Why does the author spend an entire chapter describing Obierika’s daughter’s uri in ‘Things Fall Apart’?

Certainly, the chapter initially does not seem to add much to driving the actual plot of the novel. However, this chapter serves two key functions. First, Achebe uses this chapter to incorporate a vivid portrayal of a ceremony that most Western readers would know nothing about:

“On the following morning the entire neighborhood wore a festive air because Okonkwo’s friend, Obierika, was celebrating his daughter’s uri. It was the day on which her suitor (having already paid the greater part of her bride-price) would bring palm-wine not only to her parents and immediate relatives but to the wide and extensive group of kinsmen called Umunna”.

Achebe uses this chapter to illustrate a traditional Igbo ceremony, and thus add verisimilitude to his novel. By bringing in this element, Achebe incorporates an authentically Igbo perspective.

Next, this chapter, which has a largely celebratory tone, is a striking juxtaposition when compared to the chapter that follows it, in which Okonkwo inadvertently kills a fellow kinsman and is forced into exile. The ceremony is a proverbial calm before the storm; it lulls readers into a false sense of security, only to show them how Okonkwo’s life changes forever in the next chapter. These are two reasons that Achebe focuses so much attention on Obierika’s daughter’s uri.