Under the Udala Trees

“Papa and Mama were only children, no siblings, which they liked to say was one of the reasons they cherished each other: that they were, aside from me, the only family they had left.” 

Uzo’s death profoundly affects Ijeoma’s mother. Without her husband, Adaora’s only family is her daughter. 

“At the window, only one glass pane remained in its frame, and on it, cracks in an almost circular pattern, as if a spider web had been stretched across its surface. She went up to that pane, touched it, stroked its fissures with her fingers, stared accusingly at it.” 

The simile of the spider web develops this description of destruction caused by a raid. This window-web is significant because it is near Uzo’s corpse. Ijeoma’s father refusing to go into the bunker and thus engaging in a form of suicide is spider-like trickery.

“I was thinking of the ways in which I could dance or fast or pray this sadness away when Mama spoke.”

After Uzo’s death, Ijeoma wants to lift her mother’s spirits. Adaora has been neglecting Ijeoma and all her household duties. Ironically, right after Ijeoma thinks about how to cheer up her mother, Adaora announces that she is sending Ijeoma to live with the grammar school teacher; Ijeoma doesn’t get the chance to help her mother grieve.