Love has fallen Apart ?
"This is not really an expression but a story about
love. In the story, from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall
Apart, the character Ofoedu tells his two friends that
Ogbuefi Ndulue of Ire village is dead. The friends
agree that it is strange that there had been, as yet,
no drum announcement of the prominent (titled)
man’s death. He was the oldest man in his village,
and the fact that no drum announcement had
sounded was a significant omission. In the
conversation that ensues, Ofoedu explains why there
was no announcement.
“Ozoemena (Ndulue’s first wife) was, as you know,
too old to attend Ndulue during his illness. His
younger wives did that. When he died this morning,
one of these women went to Ozoemena's hut and
told her. She rose from her mat, took her stick and
walked over to his obi. She knelt on her knees and
hands at the threshold and called her husband, who
was laid on a mat. ‘Ogbuefi Ndulue’, she called,
three times, and went back to her hut. When the
youngest wife went to call her again to be present at
the washing of the body, she found her lying on her
mat, dead.”
As the conversation continues, one of the friends
reveals, “It was always said that Ndulue and
Ozoemena had one mind. I remember when I was a
boy there was a song about them. He could not do
anything without telling her.” (From Chapter Eight of
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart)
For me, the fact that Ozoemena went to verify that
Ndulue had indeed done this thing – dying – and
her response, dying as well, indicates a great deal
about love and devotion in a narrative (and culture)
that appears to be mostly about male violence and
changing cultures.".....Hapi val to u all !