Summary

“A Man Needs Many Wives” - This chapter begins with the comment that “humans, being what we are, tend to forget the most unsavoury experiences of life, and Nnu Ego and her sons forgot all the suffering they had gone through when Nnaife was away” (110). The family celebrates both Nnaife’s return and the naming of the new baby (Adim) with an expensive party, including alcohol, good food, and new clothes. After the celebrations, life settles into a new routine, with Nnaife spending so much time playing the old guitar instead of looking for a new job that Nnu Ego starts worrying about their money running out.

A few months later, the family receives news that Nnaife’s older brother, the one who had brought Nnu Ego to Lagos, had died, leaving behind several wives and children. Nnu Ego immediately starts worrying that...