Ghosts Analysis PDF – Chimamanda Adichie
A Silent Song and Other Stories
Chimamanda Adichie's story “Ghosts” revolves around the
protagonist James Nwoye, a 71 year old retired mathematics professor. Nwoye lives off a pension, although he does
not receive it when he should.
The story explores how memories of the past can haunt us in
the present. The tale, aptly named “Ghosts”, opens when Nwoye meets his former
colleague Ikenna Okoro whom he thought had died in the Biafran war. His first
thought is to throw sand at him, his people’s traditional practice to ascertain
that a person is not a ghost. He restrains himself since he is a Western-educated
man or so we think.
Characters in Ghosts
- James Nwoye – retired professor
- Ebere – James’s late wife
- Zik – James’s late daughter
- Nkiru – James’s daughter (doctor)
- Ikenna Okoro – James’s former colleague
- Vincent – James’s former driver
- Professor Ezike
- Dr. Anya
- Chuck Bell – James’s American friend
- Josephat Udeana – inept vice chancellor Nkussa university
- Harrison – James’s gardener
- Dr. Otgabu
- Professor Ijere – James’s next door neighbour
- Professor Maduewe – James’s friend
Summary of Ghosts
The professor is in the university to collect his pension
yet again. The pension money is
mismanaged or stolen. Some people claim that the pension money was stolen by
the education minister. Another avers that the vice chancellor deposited the
money in high interest personal accounts. Since ordinary Nigerians cannot
access pension, many of them are poverty-stricken. The former university staff (drivers
and messengers) are tattered and hungry. They have not received pension for
three years. Vincent, professor’s former driver avers that, “This is why
people retire and die.” (pg. 58)
Adichie uses Vincent to shine a light on the plight of poor
retirees of the university. The former driver is now a cobbler, who mends
students shoes but they never pay him on time. He also complains about Nigeria
being an ungrateful country. His skin is so wrinkled that he appears older than
Nwoye who is older than him. The other workers, who are also there to collect
their elusive pension, decry the poor state of affairs: carpentry is not going
well, their children are ill and they have money lender problems. They laugh as
they talk as if to conceal their resentment. Nwoye sympathizes with them.
Luckily for him, he has some savings and receives some dollars from his
daughter Nkiru who is a doctor in America. The men's ashy hands and faces
remind him of how Ebere his late wife used to rub lotion on his body. This fond
memory is a testament of their once affectionate bond.
Nwoye is shocked to meet Ikenna Okoro, a man he thought died
37 years ago. It is as if he had seen a ghost. Although Ikenna Okoro and Nwoye
were not friends, everyone knew Ikenna Okoro. He was an eccentric dissident who
never shied away from speaking his mind. He petitioned the government about
better conditions for the non-academic staff. Other lecturers admired his edgy
fearlessness. However, he now seems a pale shadow of his former brash self. Nwoye
can pick up unusual diffidence (lack of confidence) about Ikenna Okoro.
Nwoye believes Ikenna Okoro died on July 6th, 1967
the day they were evacuated from Nsukka. Their enemy, the federal soldiers, was
advancing but the militia assured them of victory in a matter of days. Nwoye
believed that the vandals (federal soldiers) would be defeated in a week or
two. As the professor flees in his Impala, he observes the villagers fleeing on
foot, women with boxes on their heads and babies on their backs hurry away. The
men push bicycles and carry yams. They would later return to the misery of
having to pick through the lecturers dust bins after the war.
Nwoye spots Ikenna Okoro driving back into campus. He tries
to dissuade him but Ikenna Okoro is a headstrong renegade. When Nsukka is
captured by the federal soldiers, two lecturers are killed. Nwoye assumes that
one of them was Ikenna Okoro. Nwoye is disappointed to learn that Ikenna Okoro
fled to Sweden on a Red Cross plane instead of staying to support the Biafran
cause. He is angry at the saboteurs who betrayed the Biafran cause, which he
supports dearly. Since his entire family was wiped out when a bomb was dropped
in Orlu, Ikenna Okoro chose to stay in Sweden since he had no reason to come
back. He claims that while there he organized Biafran rallies and
fundraising.
The war had a devastating aftermath. When Ebere and Nwoye
return to Nsukka in 1970, (three years after they left) they are dismayed by the amount of destruction they find. Their
books are a charred pile under the umbrella tree, lumps of calcified feces in
the bathtub, pages of books used as toilet paper, Ebere’s piano missing, Nwoye’s
graduation gown used to wipe something and crawling with ants and their photos
ripped and frames destroyed. Devastated, they decide to leave for America and
they do not return until 1976 (six years later.)
While there, his American friend Chuck Bell helps him
secure a teaching appointment. When they return they are assigned a new house
but they are disheartened when the umbrella tree at their old house is cut down
by the new occupants. Sadly, we learned that Nwoye's daughter Zik perished in
the war.
