A person’s age
Is shown by what he or she does
It depends on what he or she is,
And what kind of person
He or she is.
You may be a giant
Of a man
…
But if you are unmarried
You are nothing. (SoL, 75)
The Acoli social system has names for the unmarried and they are social outcasts to the community but not their respective families. The male is called labot while the female is known by various names but the common one is carama. They are not respected in the community and some people secretly believe the reason for not being married is because of impotency or barrenness. Whatever the reason for being unmarried, the Acoli society has negative attitude to such people. The suffering is worse for the male who is disrespected by the sisters-in-law who order him to carry food from the cooking hut to the outdoor fireplace (wang-oo). If he refuses, he will forgo his share of the food. The females often blend with the female members of the family but other neighbouring women who are not related to her keep her at a distance especially from their husbands. Some people regard her as a potential prostitute, wange tar/malaya.
In Section Eight, Okot introduces Christianity but with a twist: he is critical of the missionaries who teach rote learning and worse, do not want to answer questions from the intelligent potential converts like Lawino. Ignoring the missionaries and the Christian names for which the converts labour, he focuses on Acoli names which are more meaningful and have cultural identities;
My husband rejects Acoli names,
Meaningful names,
Names that I can pronounce.
He says
They are Jok names
…
My Bull name is Eliya Alyker
I ate the name
Of the Chief of Payira
Eliya Aliker
Son of Awic
Bull names are given
To Chiefs of girls
Because like bulls
They lead their age-mates.