Chinua Achebe's short story "Marriage is a Private Affair" is about the cultural and generational problems which arise when a man from the Ibo tribe wants to marry a girl from the Ibibio tribe of Nigeria. Nnaemeka is hesitant to tell his father about his impending marriage to Nene, because he believes his father will be against him marrying outside his own ethnic group. He is right and his father basically disowns him.
The title is an example of verbal irony where language is used to say one thing but means the opposite. It is quite ironic because the marriage is far from "private." It is thoroughly discussed among the men in Nnaemeka's father's village. It is, in fact, quite an important topic in the village as it was rare for someone to marry out of their group. The men of the village are shocked and lament that a son has risen against his father. The marriage is also a topic of discussion among the Ibo women in the relatively cosmopolitan city of Lagos, where the couple lives. They initially disapprove but eventually overcome their prejudice and accept Nene into their group. The father too is on the verge of acceptance at the end of the story.
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