A Good Daughter

They take the train partway to Ibuza. They're greeted enthusiastically when they arrive, and Nnu Ego bathes the twins and Adim in the river.

Nnaife's people come and carry them the rest of the way to Ibuza. A man from Agbadi's household greets them, and lets Nnu Ego know that her father has been unable to speak for five days. He is waiting for her arrival, so he can die.

They go first to the Owulum household, where Adankwo, the first wife (and now inherited by Nnaife), tells Nnu Ego that her father has already died – his spirit is just waiting to say goodbye.

Nnu Ego hurries to her father's house. But Agbadi speaks as soon as she enters his hut, telling Ona to stop wringing her hands because their daughter has arrived.

Agbadi is full of pride, seeing how Nnu Ego has children and is pregnant. He calls her a "full woman, full of children" (13.18). He keeps talking to Ona, and people are afraid, knowing he's hallucinating and on the edge of death.

Nnu Ego sleeps near him. Just before he dies, he speaks to Nnu Ego again, saying that he will come into her house again but will bring her mother. Then he speaks to his good friend Idayi, saying he knows Idayi is waiting for him, but he wanted to say goodbye to Ona's daughter.

He dies, holding Nnu Ego's hand. Nnu Ego weeps, letting the world know that her father had died. Everyone wakes and

rushes in. The wake goes on for days. Finally, Obi Agbadi is buried, sitting upright on his stool. After the burial, Nnu Ego returns to Nnaife's family. Weeks later, when she gives birth to

a son, he is born at the same time as her father died. She wants to name her son after her father, but doesn't know how to tell Nnaife's family that.

But Adankwo the senior Owulum wife recognizes Agbadi in the sleeping baby, and cries out that Agbadi is back. Adankwo and the oldest of Nnu Ego's half-brothers suggest the name "Nnamdio," meaning, "This is my father."

Nnu Ego is surrounded by relatives for her father's second burial. The medicine man who presides over the ceremony, says that he can see her father boasting to the people in the land of the dead that he has a good daughter. Somebody tells Nnu Ego that she doesn't seem to miss her husband much, she's so happy.

But Nnu Ego does miss Nnaife. She wonders how he is, and how Adaku is, who had given birth to another daughter.

Nnu Ego knew the people would soon say that she was a good daughter – but she must prove herself a good wife as well.

Women Alone

People begin to wonder when Nnu Ego is going to go back home to Lagos. It's been seven months since her father died. She knows she should go back to be there when her husband returns, but life is so stressful there.

One night Nnu Ego sits in front of her hut enjoying the night. Adankwo is playing with the baby, Nnamdio, and says he is trying to suck at her breasts.

Nnu Ego tells her to go ahead but Adankwo says she is too old to breastfeed. Then she says she and Nnu Ego must talk.

She mentions that the dead are with us. A good person may decide to come back and live among us again. But in order to have that choice, you must be good to begin with.

Nnu Ego waits for Adankwo's point. She wonders if Adankwo thinks that Nnaife might be dead.

But Adankwo means Nnu Ego's father. She mentions how Nnu Ego's father died five days before she arrived, but he kept coming back until he could say goodbye to his daughter. So, she continues, would it be right for Nnu Ego to offend such a father?

Nnu Ego wants to know how she's offending him. Then Adankwo admits that it's time for Nnu Ego to go back to Lagos, to fulfill her duties

as a wife and mother. She is running away from the position of senior wife, and leaving it to a wife that Nnaife inherited from his elder brother. Nnu Ego's place is at Nnaife's side.

Nnu Ego protests that Nnaife is still fighting, but Adankwo suggests that he might have hurried home and only found Adaku waiting for him.

Nnu Ego says that Oshia has settled down and likes farming. Adankwo counters that he should be trained and educated to enter the new world. Everybody knows change is coming. She urges Nnu Ego to go back to Lagos and "secure your children's inheritance" (14.27).

When Nnu Ego returns to Lagos, things have changed so much, it's as if she's been gone for years. Rent had almost doubled, food cost twice what it used to, and Adankwo was right, Nnaife had been back for a short visit a few weeks ago and hadn't let Nnu Ego know.

And Adaku had done well for herself as a trader. Nnu Ego frets, looking at Adaku's stalls and wares.

Nnu Ego tells Adaku that she has chosen fine clothes and money, but Nnu Ego has chosen her children. She may be poor in Lagos, but she has family and friends at home. She is wealthy in people.

Adaku can't help but sound triumphant as she tells Nnu Ego to go back to her cigarette stall in front of the house. In fact, during Nnu Ego's absence, several neighbors had started selling things in front of the house.

Nnu Ego doesn't know what to do, so she starts selling firewood. It costs little, but does require energy.

Life is not the same as before. Adaku is rich and stays away until late at night. There is no point in Nnu Ego waiting to eat with her.

