You know how the story ends. He escaped and went on to become the greatest chief Suntown ever had. He never built a shrine, or a temple or even a shack in the name of Tia. In the Great Book, her name is never mentioned again. He never mused about her, or even asked where she was buried. Tia was a virgin. She was beautiful. She was poor. And she was a girl. It was her duty to sacrifice her life for his.
This is a prime example of one of the main themes of the book, which is the way in which men view women as being alive for the purpose of serving them, rather than as humans in their own right with their own needs and purpose. Tia's death is not commemorated or made remarkable because her life was not remarkable. Her life was sacrificed almost as collateral damage, and was never going to be anything more because she was a girl. She did not make plans for the future because she knew that as a poor yet beautiful girl, she did not have one.
The girl was so lovely even her father couldn't resist her.
This is possibly one of the most disturbing and nauseating observations made in the book; the author is asserting that in the community she is writing about, a girl who is so exceptionally beautiful is also attractive to her own father, because her beauty is so intense and powerful that he too has sexual feelings for her. This is also another way in which she emphasizes how the blame for their own rape is thrown back onto women. How can a girl expect a man to resist her when she is so beautiful? This outlook is therefore telling women that they are responsible for the way men act towards them because they are beautiful. It is another example of the book's theme of men's oppression of women. It also shows how incest is explained and justified by a man, again blaming his daughter for her breathtaking beauty.
Well into the night we talked about nothing much of substance. Insignificance. Wonderful unimportance.
Think back to how many times you have enjoyed a conversation with a friend, only to not be able to put your finger on what it was you actually talked about. This is the kind of carefree conversation that Onyesonwu does not generally get to have because the conversation is usually about far more weighty life and death matters. Irrelevance and light-heartedness are an indulgence, but a beautiful one. For once, matters of life and death are pushed aside and conversation is of frivolities. This makes her feel normal, for once, and is extremely rewarding.
