PRINCE EZEABATA CHIBUZOR’S REVIEW OF ZIKORA BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE.

PRINCE EZEABATA CHIBUZOR’S REVIEW OF ZIKORA BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE.

Friday 19th November, 2020.

 

Zikora. A short Story

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Published by Amazon Original Stories, Seattle

www.apub.com

eISBN: 9781542029612

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is undoubtedly one of the finest writers from African descendency, notably from West-Africa, Nigeria, who has being described as the (Unruly) Literary Daughter, of the celebrated African author, Professor Chinua Achebe, which of course isn’t an allegory. Chimamanda professed the Great literati has her foremost inspiration in the world of Storytelling. She has created an imperial dimension in African Literature, from Purple Hibiscus published in 2003, Half of a Yellow Sun published in 2006 to Americanah published in 2013, her work of fiction has being critically acclaimed over continents and across borders, little wonder The Times Literary Supplement described her as “the most prominent” of a “procession of critically acclaimed young Anglophone authors”. Notable in her work of fiction is the distinctive choose of words and provocative sprout of imagery.

Chimamanda’s Zikora is her recent short story, which however isn’t her first. One tectonic nudge I had, in the cause of mine, reading Zikora is the pathos yet instructive feeling. Once I was drawn back to the reminiscent, tautness of my mother’s bulge belly when she was heavy with the pregnancy of my twin siblings, which happens to be the last of her birth and once more, I could perceive Mmiliaku’s amuchago m as my mother’s tone, when she saw the moving grainy grey image of the twins in her belly and what follows thereafter.

Chimamanda’s Zikora written in a First-person narration, is in itself a dignify art of creativity. One could see, feel and impress the Zikora, who told the story of her love, betrayal and family. The story which open with Zikora in the center of pain and maternal anguish, tells us of how she met Kwame a beautiful lawyer – a pride of his parents - with an attentive and restlessness personality. She was proud to have won the ‘prize’. The story took us to the past, so as to understand the background of the narrator and the past to present reflecting her love for her son, ‘I can die for him’ she said.

This is a story that epitomizes sentient issues prevailing in a sexist world. First, of which is in the angle of Mmiliaku, who even after being a University graduate and earns, from a job that promised nothing to her, is under the yoke of parental subjugation typical to the African home, thus her only seemingly chance to escape into the world of Adults from her African-Homed parents is to marry Emmanuel, a more older man who visibly doesn’t love her, but because he holds his intention to marry her, which Chimamanda describes as ‘Jewels’. Yes jewels, to her parents who wanted her married off as they say, “It’s time to get married”. It signifies how knowledgeable the Author is, which isn’t surprising anyway, as to the dominancy of an African home, parenthood and family culture, which sees the female as a sex made for a man and nothing more. An African home sees the female as a child to be protected. Her parents [expecting] her home before 9.00pm every day, (P 10) isn’t however mistaken.

It is not mistaken nor is it deluding in screening one of the cynical of a modern home, although not every home, I should say, but in homes. Mmiliaku’s home is seen as a home of unfreedom, of fear, of dissonant and of loneliness. She is treated like an instrument of sexual gratification by her Emmanuel, who cares not about her feelings, mood and sexual satisfaction, but climbs on her, even when she’s dry. One could imagine the act and the displeasure that accompanies it. The author best describes it as rape. Little wonder, she got pregnant and aborted it and he still did not know. The question is “how will he know?” Of course, he won’t because; he is only interested in his want and gratification. This is also to show the lack of communication between the Mmiliaku and her husband. In her marriage as typical to most African homes, she isn’t free to make decisions and utter opinions. She was made to resign from her job. She was stopped from keeping [single] friends and every penny and expenditure must be accounted for. 

Now we see why she have to get to a public phone to make a call and why she had to hide her money in the baby’s drawer, to avoid Emmanuel’s preying eyes. Is this peculiar to the African home alone? Perhaps it plays in other climes. Her statement in P 14, “Some of us have men and are still doing it alone” is crystal clear to elaborate the solitude of her marriage. And, she is made to endure it all for presumably her parents, who would not listen to any objection.

Zikora also spread a signifying sensitivity and sentiment as to the ordeals of childbirth, the agony that comes with it and the aftermath soothing joy of birth, coupled with the unquantifiable measure of Love between a mother and a child. We see her describing her boy, with such meekness and tender love, she even said, she could die for him. This is her first child birth and it was new. She described pregnancy and Child birth as hair. We wants to keep our hair, and at the same time, don’t want to keep our hair. We scrape the hair in our armpits and legs but keep and maintain the hair on her head, it makes no difference, its hair, but the difference is, we want hair here and not want hair there. This is how pregnancy is. “It’s funny how pregnancy is like body hair. We scrub and scrape our armpits and upper lip and legs because we hate to have hair there. Then we pamper and treat the hair on our heads because we love hair there. But it’s all hair. It’s the wanting that makes the difference.” P 12.