Nnu Ego feels helpless. She has little help with the children. She stops going to the family meetings. So Adaku goes and reports back what she hears and learns.

It is one thing to be poor, Nnu Ego reflects, but another thing altogether for everybody to know you're poor.

Nnu Ego begins to behave jealously, trying to point out to Adaku her superior position as senior wife and mother of sons.

Yet Nnu Ego is beginning to feel desperate. She isn't sure how she'll afford the school fees for Oshia and Adim, her first and second born sons.

One day, Nnu Ego has a visitor. It is a woman from Ibuza, Ibonoba's wife, who also happens to be a relative of Adaku's. Like Adaku, she is a successful trader and is wearing expensive clothing.

Nnu Ego fails to be welcoming and Ibonoba's wife feels some anger. She plans to wait for Adaku anyway, though. When Nnu Ego continues to stare at her, Ibonoba's wife invites herself in, asking Nnu Ego why she's staring like that.

Finally, Nnu Ego can't stand it. She breaks down and tells the woman to leave. Then she and the children start singing in forced happiness.

Ibonoba's wife can hardly believe her ears. She waits outside in the rain, thanking God that she has her own children, and wondering if Nnu Ego is trying to make her jealous of her children.

Adaku and her children come home to find Ibonoba's wife waiting in the rain. They go inside, while Ibonoba wonders if she should let Adaku know how Nnu Ego behaved before she arrived. She decides it's not worth the trouble.

But Nnu Ego, stricken with guilt, runs around making the guest feel at home. Adaku wonders why she's being so solicitous, but Ibonoba's wife knows that Nnu Ego is begging her for forgiveness.

She feels sorry for Nnu Ego, for the way she has lowered herself. This behavior is especially surprisingly given that Nnu Ego is the senior wife.

Adaku does hear about it three days later, from Adim. She's too mad to mention it to Nnu Ego. Instead, she calls Nwakusor to play the role of judge.

But although Nwakusor does indict Nnu Ego for her behavior, they also tell Adaku that because she has no son, she cannot complain about Nnu Ego's behavior. She, Adaku, is committing a sin by not giving Nnaife sons because that is how he achieves immortality. Although they all admire how industrious and rich Adaku has become, she is nothing without sons. But they also tell Nnu Ego that she needs to guard her reputation more.

Nnu Ego knows that she only behaved that way out of jealousy, so she has no good excuse. She says only that Lagos has made her forget how to behave properly.

They fine her a keg of palm wine and a tin of cigarettes. Even as Adaku looks on, she sees how she is ignored. She realizes that Nnu Ego isn't

being asked to apologize to her. Adaku suddenly realizes she has no rights. As junior wife, she is nothing.

After the men leave, Nnu Ego goes to bed. She feels sorry for the way the men treated Adaku, but she doesn't know how to smooth all the bad feelings over. And she's glad she has three sons, otherwise, she would be treated like Adaku.

She hears Adaku crying. She knows her behavior has been wrong but they had made it seem like she wasn't because of her sons. Men were clever that way.

Finally, Nnu Ego speaks and apologizes to Adaku, saying she shouldn't have called the men.

Adaku says she got what was coming to her – they have told her what Nnu Ego has been trying to tell her ever since she got back from Ibuza. She is grateful to have gotten the message.

Nnu Ego asks her what she's going to do, and she says she's going to do what Nnu Ego has wanted her to go – leave this place. Nnaife doesn't want her, his people didn't want her, why should she stay?

Adaku reveals that when Nnaife visited, he was angry that Nnu Ego had gone back to Ibuza, that she preferred her father's home to his. He only comforted himself with Adaku because she was available. She let him do it because she wanted a son. When Nnu Ego came back with so many children, she was jealous. What else is there to do but make money? She is leaving tomorrow.

Will you go and worship your chi? Nnu Ego asks. No, Adaku says, she's going become a prostitute. She's going to make money and give

her girls what they need. Nnu Ego wonders if she should blame herself for Adaku's decision. She tells Adaku that

she's making a mistake. Perhaps she'll get a son when Nnaife returns. But Adaku isn't willing to wait. She can't live up to Nnu Ego's standards. It's time for her

to strike out on her own. Nnu Ego asks Adaku's chi to be her guide. As she goes to sleep, she is grateful for her

own motherhood.

The Soldier Father

Everybody is shocked by Adaku's decision to leave Nnaife and become a prostitute. They are further shocked to learn that she decided to do it even though there was no fight between her and Nnu Ego.

Nnu Ego tries to convince her again to leave that life, reminding her of what people are saying. But Adaku isn't interested. She is making a lot of money, and even giving up selling beans and vegetables and starting to sell the more expensive material for lappas instead.

Nnu Ego is even more surprised to learn that Adaku doesn't have to depend on men friends for financial support. Adaku is proud to call herself a "dignified single woman" (15.6). She plans to educate her daughters, but she'll have male companionship.

