Read the excerpt from "Marriage Is a Private Affair" by
Chinua Achebe.
Nnaemeka, for his own part, was very deeply affected
by his father's grief. But he kept hoping that it would
pass away. If it had occurred to him that never in the
history of his people had a man married a woman who
spoke a different tongue, he might have been less
optimistic. "It has never been heard," was the verdict of
an old man speaking a few weeks later. In that short
sentence he spoke for all of his people. This man had
come with others to commiserate with Okeke when
news went round about his son's behaviour. By that time
the son had gone back to Lagos.
A
"It has never been heard," said the old man again with a
sad shake of his head.
"What did Our Lord say?" asked another gentleman.
"Sons shall rise against their fathers; it is there in the
What cultural value does this excerpt of the text best
reveal?
O the rejection of religious teachings
O the mandate to marry within one's tribe
O Nnaemeka's eagerness to return to the city
O Okeke's pride in being a patriarch