Read the excerpt from "Marriage Is a Private Affair" by Chinua Achebe.Nnaemeka, for his own part, was very deeply affected by his father’s grief. But he kept hoping that it would pass away. If it had occurred to him that never in the history of his people had a man married a woman who spoke a different tongue, he might have been less optimistic. "It has never been heard,” was the verdict of an old man speaking a few weeks later. In that short sentence he spoke for all of his people. This man had come with others to commiserate with Okeke when news went round about his son’s behaviour. By that time the son had gone back to Lagos."It has never been heard,” said the old man again with a sad shake of his head."What did Our Lord say?” asked another gentleman. "Sons shall rise against their fathers; it is there in the Holy Book.”"It is the beginning of the end,” said another.
Answer
A
the rejection of religious teachings
B
the mandate to marry within one's tribe
C
Nnaemeka's eagerness to return to the city
D
Okeke's pride in being a patriarch
Explanation
The old man says that no man in their people’s history has married a woman who speaks a different language, and he treats Nnaemeka’s choice as a serious break with tradition. The elders’ reactions show that the community expects people to marry within their tribe. This supports “the mandate to marry within one's tribe,” not a rejection of religion or a focus on Nnaemeka’s return to the city.
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