Nnu Ego noticed how well dressed Adaku is, and how happy she seems. Nnu Ego realizes that although Adaku may be socially snubbed, she is better off than

Nnu Ego, who is respectable. Nnu Ego hears that the war is over, and she's glad, hoping that Nnaife will be back home

soon. Then she won't have to work so hard to pay school fees and keep her children clothed and fed. She had lately been feeling sick a lot. But after she spends half her savings on school fees, clothes, and food, she begins to worry that maybe Nnaife won't come back soon after all.

What will she do if he's still gone and the boys' school fees are due? She's also wondering why Nnaife wouldn't write? Other families heard from their soldiers.

She knows that Nnaife has done little to help her feed and clothe the children, but she tries to tell herself it doesn't matter – he has gone to war. This is why they have a mother.

She calls Oshia to her one day and tells him that she has no more money. She tells him to learn as much as he can because she won't be able to pay his school fees next time around. He cries as he tells her that he loves school and wants to stay there with his friends.

Nnu Ego comforts him, reminding him that she has always told him he's handsome. Well, now we know that you're clever, too, she says.

What about Adim, Oshia asks. Is he going to continue school? No, Nnu Ego says, they will both leave school but she will pay for some private lessons. Oshia protests. The twins go to private lessons and learn nothing. Nnu Ego explains that the twins will have to leave those to help her at home. So Oshia and Adim leave school and begin private lessons, while Nnu Ego sells

firewood, garri, and other items of food. She thanks her chi that her children are healthy and strong.

One morning, Kehinde points out that the sun is going to be hot again, so Nnu Ego's vegetables will dry out. They decide to try to sell them before that. As Nnu Ego is talking to herself about selling the vegetables, Iyawo Itsekiri passes by and says that Ibos will sell their own children if they need to, in order to survive.

Nnu Ego says she's not that desperate but she wouldn't mind sending the girls somewhere to learn a trade. But Iyawo Itsekiri says that they couldn't have a better teacher than Nnu Ego.

Kehinde comes running up with a letter from the post office. She recognized the envelope as similar to the one that had come four years earlier, when Nnaife first went off to war. Perhaps he's sent money again.

She decides to find Abby's mother to read it for her, but she has to wait until lunch, when Oshia can watch the stand for her.

The girls complain that Oshia won't have to help them fetch wood. They don't understand why he has the evening off to study. Nnu Ego gets frustrated with the bickering and reminds them that they're girls – the boys need to go to school so they can support and protect their families.

Mama Abby reads the letter to Nnu Ego, who looks like she's doing well. Nnu Ego can see that Mama Abby's son is really taking care of his mother financially. She prays that her own children will do the same for her when she is old.

Mama Abby explains that there's a package for Nnu Ego at the barracks. Nnu Ego is afraid that the package is news that Nnaife is dead. She begs Mama Abby to

look closely at the letter to find out if Nnaife is dead. Mama Abby wonders what to do, and finally says that perhaps she should go with Nnu Ego to find out what is up.

At the army barracks, they're given a letter. Mama Abby suggests they take it home to read, but Nnu Ego doesn't want to wait. If it's bad news, she'd rather hear it right away.

Mama Abby read the letter and by the time she was done, Nnu Ego could tell it was good news. It's some money, which Nnu Ego must pick up at the counter, and news of Nnaife.

Apparently, he had been ill after getting bitten by some water snakes and he hopes to be home soon.

The money is sixty pounds – three years of pay. Nnu Ego is shocked, and realizes that if she'd had a good education, she might have known how to check. She decides that it's even more important that her kids get a good education.

Nnu Ego doesn't tell anybody about the money, but she puts the kids back in school and gets herself a stall at the bigger market and starts selling abada cloth. She keeps her wooden kiosk, but stops selling firewood. The girls continue with the petty trading, even though they're in school.

One night Taiwo asks when their father will come home, since they keep hearing at school that the war is over.

But Nnu Ego doesn't know. His last letter, a year late in coming, had said he would be home "soon" – but again, that was written a year ago. Iyawo Itsekiri comforts her that it'll soon be over.

A few weeks later, Oshia claims that he was selected to welcome returning soldiers because his uniform was neat. But Taiwo says he's lying and Kehinde and Adim laugh. Nnu Ego asks why they're laughing and Taiwo says he was chosen because his class was chosen.

Oshia talks about seeing the soldiers for days, but he doesn't know if Nnaife was among them. Nnu Ego prays again that he isn't dead.

But sure enough, Nnaife arrives soon after, and Nnu Ego runs to meet him. They laugh and Nnaife asks how his senior wife is. Nnu Ego only asks why he didn't say he was returning that day.

