Things Fall Apart

As I was reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, what really stood out to me was Okonkwo's second wife, Ekwefi. Ekwefi was once acknowledged as the village beauty and married Okonkwo after defeating the Cat in a renowned wrestling match. Okonkwo is not all what he seems to be and Ekwefi finds herself and the two other wives under his aggressive rule of the household. At one point, Ekwefi was almost killed by Okonkwo's gun and beaten countless times. Regardless, Ekwefi seems to be quite peppy amongst the other wives and frequently confronts or talk back to Okonkwo. In one of the chapters, it mentioned that Ekwefi was the only wife to have the audacity to knock on Okonkwo's door after he accused her of killing a banana tree to talk things out. As expected, Okonkwo brutally beats her; however, she holds no complaints and withstands the pain which displays some masculinity within her. This trait appears more in Ekwefi's only child, Ezinma, who is Okonkwo's favorite child and I feel that Ekwefi is Okonkwo's favorite wife since not much details about the other wives are mentioned. Ekwefi has a bad history with child bearing as she was only able to born one out of ten children. Because Ekwefi has only one successful birth, Ezinma, she is extremely fond of her and would spoil her with delicacies like eggs. Ekwefi's loss made  her a stronger woman capable of withstanding Okonkwo's abuse because nothing can be as painful as the loss of her nine other children.