Kwame Nkrumah University of

Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

POSSESSING THE SECRET OF JOY

BY CHIKA UNIGWE
 WHO IS CHIKA UNIGWE
• She was born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1974. she is popular for her
three novels; The Phoenix (2007), On Black Sisters’ Street (2009)
and Night Dancer (2012). She writes in English and Dutch.
• Chika’s first published works were collections of poems: Tear Drops
(1993) and Born in Nigeria (1995).
• In an interview with Sade on Sade’s World Short Story Podcast, she
comments that she unconsciously writes about female
protagonists. She writes stories of the silent minority and
marginalized in society.
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 SUMMARY
• A girl named Uju is coerced into marriage by her mother (a widow).
She grudgingly accepts because she must save her family from
poverty.
• She gets married to Chief Okeke who is forty-five (45) but looks
sixty (60), very ugly and has a wobbly potbelly.
• Uju hates the Chief and does not seem to be taken in by the wealth
and comfort that comes with marrying him. Her mother on the
other hand is however very elated because all her problems have
been solved. She enjoys her new status and power.
• Uju dreads getting pregnant because she believes it will be a replica
of the chief.
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 CONTD.
• When she finds out she is pregnant, she throws away all the
positive advice from her mother, eats food she is not supposed
to and desires to fling the baby from her womb. The baby
however is not aborted but birthed.
• When labour sets in, she curses her husband, her unborn baby
and poverty for putting her in an uncomfortable position.
• However, when she sees the baby (though ugly and has the
buttocks of an old man), something stirs within her – love. She
finds the secret to her joy. The baby is the silver lining in her
dark clouds.
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 THEMES
• 1. Love and hate is expounded in the story. Hate is overthrown by love at
the end of the story. Uju’s sudden and immediate love for her child
overthrows hate which has reigned from the beginning of the story.
• 2. Chika exposes one of the ills of our society which encroaches on the will
and desire of some children. The theme of forced or arranged marriages
set the tone for the conflict in the story.
• 3. it is evident that that wealth/materialism plays a very important role in
the story. Wealth opens our eye to the several possibilities that exists in
the society.
• 4. Poverty is a powerful force. In very poor communities, poverty becomes
the catalyst that pushes individuals to do the unthinkable just to escape.
This force is explored in the story and brings to the fore the struggles of
people in very poor communities.

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 CONTD.
• 5. Power and status is the backbone of the story. It is the lens through
which life is viewed and measured by characters in the story.
• 6. The contract between personal choices and coercion is one of the
underlining issues discussed in the story. Coupled with this is the theme
of personal will.
• 7. One very important issue discussed is the role Prophets play in our
African societies. The reverence given them highlights the infallibility
and power they wield in our setting.
• 8. Parents blackmailing children to do their bidding is also highlighted in
the story. Children being made to pay their due to the family is an issue
of grave concern which needs to be expounded.

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 HOW THE CHARACTERS ARE CHARACTERISED
• There are three characters in the novel. Uju and her mother are major characters
while Chief Okeke is a minor character
UJU
1. She is a very quiet without the will power of her own. Her resistance to force is in
her head.
2. She loves her mother dearly, so much so that she is ready to commit to a life-long
relationship with someone she does not love
3. She hates her husband, is disgusted by his appearance and does not want to get
pregnant for him.
4. She finds a silver lining in her dark clouds – her baby
5. The child is her secret of joy

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 CONTD.
MOTHER
1. She is a widow whose in-laws send her packing after her husband dies in an accident.
2. She is concerned more about wealth, status and power rather than how her daughter
feels.
3. She enjoys the wealth and power more than her daughter does.
4. She believes that the marriage of her daughter to Chief is the handiwork of God
5. She feels her daughter is lucky to be the chief’s wife.

CHIEF OKEKE
1. He is very wealthy, old but single.
2. He has power and status. His name opens doors.
3. He loves his wife
4. He treats his wife well by making sure she has every provision.
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 NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES
• Simile
- … snore like an airplane revving its engine for take off
- The hair on his head was sparse, and white, like cotton wool that had been had been haphazardly
glued on by a child.
- Wobbly stomach of chief like that of a pregnant woman on the verge of delivering quadruplets
• Hyperbole
- Snoring like an airplane revving its engine
• Imagery
- Flinging the baby out of the womb
- The wedding night
- The appearance of Chief Okeke
- The appearance of the baby
- Chief bathing others with his saliva

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 CONTD.

• Contrast
- The contrast between Uju and her mother
- The contrast between Uju at the beginning of the story and the at the end of the
story

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 SETTING

• The story is set in Nigeria (Africa) where prophets are infallible

and can authenticate the cause of death of an individual.
• It is also set in poor neighbourhoods where mothers sell off
their daughters to rich families in order to redeem the family
from poverty.
• It is set in an environment where people have no will of their
own.

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 CLASS DISCUSSION

• Discuss the contrast between the firm voice of mother and the
weightless voice of Uju.
• Would you have acted differently if you were in the shoes of Uju? Give
reasons why you would or wouldn’t.
• Children as redeemers of the family. Is this evident in our world today?
• Do you agree that children must pay their due in the family?
• Would you subscribe to the assertion that the mother did what was best
for her child? Did she push her daughter into blessings?
• What is your secret of joy? Do you have one?
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