45 pages • 1 hour read
Akwaeke EmeziFreshwater
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
“We”
While the point of view of the novel shifts with each chapter, the return to or mention of “we” generates a motif that develops the theme of Multiplicity: Refusal of the Binary. These sections are written in first-person plural and then first-person singular through the eyes of two different narrators, always in the same body and always switching back to the plural “we.” This motif represents the generative resistance to binary thinking, particularly as it suggests communication, sharing, and connection. It also foreshadows the unity that Ada experiences at the end of the book wherein she states, “[W]e are one and we are many” (214). This chapter is written from the perspective of Ada, but she also uses the first-person plural to communicate the fact that they are on the same side now, reinforcing the benefits of multiplicity. Her statement references the “we” who have been narrating so much of the book, who are still included in this “we.” In the final chapter, demonstrating the growth and togetherness that they have achieved, Ada says “I am my others. We are one and we are many” (215), using first-person plural to describe herself and suggest her newfound sense of connection.
Python
From when Ada is a child, she is fated to become a python. Without knowing it, her father names her a word that translates to the “egg of a python” (24). When she is a toddler, she sees a python in the bathroom and her father cuts it to pieces with a machete. Pythons are sacred and revered in Nigerian symbolism; it is forbidden to kill pythons in Nigeria. Saul’s murder of the python represents the power struggle between the human and spiritual worlds.
The humans do not know that Ala manifests in the form of a python. Ala is “the earth herself, the judge and mother, the giver of law” (21), far more powerful than the ogbanje. She is there because Ada is her daughter, but instead she is killed and she leaves the world entirely. The humans murdering the python shows the fear associated with this animal, reflecting the fear associated with ogbanje and spirituality. For a long time, Ada lets this fear keep her away from the knowledge that she is the descendant of a python. She is described with “scales,” and she sheds skin repeatedly throughout the novel. In the end, she embodies the sacred symbolism of the python.
Gates
The symbol of gates appears throughout the novel as bridges between two spaces, making binaries obsolete and bringing together two usually separate entities. In the beginning, the ogbanje say that the gates were never closed, which was what went wrong in the way they inhabited Ada. They were supposed to be entirely in her, but instead they were half in, half out, a “distinct we” instead of only her (18).
The ogbanje say that “the gates are meant to be closed” (17), representing the normativity of binary thinking. Later, Asughara is accused of keeping the gates open on purpose, and she denies it unequivocally. No character will take responsibility for the gates being open, and so Ada suffers. This symbolizes her position as the bridge between the worlds of the spiritual and the human. Because of the open gates, she combines binary worlds, and she accepts this in the end.
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By Akwaeke Emezi
