Under the Udala Trees

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Reading Ijeoma experience a similar religious journey validates my lived experiences and provides the affirmation I didn’t get when I chose to love myself. For that alone, this novel is dear to my heart. once you are done, once you get to the end, this feels very much like a book about being a young gay girl and a gay woman, but there are all these other things too. they are woven together in a lovely and flowing narrative that feels entirely unforced. it feels easy, as if the composing of it were the most natural thing in the world. this makes it a fast read. this is a book one reads fast.

Morgenstern, Karl. “On the Nature of the Bildungsroman.” Trans. Tobias Boes. PMLA 124.2 (2009): 647-59. Trans. of “Über das Wesen des Bildungsromans.” 1819. Gilette, Courtney (2015). "Chinelo Okparanta: On Her New Novel 'Under The Udala Trees' and Being a Champion of Love". Lambda Literary Review. Archived from the original on 20 June 2019 . Retrieved 19 February 2020. life is not linear. gayness is not its own story. gayness happens in context. a dead father. an abandoning then punishing mother. servitude. schooling. also compares Amina to a water goddess, expressing here some form of same‑sex desire: “Her hair hung in long clumps around her face, like those images of Mami Wata, hair writhing like serpents” (105). The alliteration in /h/ could point to the sounds of pleasure, the moaning sounds, that will be produced during the sexual intercourse between the two teenagers; the mere sight of Amina makes Ijeoma feel short of breath. Homoerotic passages pervade the text and climax in a shared moment of daily life, particularly when the two teenagers prepare dinner: “That evening, Amina and I peeled the yams together, rinsed them together, our fingers brushing against each other’s in the bowl” (106). Peeling yams carries here an extremely sensual and/or sexual connotation, and the idea of a lesbian couple is undoubtedly conveyed. Sometimes I sit with my Bible in my hands, and I think to myself that God is nothing but an artist, and the world is this canvas. And I reason that if the old and New Testament are any indication, of change is the fact a major part of His aesthetic, a major part of His visionThis story starts as a bildungsroman and then expands with plot. Even the child's voice morphs into the woman's as the second half of the book spans a few years. A young girl experiences loss and abandonment during the civil war in Nigeria. She comes of age during a terrible time in her country when people who look like her are being killed in an ethnic war. Soon, she realizes that who she loves could also get her killed. Set in the civil war times in Nigeria, this book centers around a little girl, Ijeoma trying to discover her sexuality whilst fighting the evils of society, hunger, homophobia and all other vices that come with wars. A brave novel seeking to challenge prejudice... Okparanta describes with clarity and seeming simplicity states that are not simple at all

It breaks my heart ... to read in the AUTHORS NOTES...that in January, 2014, The president signed a bill criminalizing same-sex relationships, making these offenses punishable up to 14 years in prison. Under The Udala Trees is the story of Nigeria. To understand the Biafran War — the central conflict that upturns the life of the novel’s protagonist, Ijeoma — you must understand Nigeria. In January of 1966, the Prime Minister, Premier, and several members of the newly independent Nigerian Government (and some of their family members), were assassinated by a class of junior military officials. Leadership of the country was then transferred to a military head of state, General Johnson Ironsi. I was actually nearly convinced that this was a memoir, it rings so true. It's not, but the author has stated that some details are based on her mother's experiences in Nigeria. It feels like a family story. This] debut novel eloquently advocates resisting the narratives handed down by previous generations, and the unadorned eroticism of Ijeoma's relationships with other women is a rebuke to the doctrine that condemns them as an "abomination". Okparanta takes comfort in the capacity for people to change, but her postscript is poignant: in 2014, Nigeria criminalised the very relationships she portrays

Having read Happiness Like Water, I know what heights Chinelo Okparanta is capable of reaching. In that collection, she writes devastatingly about women and children seeking shelter from abusive husbands, gay lovers who must forego love because one is acquiescing to an arranged marriage, and other traumas. It was – and remains – a fine debut. A real talent. [ Under the Udala Trees is] the kind of book that should have come with a cold compress kit. It’s sad and sensual and full of heat.” — John Freeman, Electric Literature

Maybe love was some combination of friendship and infatuation. A deeply felt affection accompanied by a certain sort of awe. And by gratitude. And by a desire for a lifetime of togetherness.” Ijeoma is just a normal girl, trying to find herself in a place where her existence is deemed a crime. Due to the war and loss of her dad, her mom sells her off to serve as a maid and 11 year old Ijeoma goes to live a life of servitude. When she falls in love with Amina, its the greatest feeling she's ever had but it is short lived as her mom finds out.

Summary

It goes without saying that it is easier for Okparanta to write such a story when we know that she (...) Ijeoma’s voice is appropriately complex for the difficult situation she finds herself in, being equal parts daring, desperate and determined. As Ijeoma grows, she begins to question her mother’s Bible lessons, her pastor’s sermons, and the supposed truths of heterosexual human and godly love. “I went down the aisle to the front of the church, as I had done the time before. I knelt down before God. I would have prayed, but somehow I could not find the words to do so ... Not a single word to express myself, not a single one to explain or to defend myself, not one single word to apologize and beg forgiveness for my sins.” The “National Question” arises from the extreme diversity that Nigeria represents as regards ethnic (...)

The adjective “certain” carries with it the importance of taking into account different types of development. Development is multifaceted and this will have to be taken into account when applied to female development compared to the prototypical male development in the traditional Bildungsroman. Other critics have noted the importance of Bildungsroman, namely, the focus of the psychological and moral growth of the main character, Ijeoma's, psychological and moral growth in accepting herself and her homosexual identity in a hostile society. Courtois remarks in regards to Bildungsroman how being a woman would also contribute to her journey of self discovery and growing up, noting that "Ijeoma becomes aware of the limitations to her self-construction that society imposes on her because she is a woman.". [6] Critical reception [ edit ] Chinelo Okparanta in 2018 Ijeoma wants to be accepted in her society and wants to please her mother, but she cannot deny the way she feels and who she is. And throughout the story, we see the cost of living a life according to others' agendas and morality. There's the whole idea of the udala trees, which — the udala fruits represent female fertility. So I wanted to paint the journey of a young girl who is told to be a certain way, thinks about them, and still winds up making a more informed decision for herself.Adaora survives the aftermath physically, but not psychologically. “In a warped, war-induced sort of way, it made sense that she should find ways to shed us all: the soldiers, me, and the house,” Okparanta writes. “To shed, if she could have, all memories of the war. To shed, and shed, and shed. Like an animal casting off old hair or skin.” When Ijeoma at last returned to her mother, she is the “warden”. Legend has it that sprit children, tired of floating aimlessly between the world of the living and that of the dead, take to gather above udala trees. I'd be surprised if no one else has yet described the book as the "Oranges are Not the Only Fruit" for Nigeria. Like that book, it's a coming-of-age story; a personal, painful look at what it is like to first fall in love with another woman, in an environment where lesbians are treated harshly (in this book, even killed) and denounced by so-called Christianity. Courtois, Cedric (2018). " "Thou Shalt not Lie with Mankind as with Womankind: It is Abomination!": Lesbian (Body-) 'Bildung' in Chinelo Okparanta's 'Under the Udala Trees' (2015)". Commonwealth Essays and Studies. 40 (2): 119–133. doi: 10.4000/ces.302– via Informit. Okparanta’s analysis of religious authority in Nigeria goes beyond outlining its connections to the oppression of queer Nigerians. In my experience, sexual oppression is rarely far removed from misogyny, classism, and ableism. This holds true in Under The Udala Trees as well.