Metaphor for Foreshadowing
The opening paragraph includes a metaphor so casually that it seems to warrant little scrutiny. It will be not be long before the narrative reveals that this seemingly throwaway figurative imagery just foreshadowed the whole tale of its protagonist:
“Her whole body felt the hazy mist in the air, and part of her felt herself brushing against the white master's washing on the line. This made her whirl round with a jerk, like a puppet reaching the end of its string.”
Patriarchy
The thing about patriarchal rule and attitudes is that when it is the unofficial law of the land (much less the official law) it trickles down all the way from highest status of privilege to the lowest. Whether king or peasant, social status built on economics is meaningless because in every case the man knows he is king and the woman peasant from top to bottom:
“`Every woman is dissatisfied on first arriving in this town, so why taunt me with it? You didn't make a very pretty picture when I came, you know.’
Nnaife went on laughing; with that mirthless type of laughter, Nnu Ego could never tell whether he was in sympathy with her or mocking her.”
Metaphor for Foreboding
Metaphor is a great tool for creating a sense of foreboding doom. A few similes dropped into a passage here and can transform what would otherwise be merely a literal description of present conditions into something that intensifies a sense of anxiety into a portrait of an impending doom:
“It was a wet day in July, 1939. How heavy the rain was that day; it seemed as if all the taps in the sky had been turned on by the hand of whoever makes the weather…Water poured from the sky, dimming the sun that was struggling to come out, until the earth could absorb no more, and people thought the earth itself was oozing water as well. Most of the trees in the compound, after hours of bowing and rising to the force of the howling wind, lost their branches.”
A Prayer to God
In a moment of absolute desperation and desolation of spirit, Nnu Ego passionately prays out to God with questions. Those questions receive answers not from the almighty, but herself. And those answers lead to philosophical considerations of the consequences. Taken together, the prayer produces a response in metaphor with a finality that is perhaps even the world of God moving in his mysterious ways:
“When will I be free?...Never, not even in death. I am a prisoner of my own flesh and blood.”
The Joylessness of Motherhood
Right from the beginning of discovering her pregnancy, Nnu Ego fails to experience any of the commonly expected joys of motherhood. In fact, she greets her pregnancy as retributive punishment unfairly doled out to her for the sins of her father. There is no joy in motherhood, unlucky Nnu Ego has struck out with the conventional effects of hormones on maternal emotions:
“She would feel her body, young firm and like that of any other young woman. She knew that soft liquid feeling of motherhood was lacking. `O my chi, why do you have to bring me so low?’”
