Aunty Ifeoma

Character Study
 Key Qualities and
Characteristics
+ Papa’s sister is a tall outspoken woman, who works as a professor at the University
of Nigeria in Nsukka
+ She unlike many characters in the story openly criticizes her brother, the university
and even the government
+ She is a catholic but differs from her brother as she is more open minded
+ She is quite a Merry and friendly character, which allows her to help Kambili and
Jaja with their problems
Key Points in the Novel
+ In the beginning she lies to her brother saying that she will take his children on pilgrimage to Aokpe,
however she actually takes them to her house in Nsukka
+ Another key point is when she exclaims to her brother that their father has died and why he will not
show any remorse
+ She also speaks out against the university and gets fired
+ And Finally she moves to America
Characterization
+ Throughout the novel Ifeoma does not change much, retaining most of her
cheerful attitude, however she does become more outspoken as more
infuriating things happen
+ Overall she does not change much as she is more of a side character that
helps Kambili and Jaja along their way, so most of the things she does are
in their interest and her childrens.
+ However she does in my opinion become sadder as the novel progresses
and more bad things happen, her father dying, her brother dying, and this
poor treatment of Jaja, Kambili and her sister in law
Key Quotes
+ ‘I lay in bed after Mama left and let my mind rake through the past, through the years when Jaja and Mama and I spoke more with our spirits than with our lips. Until
Nsukka. Nsukka started it all; Aunty Ifeoma’s little garden next to the veranda of her flat in Nsukka began to lift the silence. Jaja’s defiance seemed to me now like
Aunty Ifeoma’s experimental purple hibiscus: rare, fragrant with the undertones of freedom, a different kind of freedom from the one the crowds waving green leaves
chanted at Government Square after the coup. A freedom to be, to do.’
+ “…But you know Eugene quarrels with the truths that he does not like. Our father is dying, do you hear me? Dying. He is an old man, how much longer does he
have, gbo? Yet Eugene will not let him into this house, will not even greet him… Eugene has to stop doing God’s job. God is big enough to do his own job. If God will
judge our father for choosing to follow the way of our ancestors, then let God do the judging, not Eugene.”
+ I did not say anything else until lunch was over, but I listened to every word spoken, followed every cackle of laughter and line of banter. Mostly, my cousins did the
talking and Aunty Ifeoma sat back and watched them, eating slowly. She looked like a football coach who had done a good job with her team and was satisfied to stand
next to the eighteen-yard box and watch.
+ “Ifeoma, did you call a priest?” Papa asked.
“Is that all you can say, eh, Eugene? Have you nothing else to say, gbo? Our father has died! Has your head turned upside down? Will you not help me to bury our
father?”
“I cannot participate in a pagan funeral, but we can discuss with the parish priest and arrange a Catholic funeral.”
Aunty Ifeoma got up and started to shout. Her voice was unsteady. “I will put my dead husband’s grave up for sale, Eugene, before I give our father a Catholic funeral.
Do you hear me? I said I will sell Ifediora’s grave first! Was our father a Catholic? I ask you, Eugene, was he a Catholic? Uchu gba gi!” Aunty Ifeoma snapped her
fingers at Papa; she was throwing a curse at him. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
+ It was what Aunty Ifeoma did to my cousins, I realized then, setting higher and higher jumps for them in the way she talked to them, in what she expected of them. She
did it all the time believing they would scale the rod. And they did. It was different for Jaja and me. We did not scale the rod because we believed we could, we scaled it
because we were terrified that we couldn’t.