Marriage is a Private Affair Literary Elements

Short story; realistic fiction.

The story is set in Lagos, Nigeria and an unnamed Ibo village in the 1950s.

The story is narrated by an unnamed third-person omniscient narrator; the point of view switches between characters.

The tone is matter-of-fact; the mood is melancholy.

The protagonist is Okeke; the antagonists include his son Nnaemeka and his son's wife Nene.

The major conflict in the story is that Okeke disowns his son after his son chooses to marry for love rather than go through with Okeke's plan for an arranged marriage. Nnaemeka holds out hope that his father will change his attitude and accept the union, but Okeke stays obstinate in his prejudice for many years.

The story reaches its climax when Okeke learns that his grandsons want to meet him, a revelation that causes Okeke to feel remorse for refusing to have anything to do with his son and his daughter-in-law.

Nnaemeka's reluctance to tell his father about his engagement to Nene foreshadows the old man's refusal to accept their union.

Okeke makes an allusion to the Christian Bible when he tells his son that Saint Paul dictated in his epistle to the Corinthians that women should be silent.