Ead the passage from "marriage is a private affair” by chinua achebe. "i shall never see her,” was the reply. from that night the father scarcely spoke to his son. he did not, however, cease hoping that he would realize how serious was the danger he was heading for. day and night he put him in his prayers. 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. how does this passage reinforce the traditional social hierarchy? the older men in the village tell okeke that he should respect nnaemeka’s decision. the older men in the village console nnaemeka about okeke’s attitude toward his choices. the older men in the village commiserate with okeke regarding nnaemeka’s decision to disobey him. the older men in the village think that nnaemeka should be optimistic that okeke will accept his decision.