The Wrestling Match Chapter Summary & Analysis | Chapters 1 and 2

Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

Buchi Emecheta's novella The Wrestling Match tells the coming of age story of a young Nigerian boy, Okei, in a culture that had been nearly destroyed by war in the 1960s.

The story opens during the early evening in a Nigerian village, and all the vendors and buyers have left the market to return to their homes. In the compound of one of the villagers, Obi Agiliga, a woman yells at a boy about his ungrateful attitude. Nne Ojo is Obi Agilaga's senior wife and involved in another screaming match with her sixteen-year-old nephew, Okei, who lives in the compound.

Okei's parents were murdered during the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s, and Okei has been living with his uncle since that time. Without his immediate family, Okei drifts through life, and no one helps him address his anger, which erupts in violent outbursts or exhibits through listlessness.

Nne...
(read more)