How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Amatokwu's new wife is expecting another child, so I am sure he would welcome the return of Nnu Ego's bride price. He'll need it to pay for another woman, or else at the rate he is going he will kill his present wife."
[…]
It was with pride that Nwokocha Agbadi returned the twenty bags of cowries to his former son-in-law and he even added a live goat as a token of insult. (3.80, 96)
A divorce is easy to obtain in Ibo society, as long as the father of the bride is willing to return the bride price to the family of the groom.
Quote #5
Nnaife maintained that it was his duty to go and see to his dead brother's wife and family. He had to go and thank Adankwo, he said, for the help she had given Nnu Ego. But Nnu Ego was far from deceived at this explanation. She knew that Nnaife's pride was wounded when he found out that Adaku had left his house; from all the rumours people had been supplying him with, h e knew that the young woman was doing very well without him. Nnu Ego suspected that he wanted to go home to make Adankwo his wife in the normal traditional way. This woman belonged to him by right of inheritance, but that right had never been exercised. Now Nnaife wanted to stake his claim. (15.122)
Despite the fact that Nnaife still has Nnu Ego, his pride is hurt by Adaku's defection. He intends to make himself feel like a man again by getting Adankwo pregnant. By tradition, he inherited all his brother's wives and children upon his brother's death.
Quote #6
Her parents insisted on having nothing less than thirty ponds for their daughter; had not Nnaife brought home all the white man's money from the war? Not to hurt the feelings of his people, Nnaife paid this money, making the Owulum family feel proud of the fact that their son, who had been to the war, was one of the first people to set the pace for things to come. He paid thirty pounds for his woman instead of the usual twenty pounds stipulated by Ibuza custom. Some of the old people who heard of it simply shook their heads and predicted: "Things are not going to be the same anymore." They were right. (15.130)
By paying more than the usual bride price amount for his latest wife, Okpo, Nnaife sets a high standard that will make marriage increasingly difficult to afford. But Nnaife doesn't think of the potential consequences to all of society, he thinks only of his pride.