Up to this point, Achebe has established some of the greater social rankings of the Igbo culture. Men seem to be at the pinnacle of leadership. The narrator begins the story by commenting on the struggles and successes of men in Okonkwo’s life, establishing what seems to be a predetermined order. It is this status that I am choosing to question. Ekwefi is established as a “weak” character in Igbo terms, though her sadness, due to the loss of children, makes her no different from many other Igbo women. “Cheilo too, in fact, was a widow with two children in her ordinary life” (49). However, it is only outside of that life that we see the powerful woman among the Igbo tribe members. As the Priestess of Agbala her words come second to none, even those of men in highest power. But, conversing with Ekwefi, we just as easily see their vulnerability.
Had the oracle been the Priest of Agbala, how would attitudes towards the character change? Would he lead no separate “ordinary life”?
