Question 9PASSAGE II
PASSAGE II
Okonkwo had just blown out the palm oil lamp an stretched himself on the bamboo bed she he heard the ogene of the town-crier piercing the still night air. Gome, gome, home instrument again. And this was the message. Every man of Umuofia was asked to gather at the marketplace tomorrow morning. Okonkwo wondered what was amiss. He had discerned a clear overtune of tragedy in the crier's voice, and even now he could still hear as it grew dimmer and dimmer in the distance.
In the morning, the marketplace was full. There must have been about ten thousand men there, all taking in low voices. At last, Ogbuefi Ezeugo stood up in the midst of them and bellowed four times, “Umuofia kwenu', and on each occasion he faced a different direction and he seemed to push the air with a clenched fist... He moved his hand over his white beard. He then adjusted his clitg, which was under is right armpit and tied above his left shoulder.“Umuofia kwenu', he bellowed a fifth time and the crowd yelled n answer And suddenly, like one possessed, he shot out his left hand and pointed in the direction of Mbaino, and said through gleaming white teeth firmly clenched: “Those sons of wild animals have dared to murder a daughter of Umuofia.' He threw his head down and gnashed his teeth, and allowed a murmur of suppressed anger to sweep the crowd. When he began again, the anger on his face was gone and its place a sort of smile hovered, more terrible and more sinister than the anger. And in a clear unemotional voice, he told Umuofia how their daughter and gone to the market at Mbaino and had been killed. That woman, said Ezeugo, was the wife of Ogbuefi Udo, and he pointed to a man who sat near him with a bowed head. The crowd then shouted with anger and thrist for blood.
The people referred to as “the sons of wild animals' in the passage are the
Objective