They go inside, and the palm wine sellers get busy – their Ibo customer is back. Nnaife celebrates for days, spending their money until Nnu Ego reminds him that they

must feed their children and pay school fees. Nnaife asks if she isn't happy that he's back. He points out his swollen feet, which had

gotten rotten in the Burmese swamps. He doesn't look healthy at all. He's happy with all his children, but he calls Adaku an evil woman. Soon, though, he

says he must visit Adankwo in Ibuza. She must be lonely and "longing for a man" after five years without one (15.115).

Nnu Ego warns him. It's true that Adankwo is his wife, but she's happy as head of the household there. And her adult children may not want her to have another husband.

Nnaife simply says that Nnu Ego hasn't changed – she's still jealous. All the men visiting laugh.

Ubani tells Nnaife that Nnu Ego behaved very well while he was gone. But although everybody is happy that Nnaife is back, he insists on going to visit his

brother's wife. Even Nnu Ego's new pregnancy doesn't stop him. Adankwo takes him in and becomes pregnant, but she refuses to come back to Lagos with

him. Her grown-up sons support her in her decision. Nnaife argues that Nnu Ego needs help, and Adankwo assumes that Nnaife has grown

tired of her.

Adankwo sends "help" in the form of her sixteen-year-old daughter, Okpo. Nnaife pays thirty pounds for her bride price, ten pounds more than the usual bride price.

Nnaife rushes home, knowing if he stayed, he would have to borrow money from farmers, and that is something he won't stoop to do.

Nnu Ego doesn't bother hiding her disapproval of Nnaife's taking another wife. She refuses to share a room with this girl and all their children. She is expecting twins again.

Angry, she screams at her husband, asking where they're going to put all the kids. Nnaife asks his friends to help him make peace with Nnu Ego. But Nwakusor agrees with

Nnu Ego. Nwakusor asks Nnu Ego to give Nnaife time to find another place for Okpo. And he reminds Nnu Ego that Okpo can help her with all her children. Nwakusor reminds her how blessed she is with children and asks if her father would want her to behave this way.

Nnu Ego knows she has to honor her father. And she doesn't want her sons' wives to point out that their mother was always jealous when their father brought home a new wife.

Nnaife says they will look for larger and cheaper accommodations and Nnu Ego chides him.

Then Oshia decides he wants to go to a grammar school called Hussey College. Nnu Ego wants to know why he didn't win a scholarship, and Oshia says you have to be very clever to earn one of those. Nnu Ego wants to know why he isn't clever, and he says it's because he didn't have a peaceful childhood and had to work so hard.

Nnu Ego begins to wallow in self-pity. Everybody blames her for how hard life is. And to Oshia, his father is a war hero. All he sees is a nagging mother.

Nnu Ego prays to God that she dies in childbirth, rather than letting these children dash her hopes.

Nnaife tells Oshia that he will make sure that Oshia goes to Hussey. He will put all his money into that fund. He shows off the hundred pounds he has, and says it should pay for Oshia's college. The other children will wait until Oshia finishes.

Oshia is even prouder of his father. Nnu Ego knows that if she continues to make a stink about Okpo, her children and other people and everybody will talk badly about her. She suddenly realizes that her love for her children is her own chain of slavery. But maybe one day her children will help her.

That night, Nnu Ego gives birth to her second set of twins. Nnaife and Okpo deliver them. Two more girls – Nnaife is not happy.

Nnu Ego feels pensive about giving birth to another set of girl twins. All men cared about were having male children, to keep their name going. But weren't girls valuable, too? Didn't you have to have girls to bear those male sons?

She suddenly wonders why she desired all these children. She has them now, but how will she feed them? And when she dies, they'll expect her spirit to continue to provide for them. Her cares and worries will never be over. Even in death, she realizes, she's a prisoner.

The men make it seem as if a woman without sons is worth nothing. But why shouldn't we put our hope in our girls, she wonders? Until we women change the way the world works, she realizes, it will be a man's world.

The twins are given the names Obiageli ("she who has come to enjoy wealth") and Malachi ("you do not know what tomorrow will bring").

A Mother of Clever Children

Nnaife finally knows they should move, so they move to a mud house in an area with no running water or electricity.

Despite all that, Nnu Ego is glad to have her own room. Mama Abby told her not to worry about her children, and she reminds Nnu Ego to be grateful that Nnaife's money arrived in one lump sum, otherwise.

Nnu Ego is glad. If she hadn't been quiet about that, Nnaife would have forced her to use that money to pay for Oshia's education. Instead, Nnaife gives her five pounds of his money, and she uses it to put a down payment on a sewing machine. She begins to teach herself to sew.

She lets Nnaife "have his way" (16. 3) with Okpo, knowing that if she complains, people will call her selfish.

Oshia leaves home for his new college, and Adaku and Mama Abby come to wish him off. Adaku brings yards and yards of material and Nnu Ego says she shouldn't have been so generous. But Adaku reminds her that Oshia is a brother to her own daughters, and she is proud that Nnaife's son is going to an expensive school.

