Summary
Chapter 10: Impetuous Son
The chapter begins with a poem "Africa" by David Diop. Ikem is with Mad Medico and suddenly two taxi drivers arrive at the door to salute him. One of the taxi drivers is the driver who took Elewa home late the other night. The other driver is a member for the Central Committee of Taxi Driver Union. Elewa is unnerved by the men and their smiles. As time passes, it also becomes clear that this driver is the same driver that Ikem got into the contest for space on the road a few days ago, and now he had come to apologize to Ikem. The driver accompanying him had witnessed the event transpire and recognized Ikem; the two of them decided an apology was necessary. While they apologize, they also issue some insults that attack Ikem because he drives a simple car and does not use a driver.
Chapter 11
Ikem is exhilarated after the taxi drivers visit, and he sits down to think about the event and their words carefully. He contemplates how to exist in the world in a meaningful and ethical way. While he initially thought public affairs would be an appropriate career path, this left him feeling disenchanted with the entire idea of public affairs. He also considers the prime failure of the government to be its inability to connect with the poor, even though it has failed in numerous other ways.
After Ikem's reflection, the chapter moves to His Excellency, who is informing Chris that Ikem can no longer serve as the Editor of the Gazette because of his link with the Abazon coalition. His Excellency tells Chris that Ikem was involved in planning the march on the palace, which does not appear to be true and Chris does not believe him. His Excellency orders Chris to suspend Ikem immediately from his post, but Chris refuses. His Excellency escalates his charges and clams that there is "some indication that Ikem might have colluded with these same people to sabotage the presidency referendum two years ago" (146). Furthermore, he threatens Chris that Chris's role in that situation was never fully cleared and he is willing to reopen the investigation if necessary. Chris does not give in and ultimately resigns from his post, to which His Excellency flatly declines, saying that this is a military state, not the UK or US.
Later that day, a letter is delivered to Ikem relieving him of his duties. Ikem goes straight to Chris, and they try to decipher why His Excellency has taken this course of action. They agree that he is completely deluded and dangerous, that he possibly wants to kill both of them. Ultimately, they believe that he is still hurt that he was not elected President for Life in the referendum and that he felt abandoned by Chris and Ikem during the referendum process. Ikem is mad that Chris didn't report this to him earlier, as he would have had them resign at that moment and they wouldn't be in this situation at all.
Ikem wants to speak out publicly, but Beatrice and Chris both think he needs to lay low for awhile. Elewa suddenly arrives at Chris's house; she has heard the news that Ikem was suspended. They turn on the national news together and Ikem's suspension is the first headline, followed by the news of an illegal march by a group from Abazon, who are now being held in detention. Ikem is furious and leaps to his feet, no longer willing to listen to the suggestions that he lie low.
Chapter 12
The chapter opens with Ikem prepared to give a lecture to a packed auditorium, and it appears that his popularity has grown since his suspension from the National Gazette. The lecture is entitled, "the Tortoise and the Leopard - a political meditation on the imperative of struggle," and the crowd is excited to receive it. Ikem tells the story of the Tortoise and the Leopard, including that the old man who told him the story is now being held in solitary confinement because storytellers are a threat. The audience is enchanted by Ikem's meditation and want him to continue speaking after he concludes. Rather than continue to lecture, he encourages them to ask questions and begin a dialogue.
At one point they discuss the proletariat and who in Kangan comprises the proletariat, with one audience member suggesting that peasants, workers, and students make up the proletariat. After an animated back and forth when Ikem argues to leave peasants out of the discussion because they are not represented in the room, they continue to discuss workers and students. Ikem argues against workers' leaders and calls them parasites, which is something he has argued before in his writing. Ikem tells him that he cannot answer a question that has not been properly raised, specifically that he cannot give them a revolution. Instead he wants to excite general enlightenment by forcing people to examine the condition of their lives. Revolutions, he says, "are betrayed just as much by stupidity, incompetence, impatience and precipitate action as by doing nothing at all" (161).
Ikem recognizes that the radicals in the room want to blame everything on capitalism and imperialism, but there are other issues at hand as well. The Electricity Corporation of Kangan, for example, uses chaotic billing practices and questionable connections to cover fraud and poor behavior. While capitalism and imperialism are partly to blame, there are other factors and causes. To blame capitalism and imperialism in every case is to "arrest the village blacksmith every time a man hacks his fellow to death." Ikem moves to critiquing students after finishing discussing the parasitic nature of some workers. Students, he argues, very rarely rise above the very low national level. He asks the audience if they think they are more competent than other citizens, who were not able to benefit from Kangan's meager educational resources. Ikem tells them to look inward and get their act together before claiming moral authority over the rest of the country. The lecture finally ends close to midnight, and the chairman thanks Ikem for his time but also says that writers must move beyond diagnosing problems and give prescriptions. Ikem disagrees and the night comes to a close.
