#676 On Ohaeto Street- Chinelo Okparanta

#676 On Ohaeto Street- Chinelo Okparanta

“Here are Nigerian woman at home and transplanted to the United States, building lives out of longing and hope, faith and doubt, the struggle to stay and the mandate to leave, the burden and strength of love.” 

That is the back cover description of Chinelo OKparanta’s 2013 collection, Happiness, Like Water. It’s hard not to read that and think of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s collection, That Thing Around Your Neck, that we’ve already read for this project. But, that’s not a bad thing. Comparison is a part of analysis. I am looking forward reading this.

We begin with this story. Chinwe and her mother live on Ohaeto street, her father now dead. They get visited by a young Jehova’s Witness named Eze. At first Chinwe won’t invite him in, but her mother sees something in the young man, and they talk for a while. Besides spreading the good word, he is looking to start a family but he will only marry a woman who is also a Witness. After several friendly visits, Chinwe agrees at her mother’s prodding to convert and become Eze’s husband.

Meanwhile the surrounding townships are falling to a gang of thieves. When their neighborhood agrees to make a deal with the thieves and pay them off, Eze refuses to contribute, so he and Chinwe become a target. Eze is a wealthy and ostentatious so the robbers come pretty quickly. They survive the attack, but it becomes clear that Eze is more worried about protecting his wealth that his wife, she decides to leave.

There is strong commentary here about patriarchal constructs in religion, and the subjugation of independent woman for “stability.”

Rating: 7-8-7-7 Total= 29

#260 The Headstrong Historian- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

#260 The Headstrong Historian- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Sadly, this is the last of Adichie’s amazing The Thing Around Your Neck. I enjoyed this collection immensely.

In Onicha, Nigeria tribal life is hard. After Nwambgas husband dies (possibly killed by jealous cousins) she has little protection from those that would take what is hers. She sees salvation in the power of the white missionaries and sends her only son with them to learn English and the Western cultures so he wouldn’t have to suffer as she has.

She gets her wish. Her son is well on his way from rising above tribal life, but that causes different concerns for Nwamgba.

“Her pride turned into vague worry when she noticed that the curiosity in his eyes had diminished. There was a new ponderousness in him, as if he had suddenly found himself bearing the weight of a too heavy world.”

The more he learns about the world, the less he is attached to his heritage: “Nwamgba knew that her son now inhabited a mental space that was foreign to her.”

As generations grow, their culture becomes more hidden in more practical things like school, clothing, commerce. And yet, even those the farthest removed from the old world, reach out the hardest for even a handful of that richness.

Notable Passage: “People ruled over others, not because they were better people, but because they had better guns.”

Rating: 7-8-7-7 Total= 29

#218 The Arrangers of Marriage- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

#218 The Arrangers of Marriage- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A young Nigerian woman has just married. It was an arranged marriage to a Nigerian man who has lived in America for many years. When they arrive in her new Brooklyn home, she is surprised at the reality of her new life. And she is surprised at her husbands need to Americanize her.

“You don’t understand how it works in this country. If you want to get anywhere you have to be as mainstream as possible. If not, you will be left by the roadside.”

“Look at the people who shop here; they are the ones who immigrate and continue to act as if they are back in their countries…They will never move forward unless they adapt to America. They will always be doomed to supermarkets like this.”

Even their names are changed. Chinanza Okafor becomes Agatha Bell, and Ofodile Emeka Udenwa becomes Dave Bell. Although she finds it strange that in her building is a young woman that after visiting Tanzania decided to rename herself from her African roots: “A black American had chosen as African, name while my husband made me change mine to an English one.”

Culture shock, entitlement, independence, cultural value…all themes found in this entire collection.

Notable Passage: lacking in dignity, about this place, this open space of too many tables and too much food.”

Rating: 8-8-8-8 Total=32

#41 A Private Experience- Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

#41 A Private Experience- Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

Two Nigerian woman find themselves together in an abandoned storefront helping one another stay safe during a riot. These two woman are polar opposites in everything external; Chika studies medicine at the University, the other woman sells onions in the market. Chika loses her expensive Burburry bag while fleeing the mob, the other woman loses her cheap plastic necklace. Chika is an Igbo Christian, the other woman is a Hausa Muslim. When riots break out, these differences do not matter.

The unrest began when a Christian man ran over a Koran in the street. The Hausa woman seems to be used to these cultural uprisings, while Chika is overwhelmed.

“Riots like this are what she read about in newspapers. Riots like this were what happened to other people.”

Despite being in close confines and sharing very intimate personal moments, these woman remain somewhat distant and very detached, each retreating to a personal bubble. Thus the title. The scene with the woman worrying about her cracked nipple is a powerful metaphor for her inability to protect her children when they need her the most.

Notable Passage: “The room is stuffy and smells nothing like the streets outside, which smell like the kind of sky-colored smoke that wafts around during Christmas when people throw goat carcasses into fires to burn the hair off the skin.”

Rating: 8-7-8-7 Total= 30