Okeke's objections to Nnaemeka's marriage to Nene are all based on Ibo tribe tradition in his native Nigeria. The Ibo tribe tradition is that the woman should be chosen by the father, be a "good" Christian, have training as a homemaker and, above all, be of the Ibo tribe. Nene partially fits only one of these criteria, which is not enough for Okeke. First, Nnaemeka rejects the wife Okeke has chosen and wants to marry Nene only due to Nnaemeka's love for her. Next, even though Nene is a Christian, she is a schoolteacher, which Okeke believes is prohibited by the Bible. In this way, Nene is accused of not having the training to be a good homemaker. Worst of all (according to Okeke), Nene is not of the Ibo tribe. With each of these bits of information, Okeke becomes more and more enraged and eventually forbids the marriage. Because Nnaemeka goes against his father's wishes and marries Nene, it is not until the end of the story that Okeke relents and agrees to see his grandsons.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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