The Headstrong Historian

“Did Nwamgba not know that Obierika was an only child, that his late father had been an only child whose wives had lost pregnancies and buried babies? Perhaps somebody in their family had committed the taboo of selling a girl into slavery and the earth god Ani was visiting misfortune on them.”

This passage reflects how superstition plays a role in Nwamgba’s clan and explains unusual circumstances. Superstitious beliefs also allow for deep connections between individuals and their ancestors, which is why Obierika’s family’s habitual inability to produce many children is troubling; it makes the family connection between the past and present precarious.

“Her father found her exhausting, this sharp-tongued, head-strong daughter who had once wrestled her brother to the ground. (After which her father had warned everybody not to let the news leave the compound that the girl had thrown a boy.)”

Even as a child, Nwamgba is shown to have a fighting spirit that matches the men of her community. Nwamgba’s stubborn and decisive traits are both a strength and a weakness; while her inflexibility is the backbone of her resilience, her dedication causes her to act without thinking of the consequences. This causes issues for her family and makes her rely on them for solutions—much like how her father needs to protect her reputation when she wrestles with a boy.

“So she took Anikwenwa on long walks, telling him that the land from that palm tree to that plantain tree was theirs, that his grandfather had passed it on to his father. She told him the same things over and over, even though he looked bored and bewildered, and she did not let him go and play in moonlight unless she was watching.”

Nwamgba’s insistence that Anikwenwa know the land he is meant to inherit and his seeming disinterest in his family’s legacy foreshadow the discord that eventually takes root in the family. While Anikwenwa casts away his family’s culture, Nwamgba remains steadfast in her cultural identity and tries to maintain the family legacy, if not through her son, then through her granddaughter.