Half of a Yellow Sun

When my group decide to start reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, I was thrilled. I wanted to read about the Nigerian culture, and the word written on this book coming from a Nigerian herself means a lot more.

We chose to begin our author study by reading Half of a Yellow Sun.

Half of a Yellow Sun begins with Ugwu's point of view. He is presented as an innocent, hard-working kid who wants to be the best at what he does. He lives to please his master which I thought showed a very sweet and nice side of him. I instantly became attatched to him as a character.

Ugwu 24/7

However, my classmates didn't think the same way as I when we discussed the book the next day in class. Most of them described Ugwu as a pervert and a sex addict, all because at the end of chapter 1 he overheard Odenigbo and Olanna having sex. 

"Later, after dinner, he tiptoed to Master's bedroom and rested his ear on the door. She was moaning loudly, sounds that seemed so unlike her, so uncontrolled and stirring and throaty." (Adichie, 31)

I told my classmates that they were overreacting. Just because he was eavesdropping didn't necesarilly mean he was looking for what he actually found, and it is clear by the way he is describing the sounds that he doesn't, really, fully understand what's going on inside the room. 

Me at my classmates for calling Ugwu (who happens to be my favorite character) a pervert. 

Nonetheless; as I read the eavesdropping scene once again, what really caught my attention was the way Olanna's moans were described; specially when Ugwu described the moans as "[S]ounds that seemed so unlike her, so uncontrolled and stirring and throaty." (Adichie, 31). The wording almost made it seem as if even during intimacy Olanna is expected to act the way society portrays a woman. As quiet, beautiful, fragile and everything Olanna is when she's around Odenigbo's friends.