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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.

"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 Holy Book.”

"It is the beginning of the end,” said another.

What cultural value does this excerpt of the text best reveal?

the rejection of religious teachings
the mandate to marry within one's tribe
Nnaemeka's eagerness to return to the city
Okeke's pride in being a patriarch

2 Answers

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Answer: The right answer is the mandate to marry within one's tribe. Even though Nnaemeka knew that his decision to marry a woman from another tribe would upset his father, he thought that his annoyance would eventually pass away.

Step-by-step explanation:

User Mathime
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The right answer is the mandate to marry within one's tribe. Even though Nnaemeka knew that his decision to marry a woman from another tribe would upset his father, he thought that his annoyance would eventually pass away. But he had not realized that his was a decision without precedent, and this caused surprise, indignation, and sadness among his people, who, stuck to tradition, saw in Nnaemeka's act a reflection of their Lord's cautionary teachings ("Sons shall rise against their fathers") and a bad omen ("It is the beginning of the end"), hence illustrating their conviction in the mandate to marry within one's tribe.

User Giora Ron Genender
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