Chapter Fifteen

During Okonkwo's second year in exile, Obierika came to visit him. He gave him the cowries that he had made from putting up Okonkwo's fields to sharecropping. After going to Uchendu's house to greet him, Obierika informed them of the village of Abame's demise. They explained that this happened because a white man came to their village. He came on an iron horse. It took me a really long time to figure out that this was a bicycle, I had no idea what they were talking about. The elders consulted the Oracle and determined that they must kill the white man before their clan was destroyed. More white men came and saw the tied up "iron horse." They came back later with a large group of people. They shot and killed everyone that was in the market that day. Uchendu was very upset that they killed the first guy before he had said anything. Apparently that is a bad omen. After that, the men basically spend some time catching up on what is going on in each other's lives. I found it kind of interesting that Okonkwo said that they should have been prepared after they had received a warning. After all, wasn't he warned not to kill Ikemefuna, yet he did it anyway?