It is obvious that in reading Things Fall Apart that polygamy was alive and well in the village of Umuofia. Not only was it accepted it was expected. Men's wealth was judged by their huge barns [and their] number of wives and children. The more wives a man had, usually meant more children. If a man had several wives and many offspring, he of course had to provide for all of them, hence more land [was] needed for planting crops, and more barns for storing food. Men seemed to benefit greatly from having more than one wife, but did they really? ....