LIGHT PDF Lesley Nneka Arimah

 LIGHT Lesley Nneka Arimah

‘Light’ is a story by a Nigerian writer Lesley Nneka Arimah, that explores the challenges of parenting. When Enebeli Okwara's wife leaves Nigeria to study for a Masters in Business Administration in America, he is left with the responsibility of raising their 11 year old daughter virtually single-handed. 

Focus 

• Challenges of distant parenting 
• How children suffer when parents are forced to be apart

LIGHT SYNOPSIS

Enebeli Okwara is faced with the huge task of raising his daughter single handedly after his wife goes to America to pursue a Master in Business Administration. She left when the girl was only eleven years old. Its been three years and the girl is fourteen.

Among the challenges Okwara faces are: A stampede at the market that saw him separate from her; having to explain to her daughter some adult related topics after an uncle makes a careless joke and her first period.

Enebeli is summoned to school after the girl writes and passes a romantic note to a boy named Buki. It reads, ‘Buki, I love you. I will give you many sons’. She says it will never happen again but does not keep her promise.Her mother's attempt to correct the girl proves futile since she's miles away and they can only chat via the computer.

The conversation between Enebeli and his wife; and that between his daughter and his wife are coronial during the first month but the warmth fades over time. The mother returns over Christmas and the daughter would not leave her side. They decide that she should stay in America until she completes her studies when she experiences delays and Visa issues while flying back to the US after the holidays. Enebeli and his wife concern that this decision is their first big mistake.

While the mother was in America, the conversation between mother and daughter was not as warm or affectionate as they were at first. She could not tell her about the boy. Her mother tries to teach her to be a responsible young woman but since she's far the distance between them widens. The girl does not enjoy talking to her mother anymore.

The mother forces Enebeli to send their house girl back to the village on suspicion that she may influence their daughter wrongly. Enebeli struggles with the task of ensuring that his daughter looks decent; he has to help her do her hair after her mother raises concern.

When the girl finally confesses about seeing a boy, her mother reprimands her, much to her dismay. When she completes her studies, Enebeli's wife accepts a job offer in America contrary to their initial agreement. She was supposed to return to Nigeria.

At last Enebeli is arm-twisted and compelled to allow his daughter to fly to America and join his wife in America. This makes him bitter since they had an affectionate bond.

Key Events 

• The challenges survived (P 28)
• Note to Buki (P 29)
• Regular cordial communication (P 29)
• The return 
• The house help (P 30)
• The strained relationship (P 30)
• Job offer acceptance (P 32) 
• Daughter's relocation to America (P 32) 

 KCSE ESSAY QUESTION ON ‘ LIGHT' BY LESLEY NNEKA ARIMAH.

Write a composition on the challenges experienced by a single parent raising a  teenager citing illustrations from ‘LIGHT’ by Lesley Nneka Amirah. (20 marks) 

Next: Analysis of My Father's Head by Okwiri Oduor. 

See analyses of all stories in Memories we Lost here.