{the dark side, and the grass is always greener...}
Chapter 29 opens with Ugwu demonstrating the side of his nature I am not drawn to - his impatience, his desire to disobey a little and the part of him that just switches off a little bit, stop paying attention and gets him into difficult situations.
...of course, we are now at the height of the war and the families circumstances have changed dramatically. Now living on the compounds - their privilege, education and social standing counts for nothing, and they live as everyone else does...hand to mouth, and for each difficult day, uncertain what is to come.
When Ugwu very nearly gets carted of by the conscripting soldiers {namely 'Kill and Go!'} - it is only sheer luck that Olanna could get there in time and use the last of her charms, and the last of her money to free him from the dire situations that would have followed....
'Ugwu's relief made him dizzy. He rubbed his wrists. Olanna did not say a word to him as they walked home, and he sensed her silent fury only in the force with which she unlocked and threw open the door.......'I'm sorry, mah,' he said again........'You are so stupid you do not deserve the luck you had today' she said. 'I bribed that soldier with all the money I have. Now you will produce what I will feed my child, do you understand?'.....'I'm sorry, mah' he said again' {page 352}
Once again, Adiche has the ability to whip her characters personalities round - to show flashes of their darker side...I think this reaction from Olanna reveals this perfectly. Her desire to save, and her desire to punish.
....we only go a few more pages before Ugwu is in trouble again. His restlessness {understandable, I suppose, he is just a young lad! ;)} wins over and he goes to see Eberechi..{his 'love'}...this time Olanna was not there to save him. No one was. He is now in the army and being taken off to fight for Biafra.
I wasn't sure how to feel about this. I felt it was something inevitable, finally come around. I felt annoyed at Ugwu - I felt sorry for the family, for Olanna's previous monitory sacrifice, now wasted.
..the next few pages follow Ugwu as he is 'trained up'...meeting High-Tech, making friends with him...but what follows is one of the most shocking parts of the book. Where Ugwu takes part in the gang rape of the bar girl. I don't quite know how to feel about this, aside from the obvious.
...he doesn't seem to try very hard to get out of it. It makes me feel differently about him, forget all the aspects of his personality I liked before.
'She stared back at him with a calm hate' {page 365}
...again, this common theme of sides and facets of personality - the characters dark side and his laziness to resist temptation.
In Chapter 30 - the focus come back round to Richard again, when he is with the two journalists. The comments that they make about the native Biafrans in the refugee camp are so horrible, and once again, Richard is in the position of having the opportunity to tell them where to get off......he goes some way towards this, an improvement on previous scuffles in this territory - but he always falls short - in my opinion, of actually having any backbone! Even when one of the journalists uses the N-word...his reaction fails to live up to my expectations of how he should stand up for the country, and the people, he is supposed to hold in such high regard.
Now....what do we think of Alice? She is a firm fixture in these chapters...and then the hint of something between herself and Odenigbo. I don't know about you, but I also find myself running out of patience for Odenigbo. Yes, he has lost a lot...but so have other people. I like the way Olanna relationship with the two most important people in her life, Odenigbo and Kainene, automatically make you compare the two {seemingly similar proud and slightly stand-offish - at least at first - personalities}..and how they have coped with the war and the changes...Odenigbo has crumbled, Kainene has thrived....what a trooper she has become!
I have to say...it is Kainene I am most drawn to now. Her character is so intriguing!
So! Any quotes or favourite parts from this section? How do we feel about Ugwu now - the rape scene, the fact he is in the army....{and injured}.....who are you feeling drawn to, and who do you feel repelled by?
...interested to hear your thoughts!
xo
1 comments:
i was so sad to read about ugwu. first that he was captured into the army and then secondly that he participated in that rape. in the end both experiences might build "character" - but they made me really sad.
i felt the same way about richard. too little and too late.
i didn't like alice either. i felt as though she was elitist. and then the hint of something between her and odenigbo really annoyed me. i had hoped that odenigbo was through with any philandering.
i agree with how you point out that odenigbo once strong flounders while kainene flourishes. nothing like war as the ultimate test??
i am continually impressed with how this story weaves together. how all the characters shift and grow and how i am interested even though the subject is anything but lighthearted.....
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