Nnu Ego asks after Adaku's girls, and Adaku says they're in a convent school. She just may send them to college.

Nnu Ego admits it would be something to see women making money like a man. She was only able to send the older twin girls to school for a couple of years. They'll be married in a few years, and the little reading they can do should serve them well. The most important thing, Nnu Ego says, is that they get good husbands.

Nnu Ego goes with Oshia to his new school and is despondent when she sees how wealthy the other children are. She reminds Oshia not to become like them, and he says he won't.

Nnu Ego returns to Lagos and to counting pennies. She used to say everything would be better when Nnaife got back from the war. Now she

thinks, that everything will be better when Oshia graduates from college. Some years later, Adim also wants to go to secondary school. Nnu Ego explains to him that they don't have the money. She says that if he passes his

exams well, then she will somehow manage to pay for his fees at a local secondary school.

Adim has a small fit. Just because he's the second son, he wants to know, why shouldn't he also be helped? Why does Oshia get everything?

Adim vows that he will become somebody anyway. Nnu Ego says that when Oshia is done, he'll help pay for Adim's school fees.

Adim knows many things that his parents don't know, including the fact that Oshia intends to go to university. His help, if it ever comes, will be a long time in coming.

Oshia had told Adim once that you only get twelve pounds a month with a good Cambridge school-leaving certificate. Oshia wants to know how can you help with only twelve pounds a month?

To Adim, twelve pounds a month sounds like a lot of money. The school he wants to attend is only six pounds a year. He mentioned this, and Oshia told him he's too young to understand.

Adim is despondent. He remembered all the times he'd helped his mother get firewood to make ends meet, the time when there were locusts and he bagged them to make snacks for sale all because "my brother is at college, and when he comes out, we will be rich!" (16.31).

That night, Adim didn't sleep. He won't sacrifice his own life for somebody else, he decided. He will fight for himself.

So now he tells Nnu Ego that he will not wait for Oshia to finish before he gets his own education.

He works hard at school and at home. He wonders if Oshia is right, to go for the top position before helping others.

Adim can see his mother is pregnant again, and he wonders why his parents keep having children when they don't have enough to feed the ones they already have.

When Oshia comes home on the holidays, Nnu Ego tries to help Oshia see that he might have a duty to help Adim, but Oshia resists her.

Oshia says he doesn't blame Adim for wanting to go to college and, he adds that he plans to go to university when he graduates from Hussey.

Nnu Ego asks if he hasn't learned enough. Oshia replies that he hasn't and that he doesn't want to be like his father.

Nnu Ego asks what's wrong with your father? Then she mentions that the medicine man had said Oshia would be a great man.

Oshia laughs at the idea of the medicine man and his idea. Nnu Ego is despondent until Nnaife asks her what's wrong with her. She tells him it is her

latest pregnancy. It's been a difficult one. Fortunately, Okpo treats Nnu Ego as a long-lost mother. She had been orphaned at an

early age so she understood suffering. She did whatever Nnu Ego wanted her to do. Nnu Ego gives birth alone, after Okpo and the girls have left for the market. The baby is

as small as a kitten. And dead. Nnu Ego stares at the dead baby. She speaks to the baby, saying she's sorry that she's not

staying but glad that God has taken her back. Her own joy, she adds, is that she is able to have children without any effort.

Then she feels guilty. Had she wanted her child to die? Would that explain the relief she felt when she saw that it was just a girl child? She prays to God to give her something to prove that she didn't kill her child. Had she refused this child because she is disappointed in Oshia?

She faints.

When she comes to, she finds that she has been ill for days. She is still looking for some sign that she had wanted this child. She mulls this over for days.

Adim comes home one day to say that he's been accepted to St. Gregory's college. Nnu Ego tries to be glad, but her first thought is of the expense. She says she's glad, but

Adim isn't fooled. Adim says that he will work to make things easier, and if it comes to the worst, he can stop in his fourth year.

Okpo is delighted, and she shouts with joy. She says she is glad all the children in this family are clever. Even her own child will not lack in intelligence.

Nnu Ego accepts the news of Okpo's pregnancy with little outward surprise but she's wondering how to bring another child into the household.

Okpo asks Nnu Ego about the material she'd been using to make clothes for the baby she just lost. Okpo wants to know if she can have the materials for her own baby.

Then Nnu Ego remembers that she had prepared clothes for her baby. She did want this child, after all. She had wanted her. The death had been an accident.

She teases Okpo, saying that she has only just found out about the baby and she wants to build it a tower.

Yes, Okpo continues, we will work hard so that Adim can go to school. Then Adim will take care of his little brother. And my child will do the same for his little brother, she adds.

