Withing the first three chapters Achebe portrays the distinctive setting of the Umuofia land and the Igbo customs. To Achebe these two characteristics were vital in correctly delineating to the audience, in order to defend and redeem the true African lifestyle. The main things of importance for the people of Umuofia is the size of one's land and yam crop. Achebe makes this evident with, "Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in his household" (11) and "...a wealthy man...who had three huge barns, nine wives and thirty children" (15). Okonkwo has been working his entire life to change the fate his father had given him by going out and starting his own yam crop as a teenager. Seeing his father's failure made him have a thirst for ultimate success, pushing Okonkwo to put a tremendous effort in his work. It seems normal to the audience that social class would be based on the success one has; however, Achebe sets the Igbo apart from the white world by emphasizing their success of the crop by the weather, "but the year had gone mad. Rain fell as it had never fallen before" (20). No canal system or other agricultural advancements are mentioned, suggesting that they solely relied on mother nature. This idea sets the time frame to be more primitive with little technology.
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