Okonkwo appears suddenly before dawn. He decides to wait with Ekwefi outside the Oracle's cave.
Subtly, Okonkwo could be considered to be waiting for both Ekwefi and Ezinma, as he might consider it unmanly to wait for Ezinma, but would consider it manly to support Ekwefi as she waited for their daughter.
Eventually both the priestess and Ezinma appear.
Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, appears in front of Ekwefi as she waits tearfully outside Agbala's cave. Chielo eventually takes Ezinma, Ekwefi's daughter, with her into the cave for a special ceremony.
Okonkwo appears suddenly before dawn. He decides to wait with Ekwefi outside the Oracle's cave.
Subtly, Okonkwo could be considered to be waiting for both Ekwefi and Ezinma, as he might consider it unmanly to wait for Ezinma, but would consider it manly to support Ekwefi as she waited for their daughter.
Okonkwo is the first to appear. Eventually Chielo appears with Ezinma sleeping on her back.
Ekwefi follows Chielo as she goes to the other village and finally back to her cave. She then waits outside the cave, not daring to invoke the god's wrath upon herself. While she is following Chielo and Ezinma, Ekwefi tries to take care not to be discovered by Chielo, and thus displease the gods.
Ekwefi was first married to Anene, a man she did not love, for two years. Nine of ten children that she bore died in childbirth, while Okonkwo's other wives had many healthy children. Ekwefi was occasionally beat by Okonkwo. Ekwefi was nearly shot by Okonkwo's gun when he was in a rage. Ekwefi had to let her child go with Chielo in the middle of the night as Ekwefi worried about her.
Ezinma was an ogbanje child and Ekwefi is her mother. Since an ogbanje child is on whom dies but comes back to cause the mother pain, this shows that this was what Ezinma was supposed to do. Ezinma is the only child Ekwefi had and this was why. Because she is the only child, Ezinma and Ekwefi are very close.
Chielo is friends with Ekwefi, and they get along well. Chielo sometimes gives bean cakes to Ekwefi to give to Ezinma. However, when Chielo becomes the priestess, she becomes like a completely separate person with no empathetic relationship with Ekwefi. Ekwefi is afraid of this incarnation of Chielo.
This event did not happen. Ekwefi was still alive when Okonkwo hung himself. However, many of Ekwefi's children had died before.
Ekwefi decided to follow the priestess who was taking Ezinma to see Agbala.
Ekwefi loses 9 of her 10 children in infancy.
It appears that men offer proposals to the women and they decline or accept. This is shown when both Ezinma and Obiageli refuse marriage proposal in Mbanta in favor of marrying in Umuofia.A further consideration is whether the man has enough money to pay the bride-price. Okonkwo was unable to pay the bride-price for Ekwefi when he was young, and Ekwefi subsequently ran off to him years later. It is unknown if any consideration was paid to Ekwefi's former husband by Okonkwo.
Ekwefi recoils from Chielo because Chielo embodies the spirit of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. Agbala is a powerful and feared deity that commands respect and obedience from the villagers. Ekwefi, like others, is in awe of Agbala's spiritual and mystical presence.
Okonkwo originally wanted Ekwefi for his first wife, but did not have the money. It appears that the two are more together for love, whereas the other marriages were originally marriages of convenience and business.
This is inaccurate. Ekwefi gets pregnant often, but her children do not live long into infancy.
Ezinma means everything to her mother because she is her only surviving child out of ten pregnancies, and she is her hope for the future. Her mother sees Ezinma as a source of pride and strength, and relies on her for emotional support and companionship.