Nnu Ego realizes that for once Nnaife had done the right thing. Okpo would stay with him until he died. Okpo is completely different from Adaku.

Adim teases Okpo that she married Nnaife so she could have clever children. They are both so glad, so young, and so enthusiastic for their futures.

Nnu Ego realizes that if they had lived in other times, Okpo never would have wanted for anything. Okpo would have given Adim just what he needed so that when the time came, he would have taken care of his father's wife after his father's death.

Nnu Ego is grateful to Okpo. They all work so that Adim can go to college. And Nnu Ego is known as the mother of very clever children.

A Daughter's Honour

As Nnaife gets older, he realizes that it's time for him to return to Ibuza, so he is near home when he dies. He is looking forward to the time when Oshia leaves school and takes care of him, so he can live a life of ease as he grows old.

Oshia is offered a job at the Technical Institute, doing research in science. He's excited. Nnaife celebrates Oshia's success by inviting friends over for palm wine. Nwakusor tells

him that he will be able to retire soon, with Oshia to take care of him. He says that Nnu Ego done him proud all these years with sons to take care of him.

It wasn't easy living with her, Nnaife admits. Not every man could have done that. But she did give him clever children.

Ubani points out that things are changing, and that they say Nigeria would have independence someday soon.

Nnu Ego asks if that means they'd have a black district officer in Ibuza and black doctors and black priests. They assure her that that is what it means.

When she wonders whether they'll do a good job, Oshia assures her with "exaggerated patience" (17.12) that they'll do a fine job.

Nnaife says he never understood what they were doing in Burma, but one thing is for sure – palm wine stays the same.

Ubani agrees, and tells Oshia that they will look forward to an invitation from him to celebrate his job when he starts. But Oshia never invites them because he does so well on his examinations, he wins a scholarship to go to university in America.

When he tells his mother, she tells him not to tell Nnaife, who is growing impatient that Oshia isn't helping his family.

In fact, Nnaife does call Oshia a few weeks later, and chides him for not taking on his responsibilities to his family. Oshia wonders what responsibilities. Nnaife grows angry and tells Oshia he should hit him. Oshia tells him that he can't do what Nnaife asks because he's going to America and he hopes that Nnaife and Nnu Ego will help him.

Adim, standing nearby, sees that things are getting out of control and reassures his father that he will help Nnamdio (the third living son) get his education until Oshia is done with school. But Nnamdio says he just wants to be a hunter.

Nnaife tells Oshia that he wishes he had died instead of Ngozi (the first son who died when he was a baby).

Nnu Ego is shocked by what he's saying. Nnaife continues that Oshia is no longer his son.

Oshia, angry, says that's just fine with him. He leaves immediately. When he is gone, Nnaife says that he plans to retire. He will get his small pension and go

to live in Ibuza. Nnaife doesn't go see Oshia off to America, though Nnu Ego and others go to the airport

when he leaves. People are surprised that Nnu Ego doesn't cry when Oshia leaves, but they think it's

because she knows when Oshia returns, she will be driven around in a big car. Nnu Ego knows that will never be the case. That will never be her reward.

Nnaife, however, wants whatever reward is coming his way now and in cash. He is terribly angry with Oshia.

Nnu Ego demands to know why Nnaife didn't go to see Oshia off. Nnaife counters that they are her children. Why should he remember a child who has spurned him?

Nnu Ego says that he was expecting something from them up until the last minute before he departed. Seeing how disappointed Nnaife was hurt her.

Nnu Ego thinks to herself that she wishes she hadn't had so many children. She no longer thinks it was worth it. Another one of her children is causing trouble.

Ibo girls in Lagos weren't supposed to get married to Yoruba men. Girls from Ibuza weren't even supposed to look at young Ibo men who were from outside Ibuza.

The twins are beautiful young women, and are now fifteen years old. Taiwo had already had bride price fixed for her with a young man from Ibuza, a clerk.

Nnaife was glad to settle Taiwo's marriage. But when he called Kehinde to ask her what she thought of a certain young man who worked at the railway, Kehinde flatly refused to marry him.

Nnaife gently tries to coax the reason from her. Kehinde says that the young man grew up in Ibuza and that she doesn't like him. Nnaife tells her she doesn't need to like her husband, she just has to marry him. Nnaife

also points out that nothing is wrong with coming from Ibuza – Kehinde comes from Ibuza.

Kehinde doesn't know how to express it but finally she admits that she wants to marry the butcher's son (Aremu). Then she runs away.

Nnaife is furious. Ladipo, the butcher, is a Yoruba man from a Muslim family. He decides to "have it out" (17.60) with Nnu Ego, whose children are becoming a curse to him rather than a blessing. He starts to get drunk before she comes home.

When she comes home, he is angry. He looks at her, remembering how beautiful she had been when she first came, and how he would have done anything for her. But now he feels used. All she wanted from him were children. He curses her out loud, telling her he wishes he had never met her.

