A year later, one of the osu converts named Okoli is rumored to have killed the sacred python, the clan's most respected animal. The clan rulers and elders gather in Mbanta to decide on a punishment for the crime that they believed would never happen. Okonkwo, who has gained a leadership role in his motherland, believes the clan should react with violence, but the elders opt more peacefully to exclude church members from all aspects of clan life, much to Okonkwo's disgust.
The proclamation of exclusion keeps the Christians from the market, the stream, the chalk quarry, and the red earth pit. From the beginning, Okoli denies killing the python, but then he cannot speak for himself because he is ill; by the end of the day, he dies. The villagers see his death as an act of revenge by the gods, so they agree not to bother the Christians.
