For two days after Ikemefuna's death, Okonkwo cannot eat or sleep; his thoughts return again and again to the boy who was like a son to him. On the third day, when his favorite daughter Ezinma brings him the food he finally requested, he wishes to himself that she was a boy. He wonders with disgust how a man with his battle record can react like a woman over the death of a boy.
Okonkwo visits his friend Obierika, hoping to escape thoughts of Ikemefuna. He praises Obierika's son Maduka for his victory in the wrestling match and complains about his own son's wrestling skills and mentally likens him to his own weak father, Unoka. To counter these thoughts with a manly deed of his own, Okonkwo asks his friend why he didn't join the other men in the sacrifice of Ikemefuna. Obierika replies that he "had something better to do." He expresses his disapproval of Okonkwo's role in killing Ikemefuna. The act, he says, will upset the Earth, and the earth goddess will get her revenge.