Nnu Ego drops the food she's carrying. Okpo, following Nnu Ego inside, is aghast and asks what's wrong. But Nnaife is in no mood to offer an explanation. He simply says he might ask them and

their children to leave the house. Nnu Ego begins to understand and gets angry herself. She's tired of being blamed for

everything wrong the children do, and not getting any of the credit for the good they do. She lights into Nnaife and threatens to go back to her people.

Okpo begs her to stop. Nnaife and Nnu Ego are too angry to talk about it. As they sulk in separate rooms,

Kehinde makes her escape. Taiwo is the first to notice that she's gone, but doesn't sound the alarm until everyone is

ready to go to bed. Everybody starts to search for Kehinde. Eventually, they tell Nnu Ego. She's surprised because her girls had never caused her any

trouble. She knows she will be blamed for Kehinde's misbehavior. Knowing that people will gossip, Nnu Ego tells everybody to keep quiet, but suggests

they look for Kehinde at neighboring Yoruba homes. They had to keep Kehinde's reputation intact for any Ibo men that might want to marry her.

At 2am Nnu Ego finally decides to tell Nnaife. She wakes him up and tells him that Kehinde is missing. He is so angry that he exclaims, "The butcher! I'll butcher him!" He reaches for a big sword he keeps under the bed.

Nnu Ego screams while he dashes outside and down the street. Adim guesses where he's going and follows after them. He runs fast to the butcher's

house and warns them that somebody is coming to kill their father. The family wakes up. The young men sleeping on the veranda get up and make it to

safety. Nnaife rushes in with his cutlass (sword).

Adim screams at them to hold him while Nnaife yells that his daughter would be better off dead than marrying a Yoruba.

One of the Yoruba men jumps on Nnaife from behind. Nnaife strikes out and hits the man on the shoulder with his cutlass. Adim rushes from behind, and hits Nnaife's hand with a stick until he drops the cutlass.

Then the men come out and hold Nnaife, while the mother of the young man who had been cut starts to cry.

One of the men asks what his son has done that Nnaife would come and abuse him this way.

Nnaife threatens to kill him. He can't believe that a tribe that looks down on his tribe would marry one of his daughters.

One of the men tells Nnaife that he can't prevent his daughter from marrying who she likes.

Nnaife says that's not the way it's done in Ibuza, and the man reminds him that he's in Lagos.

Nnaife threatens once again to kill the man if his daughter has been touched. Nnaife is used to things being settled by force, and is surprised when the police cart him

away. He threatens them again in front of the police. Kehinde comes out when the police ask where the daughter is. She'd been hiding behind

the group of men. Now she's crying and she begs them to let her father go, but the police can't do that. He almost killed one man and threatened to kill another in front of them.

The police ask if she was abducted and she admits that she has not been. She states that she is going to marry Aremu, the butcher's son.

Okpo and Nnu Ego begin to cry. Nnaife can't believe that his own daughter would betray him like this.

As the police put Nnaife in the back of the police van, his night cloth starts to come off. Nnu Ego shouts at the police to stop, and requests that she tie her lappa around him. Nnu Ego explains that Nnaife is the father of my children, and that she wants him to have his dignity.

She ties it tightly and tells him that "we" will always hide his nakedness. The police van drives away.

The Canonised Mother

Nnaife's release and defense cost money that the family doesn't have. Adim's schoolwork falls to the wayside. Nnu Ego thinks to herself that if you don't have children, the worrying will kill you. Once

you have children, the worrying will kill you. Nnu Ego has a heart to heart with Adim, saying that everybody blames her. She wants to

know if he is he going to desert her too. Adim tells her that he wrote to Oshia to tell him what happened and Oshia said there was

nothing he could do to help.

Nnu Ego looks hopeful as she asks after Oshia, wondering if he's being treated well over there.

Adim is confused. Oshia has treated her so badly – why does she still care? Adim suggests that Oshia should have helped them, and Nnu Ego defends him, saying he

probably doesn't even have enough to eat in America. Adim starts to cry, because he believes that Oshia started all of this. It was because

Nnaife was so angry over Oshia that he lost his mind. Nnu Ego laughs. Adim suddenly notices how old and worn-out his mother looks. He feels

sorry for her. Nnu Ego defends Nnaife. She says that things have changed and Nnaife couldn't change

with the changing times. Nnu Ego says the new way may be best after all, and she wishes she had had the money

to send the girls to school as well. She reminds Adim that no matter what, a mother can't forget her children. So no matter

what Oshia has done, she cannot reject him. At Nnaife's hearing, the lawyer presents Nnaife as a good man, one who took care of his

children. He says that Nnaife is a man with smart, educated children. He claims that he pays for Adim's school fees.