Another victim of the war is Chris Okigbo – a poetry
colossus that Nwoye refers to as “Our genius, our star.” He took up a gun to
defend Nsukka. Nwoye regrets when he says that at least he was brave enough to
fight. He feels like it sounded like a jibe meant to deride Ikenna Okoro who
fled when the war began. Out of discomfort, Nwoye decides to tell Ikenna Okoro
about the day Ebere and he drove back to Nsukka and witnessed the destructive aftermath of the war: Landscape
of ruins, blown out roofs, houses riddled with bullet holes and the wounded
soldier who was shoved into their car bleeding profusely. Nwoye tries to cheer
up Ikenna Okoro by saying that the metallic smell of the soldier's blood
reminded him of Ikenna. This was a lie.
Ikenna Okoro sheds tears when he learns that Ebere died
three years ago. Nwoye tells him that she visits him as an apparition but he dismisses
it by simply quipping “I see”. Ikenna Okoro perceives belief in ghosts as madness
because of his education.
Nwoye clearly misses his wife and the physical aspect of
their relationship. He reminisces about how his wife would rub lotion into his
skin. This is testament of how they had a strong intimate relationship when she
was alive. He keeps her alive in his imagination by imagining that she visits
him as a ghost. He is reluctant to tell his daughter about the mother's visits
lest she drags him back with her to America.
The war and loss denies Nwoye the opportunity of teaching
his grandson his language and simple courtesies like greeting strangers. The
grandson lives in America with his mother. The family is broken as a result of
the war.
The two acquaintances then talk about the university Staff Club. The club is a shell of what it used to be. The novices are incompetent.
There is no teaching going on. They are only concerned about university
politics. The students buy grades with money or their bodies. The Senate
meetings have degenerated into personality-cult battles. Ikenna Okoro and Nwoye
recall memories of Josephat Udeana Who was once the best ballroom dancer. He
has been a vice chancellor for six years and has ran the university like a chicken
coop. He stole university money and bought himself new cars. Court cases
challenging this misappropriation did not bear fruit. Josephat runs the
university as a one man show and dictates the promotion or stagnation of the
university staff. The vice chancellor who replaces him is not any different.
The inefficiency in the university is so rife that Nwoye and many others have
not received any pension long after they retired. No one speaks against the
widespread corruption and inaction. Ironically, even the lecturers bribe
someone to change their dates of birth in order to work for five more years. No
one wants to retire.
The corruption and inefficiency is experienced all over the
country. The professor shakes his head resignedly “as if to say that the
situation is, sadly, ineluctable.”
The latest plague in the country is fake drugs. People sell
expired medicine. Ebere died because of ineffective medication. She was getting
weaker and weaker instead of recovering from the medication. Nwoye was
distraught. He says gravely that, “Fake drugs are horrible.”
Nwoye spends his retirement days visiting an old friend, taking
leisurely walks, reading newspapers, talking to their daughter, reading all
journals and watching birds from his veranda. From his admission we learned
that the roads have potholes, motorcycles are ridden recklessly and you have to
bribe someone at NITEL just to have your phone repaired.
Since Ebere started visiting, James stopped going to church
since he claims that he is no longer uncertain of the afterlife.
As they part ways, Nwoye invites Ikenna Okoro who assents
but he knows he would not come.
Nwoye has more fond memories of Ebere as he remembers how
she used to mock other people’s Mercedes. He says she still has a sense of
humor even as a ghost.
While watching TV, he sees a man that admits selling fake
typhoid fever medicine that doesn't kill people but does not cure the illness
either. The only consolation for Nwoye is that Ebere visits him.
It turns out that nobody talks about the war but the
harrowing memories keep lingering like ghosts. James recalls horrors like
crouching in muddy bunkers during air raids, burying corpses, eating cassava
peels and helplessly watching their children battling malnutrition.
As Nwoye sits in his study, he waits for a call from his
daughter Nkiru or a visit from the ghost of his late wife Ebere.
The destructive aftermath of the war in Ghosts by Chimamanda Adichie
- Displacement of families
- Death – Zik, two lectures, Chris Okigbo, Ikenna's entire family
- Destruction of property
- Landscapes with ruins, blown out roofs, houses with holes
- Trauma – Wounded soldier, Ikenna Okoro pale shadow of his former self; hallucinations
- Separation of families – Nkiru and his son live in America
- Harrowing conditions – muddy bunkers
- No food – cassava peels, malnutrition, relief food, picking through dustbins
- Poverty
- Fake drugs
- Corruption - bribery
- Poor infrastructure
GHOSTS PRACTICE ESSAY QUESTIONS
Do you believe in ghosts? What is the lesson in this story?
Next: God Sees the Truth, but Waits analysis
ESSAYS: Read A Silent Song and Other Stories Essays and Answers PDF here
