How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Nnu Ego smiled. "How can he [Oshia] help us when he is not in his country? He probably does not have enough to eat….So why do you have to worry Oshia when he is not in a position to help? I don't want him to worry or to think that he brought all this on us. When you reply tell him that we all love him and that we all pray for him too."
For the first time since he was young Adim—the tough boy, as they used to call him—broke down and cried. "Mother, you say you'll pray for him? Mother, he started all this. He did, and nobody else. It was anger over him that made our father lose his sense of direction." (18.8-9)
Adim recognizes that it was Oshia's selfishness in letting his family pay for his education when they were hard pressed to do so, and his unwillingness now to help them when they've fallen on hard times, that have caused Nnaife to go off the deep end. But Nnu Ego can't see it because she refuses to see that Oshia is selfish.
Quote #8
"Don't blame anyone for what has happened to your father. Things have changed drastically since the days of his own youth, but he has refused to see the changes. I tried to warn him…but, no matter. The fact is that parents get only reflected glory from their children nowadays, whereas your father invested in all of you, just as his father invested in him so that he could help on the farm. Your father forgot that he himself left the family farm to come to this place. He could only help when he was well settled in a good job. For you, the younger generation, it's a different kind of learning. It also takes longer and costs more. I'm not sure that I'm not beginning to like it. My only regret is that I did not have enough money to let the girls stay at school. So don't' blame your brother for anything. And don't forget Oshia is my son, just like you. Some fathers, especially those with many children from different wives, can reject a bad son, a master can reject his evil servant, a wife can even leave a bad husband, but a mother can never, never reject her son. If he is damned, she is damned with him….So go and wash, put on your clean school uniform and hold your chin up. I shall see to it that your fees are paid before we leave. After that I'm afraid, son, your life is in your own hand and those of your chi."
"Thank you, Mother," Adim said simply, and he determined to do well in his forthcoming examination. (18.12-13)
Nnu Ego has sacrificed mightily to give her children an education, expecting they would take care of her someday. But now she sees that traditions have changed, that the education she has given her children is different than the kind of training children used to get. Likewise, she can no longer expect her children to see their duties towards her in the same way, but she refuses to be angry with them. They are her children, and her duty towards them is to always love them, and to always sacrifice for them. Yet she also inadvertently recognizes that Nnaife didn't help his family in the traditional way – the way he now expects his sons to help – because he came to Lagos instead.
Quote #9
"Well, your second son is at St Gregory's. Who pays his fees?"
"I do, I pay his fees with the profits I make from selling firewood and other things."
There was a suppressed ripple of laugher in the court.
"But your husband told us he pays the school feels, how is that?"
"Yes, he pays the school feels."
"Do you mean the two of you pay Adim's school fees?"
"No, I pay."
The laughter that followed this could no longer be suppressed. Even the judge smiled unwillingly.
"Mrs Owulum, will you please explain."
"Nnaife is the head of our family. He owns me, just like God in the sky owns us. So even though I pay the fees, yet he owns me. So in other words he pays."
"Oh, I see. And you clothe and sometimes feed the family, too?"
Nnu Ego nodded, not knowing that with that one nod, she had nailed the last nail in Nnaife's coffin. It became clear that she was doing nearly all the providing…(18.43-54)
Though Nnu Ego doesn't yet see it, the court is suggesting that Nnaife hasn't done his duty as a husband or father. The court recognizes that he has failed to provide for his children.