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Summary: Speaking with Our Spirits: Before Palm Sunday—Part 10
“It rained heavily the day Ade Coker died . . .”
A pipe bomb kills Ade Coker. Papa sets up a trust fund for his widow and buys her a house. Mama tells Kambili and Jaja to hug Papa more often because he’s under so much pressure. Thugs plant rats in one of his factories as an excuse to shut it down. Father Benedict visits often. During one of those visits, Jaja asks Kambili to show him Papa-Nnukwu’s portrait again. Papa enters the room, sees the portrait, and flies into a rage. He tears up the portrait and kicks Kambili until she loses consciousness. Kambili wakes up in a hospital bed. Her body is burning all over. Papa, Mama, and Father Benedict pray over her. Kambili asks for Aunty Ifeoma. Aunty Ifeoma arrives with Father Amadi. While visiting, Aunty Ifeoma insists that Kambili and Jaja come to Nsukka to stay with her for a week. In Nsukka, Aunty Ifeoma, her children, and Father Amadi help Kambili recover. Political unrest grows at the university. When soldiers barge into Aunty Ifeoma’s flat and tear it apart, she starts to think about moving to America. Father Amadi takes Kambili to the market to have her hair braided. The hairdresser thinks Father Amadi must be in love. On the way home, Kambili and Father Amadi sing together.
Speaking with Our Spirits: Before Palm Sunday—Part 11
“The green sign outside the church was lit with white lights.”
Amaka and Kambili go to hear Father Amadi say Mass. Kambili sings Igbo praise songs. Aunty Ifeoma exchanges university gossip with a colleague and discusses moving to America. When Obiora speaks disrespectfully to Aunty Ifeoma’s colleague, Aunty Ifeoma punishes him. Later, a battered taxi arrives, and Mama climbs out. Her eyes are glazed over. Mama tells them that she has been in the hospital, after Papa beat her and caused a miscarriage. Then Mama breaks down and cries for a long time. However, after talking to Papa on the phone, Mama decides to return home. Aunty Ifeoma protests, but Mama reminds her of all the stress that Papa’s been under, how much good Papa does for their people, and how many mothers had wanted their daughters to marry him. Aunty Ifeoma shouts but fails to change Mama’s mind: She, Kambili, and Jaja will return home. Papa arrives the next day in the Mercedes. Kambili notices that his face appears swollen and covered in tiny pimples. Kambili hugs Aunty Ifeoma and Amaka goodbye. Back home, as they drive through their compound’s gates, Jaja points out that the purple hibiscuses are about the bloom. The next day is Palm Sunday.
Analysis
Ade’s violent death adds to the motif of political unrest in the narrative. Ade’s death also contributes to Papa’s unraveling, as he blames himself for letting Ade run a story that was critical of the government. Later, political unrest touches Aunty Ifeoma’s family in Nsukka when the university where Ifeoma works is taken over by a sole administrator and no one is allowed to speak out against the administrator or the university. Ifeoma worries that the lecturers will be replaced by soldiers and the university will fall solely under military rule. As the university students riot in response to the appointment of the sole administrator, the university is closed. This forces Aunty Ifeoma to further consider moving her family to America. When military men come to Ifeoma’s house and trash it, they don’t look carefully for evidence of Ifeoma’s guilt. This shows that the point of the visit is political pressure and coercion rather than an earnest effort to find the truth. As Papa rules his family with fear of his retribution, the Nigerian government seeks to quell unrest in its people through violence and intimidation.
As the Achike family begins to experience even more significant changes, both Kambili and Mama find solace in the safety net of sisterhood. When Kambili suffers a near-death beating after enraging her father, Aunty Ifeoma tells her children that Kambili is seriously ill. All of the adults around Kambili, including the hospital doctors and Father Benedict, turn a blind eye to her abuse. But through Amaka’s gentle and private prodding, Kambili is able to admit that her father is the cause of her injuries. Amaka softens as she understands the dangerous nature of Kambili’s life and her true lack of privilege, and in this space of sisterhood, Kambili finds herself emboldened enough to ask questions about the world around them and to honestly answer questions about her feelings for Father Amadi. Amaka’s playful teasing also opens the door for Kambili and Father Amadi to develop their romantic feelings. Though Kambili is embarrassed by Amaka’s remarks, she becomes courageous enough to allow Father Amado’s gentle acts of affection, a large step forward in her development as a young woman. After enduring another serious beating from Papa, Mama becomes desperate enough to steal money from him and sneak away to the solace and safety of Ifeoma’s home. In her distressed state, Mama is more talkative than usual, and she is honest about the details of the beating and resulting miscarriage. Her clarity is short-lived, however, as she allows Papa to persuade her to return home with the children. When Kambili is having her hair braided in the Ogige Market, she observes a snail for sale that repeatedly escapes its basket, only to be caught and returned. Eventually, the snail will end up in someone’s soup pot. The snail represents women who are victims of domestic violence, choosing to flee but then returning to abusive situations over and over again. Kambili wishes to buy the whole basket just to set the one snail free. Her desire reflects her new understanding that female camaraderie can change the course of a life.
