how a man attacks him with a machete and he turns running to Okonkwo
screaming “My father, they have killed me!" Okonwko finishes him in order to
not seem weak. When he returns home, Nwoye knows Ikemufuna had died
and felt so sad but he didn’t cry, he tells he felt this way when he heard some
cries coming from the Evil Forrest long ago from babies, babies who were sent
there because they were twins.