Wrestling was the sport that men did in Umuofia. It was very important to them and so the whole village had to gather around to be an audience and cheer on the teams. Whoever was proved to be the strongest "men carried him shoulder high and danced through the cheering crowd" (47). This was such and important event for everyone that after the match they would sing praise to the victorius young man.
Then, readers see how important it was for the men to work. This is nothing out of the ordinary compared to todays world, but in the story, women weren't supposed to work at all because men were the head of the household. And so this takes me to the point that these men had to be firm in their emotions. Okonkwo's newest member of the family, Ikemefuna had to b killed because "The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it"(57). This meant that Okonkwo couldn't do anything to stop the villagers from killing the kid. However, when the time came, the men asked Okonkwo to kill the him and he did because "He was afraid of being thought weak"(61). This is extremely important because that is how people used to think during those times. If Okonkwo had refused to kill Ikemefuna, he was most likely going to be "tormented" by the spirits because he was a weak man--and a weak man cannot be a leader.
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