Genre
Science Fiction
Setting and Context
Post-apocalyptic Sudan
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is a young woman by the name of Onyesonwu who is also the protagonist of the novel.
Tone and Mood
Depressing, fearful, terrifying and without hope.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Onyesonwu is the protagonist; her father is the antagoist.
Major Conflict
There is conflict throughout the book between the Nuru and the Okeke, the former oppressing the latter.
Climax
Onyesonwu finds her birth father, who raped her mother, and defeats him using her magical powers.
Foreshadowing
Onyesonwu's reaching maturity foreshadows her decision to find her father and defeat him.
Understatement
No specific examples.
Allusions
The book constantly alludes to the practice of weaponized rape which occurs in areas of conflict particularly in Africa where the combat is generally between two factions in the same country.
Imagery
No specific examples.
Paradox
Onyesonwu's father is a sorcerer, and uses his magical powers for evil; she has inherited his powers, but in her hands they are more magical than evil, and she is able to use them for good.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between the civil war in Darfur in the twenty first century and the fictional war in post-apocalyptic Sudan that forms the backdrop of the book.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The Nuru and the Okeke are the tribal terms that encompass all of the different individuals who are part of them.
Personification
The desert is personified because Onyesonwu claims that if you spend time there you can hear it speak, and also that you can communicate with butterflies by using the language of the desert.