Zikora is as a geyser that shots hot water of realism, ever hot and not cold, that by a drop of a splash, you flinch and recoil your skin to yield from the hurt. This is what Chimamanda like her literary Father, Chinua, did in molding and breathing life to a Zikora, who was in love, and in love and not willing to believe that the love she once felt, received and enjoyed is expired. Initially, she found herself in the mercy of a boy who does not love her from the beginning. She tried to make him love her, and I asked myself, can you really make someone who doesn’t love you love you? She responded by saying, “I didn’t yet know that you cannot nice your way into being loved.” P 20.

The boy that didn’t love her never loved her, he never reciprocated her amenable and boneless efforts to please him sexually and otherwise, rather we found him yanking a fistful of her braids and pushed at her head as she gagged, kneeling naked before him. That’s all he wanted, Sex. He would call her, not to know how she feels or to be a ‘lover’, but to ask if she is up, so he can come visit for a night and off he goes before dawn, even when her grandmother passed on and she called, he said a “Sorry” with no empathy and next, what does he want, Sex. “Has your period ended so I can stop by?” When he does put her in the family way, she didn’t bother telling him, she knew, it will amount to nothing, rather she handle it alone and alone she did abort the pregnancy. This flair of a tale, will therefore pose a question to some folks who will say, that’s how boys or men do. They are only interested in sex and not love, but halt not all boys.

That was when she was nineteen and now she is thirty nine, and it seems like a déjà vu, only both the former never loved her and made his stand open, but the latter seems like her dream man, but he left her alone with the pregnancy. Apparently, her ex basketball lover, would do same as Kwame did, only that she didn’t tell him, but here, she told Kwame but the result is the same –She was alone to face it.

I wonder why, why did Zikora who sees the insincerity in people or the ill will of some friends which was often as obvious to [her] as a brightly colored stain (P 9) not see the insincerity in Kwame. Isn’t it cryptic, mystifying, perhaps as it’s often said; “Love is Blind” She was blind to see the clearer picture of her calm, loving Kwame. Until, it struck and it was no little struck that the Kwame who tried to prostrate before her dad, who ordered a T shirt for her, who will tell her “I love you” even before [she] did (P 8) and who will converse with her, about how far and what they will do in year to come will have his face [un-relaxed] instead it went still, as though all his features had paused, and suddenly this communicative man retreated into the cryptic P 11. [She] was so certain of his delight that [she] made [her] tone playful, almost singsong, when she said “I might be pregnant”

The narrative furthermore typified a traditional African family-society which exhorts and has reverence for the male to the female child. This is elaborated in the Father marrying Aunty Nwanneka because Mother could not give birth to a male child, and the strive that followed. We see mother putting up a fight with Father and furthermore her reluctance in accepting Aunty Nwanneka into the family as her husband’s wife. 

Chimamanda shows us how; Mother will refuse Zikora from eating and being free with Aunty Nwanneka, emphasizing “Half Brother”. We see the ill of polygamy and what it brings with in the family. We also see the strong preference of a male to a female.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies’ Zikora is a pyramid of wonder, ecstasy and mystery; one is not but left fascinated and open to enjoy the breeze of her creative ambience.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Prince Ezeabata Chibuzor  is a second year student of Law at the University Of Abuja, Nigeria where he founded Association of Creative Writers in year twenty - nineteen. The Association which has extended to the University of Benin and Umar Musa Ya'adua University, Kastina has a cling in Primary and secondary schools across states in the country as Creative Writers and Readers Club. He is also the Managing Editor at The ACW Publishers Ltd,in addition to holding several positions and portfolios in and outside the University and an active volunteer and intern with Non-governmental Organisations and Law firms respectively. 

He is an essayist, poet, playwright, creative writer and content writer. He writings cuts across Law, humanities, and arts. They includes; The Finance Act 2020 - Its impingement in the Nigerian Digital Taxation, The role of laws and policies in the curtailment of Global emergencies,The Nigerian Blockchain regulations, and, The face of the Law towards rape, among others.

He co-authored a book: Space Law :An approach on the Nigerian Context with  Solomon Ater Vendaga and current writing The Business Environment with Ibrahim Adedayo Kuforiji the CEO of Titan hub NIG Ltd, and My Episode In The Land Of the Rising Sun, among others.