Summary
Chapter 15
Chris has been relying on a network of allies to hide in Bassa after Ikem's death, but the new announcement that Chris was involved in the coup attempt threatens his safety further. He and his host decide that he must leave Bassa as quickly as possible. Emmanuel Obete arrives at the safe house looking for protection, which is ironic as Chris is also looking for protection. In their drive out of the city, they encounter many police stops. The fourth stop is a more invasive search, and Chris exits the car to avoid being caught. A policeman questions him and he provides a fake name and profession (Sebastian, the car mechanic). Chris and his companion successfully avoid being detained and continue on their way.
Chapter 16
Chris and Emmanuel decide to go to Abazon, which was the natural choice as it was Ikem's province. Beatrice arranges an elaborate scheme to visit Chris before he leaves, and she insists that she needs no extravagant treatment during her visit. The family that Chris is staying with goes to great lengths to accommodate her, and she feels guilty for having put a family out just so that she can visit her lover.
Chris and Beatrice make love in a barely private section of the room. The mosquitoes are bad in the house, and the house is generally of poor quality. When Beatrice inquires about the mosquitoes, Chris tells her that he offered to buy a canister of aerosol for the mosquitoes, but Emmanuel thought it was best not to introduce it in the house as the tenants of the house could not afford it once Emmanuel and Chris had gone. Their conversation is interrupted when one of the siblings on the floor urinates on the other, waking them both up. Soon Chris and Emmanuel depart Bassa on a bus, headed to Abazon. Chris is nervous but tries to calm himself as they approach their destination.
Chapter 17
Chris has never traveled out of Bassa by bus before, and the bus ride begins a transformation. Chris reflects on the inanity of cocktail parties and how he never wishes to go to one again. He sees them as frivolous spaces where people are ignorant to the reality of the situation.
The homes along the side of the road become more and more poor as the journey progresses, and the policemen at the traffic stops look inside the bus less and less, more willing to take money from the driver and allow the bus to continue on its way. When they stop in a trading town, the group goes to a restaurant to eat and are offered dirty water to wash their hands. They decline and ask for the water to be changed, which prompts the restaurant workers to tell them that the water truck has not arrived and this is all they can offer.
Their journey continues and the landscape turns to desert. The bus has fewer and fewer passengers with each stop closer to Abazon. Chris begins to see anthills at this point in the journey, but his attention is diverted when the bus sees a group of merrymakers off in the distance. The cause of the merrymaking is the news that His Excellency has been kidnapped and the Chief of Staff has taken over the government. Chris insists that they must get back to Bassa right away and tries to remove his things from the bus.
As Chris begins to leave, he hears a girl shriek in the distance and sees a policeman dragging her off in an attempt to rape her. He goes to intervene and sees that the policeman is armed and drunk. Chris dares the policeman to shoot him, and he does, to which a man responds, "My friend, do you realize you have just shot the Commissioner for Information?" Emmanuel and Braimoh rush to his side, but they are too late. Chris dies as Braimoh rushes after the assailant.
Chapter 18
Beatrice has decided to have a naming ceremony for Elewa's daughter, and she wants to make sure the name is appropriate as the baby will have a difficult life ahead of it. Beatrice was devastated at first when she heard of Chris' death, but she was bolstered by the support of friends and neighbors, and she focused her attention on caring for Elewa. Slowly, she begins to engage more with the people around her and think critically about the state of Kangan. Elewa gives Beatrice the responsibility of naming the child, and she decides to call her Amaechina, which means "may the path never close," traditionally a male name. The group names her together as a collective.
They begin to talk about Ikem, and Emmanuel praises Ikem for his ideas, which have lived on after Ikem's death. Ikem's ideas, Emmanuel says, "changed my entire life from a parrot to a man." Elewa's family is also there, and they are surprised by the name and the ways in which the naming ceremony is being conducted. They are all able to enjoy the ceremony together and pledge to uphold certain ideals as part of the ceremony. Eventually Elewa's family leaves and Emmanuel passes on Chris' final message to Beatrice: he was finally becoming aware of the poverty that existed across the country and of people like Elewa's father. Beatrice is extremely thankful that Emmanuel has shared this information with her.
Analysis
Chapter 15
The key way that Chris avoids further questioning at the police checkpoint is by offering the policeman a small gift. By doing so, he diverts the man's attention away from recognizing Chris as a wanted fugitive. The small gift shows the limited capacity of the police force to resist bribes and their willingness to be compliant when someone offers something they desire, however small. It is a brief commentary on the corruption and inadequacy of government services that Ikem criticized during his life.
Chapter 16
Chris and Emmanuel have taken refuge in a small, cramped apartment with a poor family. The housing conditions are poor, and there are many bodies in a small space. Beatrice feels guilty for arriving just so that she can say goodbye to Chris, downgrading her own desires and needs to say goodbye to a loved one. She struggles to balance her own desires with her unwillingness to impose herself on anyone else. While the book has focused on the struggles in Abazon, this is the first detailed look at urban poverty in Kangan.
Chapter 17
This chapter mostly focuses on the difference between perception and reality, specifically how the elites living in Bassa have very little understanding of what life is like in other parts of the country. They think that Bassa is Kangan, but Bassa is actually an outlier. The elites cloak themselves in ignorance by not traveling to the other parts of the country, especially not by bus, where every change is noticeable and cannot be ignored. Even Chris, who undergoes a transformation and begins to see how different life is outside of the capital, is not immune from his ignorance. This is shown when he refuses to use the cleaning water in the restaurant, and he has to learn that this is the best they can offer because they have such limited resources. This is a chapter of awakening to the reality in Kangan.
This chapter also reinforces the impact that corrupt and morally bankrupt behavior by ancillary characters can have on broader society. Even when His Excellency has been removed from power, the corruption of the police force, for example, continues. A prime example of this is the police officer who attempts to rape the girl, which ultimately leads to Chris' death. The behavior of this relatively insignificant character has major ramifications.
Chapter 18
The chapter signifies that time has passed because Elewa's daughter has been born and is ready for a naming ceremony. Beatrice begins to see the deaths of Chris and Ikem not as notable outliers, but as common stories that occurred much before their actual deaths: a death on the dangerous Great North Road or a victim of the growing police state. Beatrice's decision to give Elewa's daughter a traditionally male name speaks to her strength as a female character. She sees the "masculine" qualities of the name as equally applicable to women as well, and she wants this young girl to have every opportunity in front of her. Ikem may be dead, but his feminist ideas live on past his death.
