How is awareness of rank observed in the drinking of the palm wine in Things Fall Apart?

Even
before the palm wine is served in the ritual depicted inof , alerts his
readers that the serving of the wine will be a means through which prestige is affirmed and
misconceptions about relative rank corrected. For example, before the wine arrives, Ogbuefi
Ezenwa remarks:

I hope our in-laws will bring many pots of
wine. Although they come from a village that is known for being closefisted, they ought to know
that Akueke is the bride of a king.

In this passage,
Ezenwa expresses status anxiety about his in-laws's opinion regarding the rank of the bride.
When the guests show up bearing no fewer than 45 bottles of wine, their hosts are very pleased
because the rank of the bride (and by extension, their own rank) has been affirmed. The pots of
wine serve as material tokens of the recognition of rank. Once the moment of...