Chapter 13
One of the answers Ikem provided to a question during the university speech has been taken out of context, and the following morning's Gazette runs a headline that says, "EX-EDITOR ADVOCATES REGICIDE!" While the speech provided easy evidence for the state to condemn Ikem, the government had been watching him for quite some time now, primarily through Mad Medico, who was quietly detained, questioned, and deported. Chris and Beatrice can't reach Ikem, and when they arrive at his house it is in shambles and the neighbors inform them that Ikem was taken from the house in the middle of the night. At the end of the day, another bulletin is released on the news: there was a plot against the government led by Ikem Osodi. When Ikem was detained for questioning, there was a struggle and he was fatally shot. At the conclusion of the bulletin, Chris departs immediately and packs his bag, leaving his house with Beatrice for the last time. Beatrice is tasked with telling Elewa that Ikem has been killed, a task that requires brutal honesty. Chris is initially focused on how to disprove the claims against Ikem, and they eventually shift to escaping the search for him. University students assist Chris and the police respond with violence against the students, although not as intensely as they did a few years ago during a similar situation. While Beatrice is caring for Elewa, soldiers charge into Beatrice's flat to search it, throwing items everywhere in a fury. Beatrice protects Elewa by telling the soldiers that Elewa is her girlfriend who is visiting her.
Chapter 14
Beatrice awakes to a phone call instructing her to move the horse, a code word for Chris, but she does not know if the call is genuine or not. She continues on to work, trying not to draw attention to herself, and she goes shopping after work to distract the surveillance team that is following her. She accidentally locks her key inside of her car and must take a taxi home to fetch her spare keys. During the ride, she strikes up a conversation with the taxi driver and learns about the upcoming taxi driver strike that will take place the following day. When Beatrice finally returns home with her car, she meditates on the difference between Elewa and Agatha, her servant, and how differently they behave despite their similar circumstances. Beatrice receives another call from the mysterious voice, and while she is unsure who he is or what his motives are, she assumes that he is on her side. At the end of the day, the Gazette reports that Chris has fled the country, and also that he is wanted in the coup attempt, both ridiculous claims.
Analysis
Chapter 10: Impetuous Son
The drivers criticize Ikem in a series of backhanded ways after coming to apologize and praise him. They don't understand why he drives himself in a poor-quality car, as he could afford a driver and that would provide a job for a low-income driver. Ikem struggles with this, as on the one hand he could be congratulated for living like most people in his country and not being ostentatious about his wealth, but on the other hand it seems insensitive because he is taking away opportunities for the lower class to provide services to him. At the core of this issue is Ikem's discomfort with his privilege and wealth in a country that has so little.
Chapter 11
In Chapter 11, Ikem thinks critically about how to exist in the world with integrity. "In any event he had always had the necessity in a vague but insistent way, had always felt a yearning without very clear definition, to connect his essence with earth and earth's people. The problem for him had never been whether it should be done but how to do it with integrity" (143). He knows that he wants to be connected to the public and work in their service, but how does he do so in a meaningful and impactful way? Working in public affairs has not satisfied this desire. In addition to the massive corruption, subservience to foreign powers, hand-me-down capitalism, and abuse of striking workers, the chief failure of public affairs has been their inability to connect with the poor and dispossessed groups in society.
Chapter 11 is the most unstable we've seen His Excellency, and the change in his behavior is not entirely clear. Just as Ikem and Chris try to decipher what has motivated this behavior, the reader is as well. It's possible he was influenced by the American journalist from the party, or perhaps he is still personally hurt that he did not win President for Life. If this is the case, his desire to blame Chris and Ikem speak to his lack of connection to reality and a desire to avoid thinking seriously about his own behavior.
Chapter 12
Ikem's speech challenges norms of revolution and forces the audience to think more critically about the situation and future rather than heap all of the blame on capitalism and imperialism. He tells them that revolution cannot be entirely fueled by passion; instead there must be careful thought about what must be changed and how the future will be different. He furthers this argument with the parable that if you want to get at the root of murder, you go to the blacksmith who forged the machete. He compares this logic to constantly blaming capitalism and imperialism for Kangan's problems. It's impractical and ultimately does not address the more proximate causes. While both may be factors in the situation, neither can be ignored in favor of the other. Additionally, Ikem shows that he is not afraid of critiquing any power structure, going so far as to criticize students at large while standing before a room full of students.
Chapter 13
The conflict escalates in Chapter 13, where Ikem is now accused of regicide and is killed by the military police. It happens suddenly and behind the scenes in the novel—it is not given a direct description but rather the incident is revealed through a media announcement that Ikem has been shot. The other characters attempt to make sense of this news and the new reality they are living in, realizing that their attempts to be logical were useless, as their actions were misrepresented to create an alternative reality by His Excellency. It is clear that there is no turning back at this point, and they prepare to flee. Beatrice takes on a leadership role and demonstrates her capacity to remain calm under pressure, which is an important theme of the novel.
Chapter 14
Beatrice continues her leadership role by caring for Elewa and considering what has made Elewa and Agatha so different. She does not arrive at any firm conclusions, but considers Ikem's love for Elewa as a differentiating factor. The mysterious voice calls multiple times and speaks in riddles, but Beatrice is able to make sense of them and they gradually become more clear the more he calls. While it is not immediately clear at the beginning if the caller is an ally or a foe, he reveals in his final call of the chapter that he is an ally to Beatrice and Chris.
