The Psychological effect of war in Chinelo Okparanta's Under the Udala Trees.

 War affects the psyche of any man. A look into Chinelo Okparanta's Under The Udala Trees may give you the idea that you are about to read a book about two lovers necking and dotting on themselves under the Udala  tree. Well, the opposite is actually what the reader gets to see.

 The book chronicles the effect of the Nigerian Civil war on a particular family.

Through the first person narative, the reader is introduced to a girl, Ijeoma at the height of the civil war. The 'dillusionary' effect of the war makes her father,  Uzo  refuse to enter the bunker with his wife and daughter during an air raid.  What follows next is his death. Thus began a life of loneliness, gloom and bitterness.

Uncertain of what may become of herself and her daughter, Adaora ( Ifeoma's mother) decides it is best Ifeoma go to live in Aba  with a couple that are teachers. A year and half without any news from her  mother, Ifeoma becomes even more lonely and bitter against her mother.  She comes in contact with a  stranded Hausa girl, Amina with whom she experiments with the society's forbidden love, lesbianism.  They are soon discovered by the grammer school teacher which results in Ifeoma going back to live with her mother. Adaora's efforts to instill the biblical stand against lesbianism or gayismon her daughter fails to meet the mark because as soon as the war ends and schools resume, Amina and Ifeoma are back in the forbidden affair but not for long. A fearful dream Amina had makes her turn a new leaf. Her coldness and aloofness is enough signal to Ifeoma that she is no longer interested in the affair. Amina finds love and is soon married, leaving Ifeoma lonely and heartbroken.

She finds a new love in Ndidi who takes her to a hangout in a Church building which they use for their rendezvous at night. An assault on their enclave results in the death of Adanna who is beaten and then set alight. Fear and caution makes both Ndidi and Ifeoma limit their contact to the barest minimum giving room for Chibundum, a childhood friend of Ifeoma who later marries her.

Their marriage becomes a stalemate because as it turns out, Ifeoma is still in love with Ndidi and so it is difficult to bring herself to love Chibundum.  In a letter to Ndidi, she details her  marriage life with Chibundum and the birth of their daughter, Chidinma which seem the only thing giving her joy in the joyless marriage.  Chibundum  discovers Ada's letters to Adanna and we get to know that he has been intercepting Ndidi's letters from reaching her. It becomes the last straw that broke the camel's back because early one morning while her husband was still asleep, she sneaks out and leaves for her moms.

It is important to note that war has nothing good to offer. If at all it is a fight for freedom, it will most certainly result in a lot of casualties of mostly innocent people who have no say in the matter. There is no victor in war, all you see are a victims and a reduction of our humanity. 

Ifeoma's life is turned upside down as a result of the war. A middle class family's fortune is turned to a kind that rations food and is forced to  depend on the meager  relief packages Red cross society brings to Biafra if at all they are not intercepted by the federal side. They live in constant fear of death that could happen within the twinkle of an eye.

In the narrator's account , she gives the reason for the effect of her being sent off. Thus :

There is no way to tell the story of what happened with Amina without first telling the story of Mama’s sending me off. Likewise, there is no way to tell the story of Mama’s sending me off without also telling of Papa’s refusal to go to the bunker. Without his refusal, the sending away might never have occurred, and if the sending away had not occurred, then I might never have met Amina.

If I had not met Amina, who knows, there might be no story at all to tell.

It is expected of a mother at such a critical time such as the time of war to keep her daughter close by and under her watch. But the weight of the war and coupled with the 'deliberate' suicide of her husband, another casualty of the war, made her fear for both the safety of herself and her daughter. The war brought about the death of her husband. If there was no war, their won't be need for a bunker and neither will there be air raids prowling. Another point to note is that there is no telling when the war will end and more so, getting food is like a drowning man gasping to stay afloat. It was a dicey situation and so she had to let Ifeoma live with a family friend. Of course, she regretted her action after a meeting was called  by the grammar school teacher  where she is told of the abominable relationship between Ifeoma and Amina. We get the remorse in her voice,  expressed in the following dialogue :

“It’s my fault,” she said, weakly now. Her throat was hoarse.

I moved closer to her, leaned my head against her shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Mama.”

We stayed quiet.

“It’s my fault,” she repeated in a thin voice.

“No, Mama. It’s not anybody’s fault.”

“Yes,” she said. “Of course it’s my fault.” 

She went on to recount that day out on the veranda when I begged to follow her to Aba. Maybe she should have allowed me to go with her, she said. 

What kind of mother sent her daughter off to be a house girl for someone else, and for all that time? And beyond that, to send off a child who had just seen her father’s corpse lying in all that blood. To send off a child under those circumstances when she should have done anything to keep her close.

Though the war is over but it surely leave its trail behind. Young girls fraternizing with promiscuity as the reader sees in Ugochi. She had several 'men friends' and her reason for keeping men friends:

The men are good for money, but they are not looking to marry. All they want is a sweetheart on the side. 

The financial benefit she derives from the men friends is the reason for keeping them. Even though Ugochi  decides later in the novel to think better of her life than continuing in the promiscuity with several men, however the case is not with Ifeoma. While Amina who is alien to the christian doctrine turn a new leaf when she had a dream forewarning her in the forbidden affair with Ifeoma. Ifeoma remains unchanged in her 'compromised' sexuality and even going to church to be spoken to by God on the validation of the same. This raises a hypocritical attitude on her part. All that there is to know about same sex marriage is written in the Holy book. 

The writer leaves the reader in no doubt about her position as regards same sex marriage or relationship. Anybody is entitled to embrace the 'leftist' idea about marriage and should not be judged for their decision. After all, each person is entitled to how they live out their lives and what they choose to believe.

Thank you for reading to the end. Kindly leave a comment.