But it comes out that Nnaife drinks, and Nnaife admits to drinking because there is never enough food or money between two wives, the children, and school fees.

They discuss Kehinde, and how Nnaife doesn't want her to marry a Yoruba. He expects the bride price, because that's how a man proves his manhood.

Nnu Ego is put on the stand. She says that Nnaife was the best of husbands and fathers, but the prosecuting lawyer gets her to admit that she is the one who pays Adim's fees. She keeps insisting that Nnaife does it, because the money she makes belongs to her husband. So Nnaife pays for Adim's school fees. She doesn't understand the inherent contradiction in her statement.

The mostly Yoruba courtroom is also surprised and not sure what to think about Nnaife's various wives, including those he inherited from his brother. The custom is strange to the Yoruba.

The judge mocks as he says that Nnaife must be a very strong man, to have all these children and impregnate all these women.

Nnu Ego continues to try to defend Nnaife, but it's clear that Nnaife drinks too much, doesn't support his wives and children, and has a temper. They also establish that Nnaife believes he owns his wives and children.

Nnaife is sentenced to five years' imprisonment. Outside the courtroom, Okpo is crying, while Adaku explains to Nnu Ego that the

problem was that nobody in Nigeria owns anybody anymore. Nnu Ego tells Adaku that she now understands why she left Nnaife when she did. Nnu Ego wonders what she did wrong. She had always believed that children made her a

woman, and she had had nine children, seven who survived. God had been merciful to her. But was it fair that the rules of the game had changed mid-life while she was still playing by the old rules?

Nnu Ego realizes she would have been better off making friends with a lot of women. But she'd always been too busy trying to feed and clothe her family.

She also realizes that Nnaife blames her for everything. He has such contempt for her that they will not be able to live together when he's finally released from prison.

To add to her lamentations, Nnu Ego realizes that her children have deserted her. It is not what she expected.

Lawyer Nweze visits her. He told her that Nnaife might be released in three months because some important people had decided he was not responsible for his actions. Nnaife would lose part of his pension but it was better than nothing. The family should remain quiet about all of it or people would believe that Lawyer Nweze was involved in shady dealings.

Nnu Ego makes plans to go back to Ibuza. She can't afford the rent and she doesn't want to struggle anymore.

Nnu Ego asks Taiwo's fiancée where he stands. He says he would like to marry Taiwo right away. The bride price belongs to Nnaife, so Nnu Ego has him give it to Adim, Nnaife's representative.

Nnu Ego tells Adim to use that money to pay his school fees for the entire year, and to put some money away in the post office so he can use it to eat until he can find a job.

Nnu Ego helps Taiwo get ready for her wedding, while Adaku spends a lot of her own money helping too. Taiwo was a good girl and she wants her to be married in style.

Nnu Ego says goodbye to her family. Taiwo and her husband Magnus keep Obiageli, one of Nnu Ego's daughters. Magnus says that Obiageli will start school and be a help to Taiwo in running the house, since Taiwo will soon have children.

Nnu Ego still isn't sure, but Adim tells her that Magnus is an "enlightened" man and will help take care of Obiageli well. It's time Nnu Ego rested.

But Nnu Ego protests that she doesn't know how to be anything but a mother. Adim assures her that she still has Malachi and Nnamdio with her. He tells his mother that she'll be plenty busy as soon as Kehinde and Taiwo start having their own children.

As she leaves, Kehinde calls out, asking Nnu Ego to pray for them so that their lives will be as "productive and fertile" as hers had been (18.108).

As they drive away, the driver tells Nnu Ego that it's nice to have daughters. Nnu Ego tells him that she also has sons and he calls her a rich woman.

As they drive away, the lorry driver tells Nnu Ego that women are lucky, because the fathers do all the work, but the women get all the glory.

Nnu Ego laughs silently to herself. In Ibuza, Nnu Ego stays with her own family because Nnaife's family calls her a bad

woman. Nnaife is released and comes home to Ibuza to live with his family and his wife, Okpo. Nnu Ego's health goes downhill. Though her daughters send her money from time to

time, she never hears from Oshia in America or Adim, who later goes to Canada. It breaks her heart. She hears that Oshia has gotten married to a white woman.

One day, she dies, with none of her children there to hold her hand.

All the children, even Oshia, come home for her funeral. They throw her the second-most expensive funeral that Ibuza had ever seen, and they build a shrine so that her grandchildren could come and pray if they were barren.

But people said that Nnu Ego was wicked even after death. No matter how many women pray to her to make them fertile, she doesn't answer their prayers.

They don't understand it – having children is everything. And didn't Nnu Ego's children give her everything, such an expensive funeral?

Still, she never answers prayers for children.1

1 "The Joys of Motherhood Summary." Shmoop: Homework Help, Teacher Resources, Test Prep. 09 May 2011 <http://www.shmoop.com/joys-of-motherhood/summary.html>.