Half of a Yellow Sun: Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

The narrative now follows Richard Churchill, an expatriate Englishman in Nigeria. He is living with his girlfriend Susan, who takes him to parties where he stands there quietly and awkwardly. All the other English people make fun of the Nigerians and tell racist jokes about them. Richard has a real interest in ancient Igbo-Ukwu art, particularly roped pots, but the other English people all think he just wants to exploit the art for money. Richard wants to write a book about Nigeria.

Richard has also learned not to talk to other women too much at these parties, or else Susan flies into a jealous rage and breaks a glass when they get home. Richard notices that one time he talked to a Yoruba woman and Susan didn’t act jealous at all, and he realizes that Susan doesn’t consider Nigerian women “equal rivals.”

Richard had been introduced to Susan by his Aunt Elizabeth. When he said he was going to Nigeria, Aunt Elizabeth put him in touch with her and she started showing him around and flirting with him. Susan described the three main tribes of Nigeria: the Hausa as dignified, the Igbo as “surly and money-loving,” and the Yoruba as “first-rate lickspittles.” Susan helped Richard find a car and an apartment, and she started taking him to parties and introducing him as a writer.

Susan then asked Richard to move in with her. Richard didn’t want to agree, but he relented to her persuasion. Since then she has been treating his writing time as something sacred, even though he has hardly been writing at all. Richard is awkward and shy at all the parties Susan takes him too, and he starts practicing a self-deprecating opening line.

At one of Susan’s parties Richard meets Kainene. At first he watches her and wonders why she is at the party, but then she is introduced as Chief Ozobia’s daughter, who has just gotten her master’s degree in London. Richard is immediately struck by her presence, and he lies to keep Susan from pulling him away from her. Kainene notices this, and she and Richard make small talk. Kainene is sardonic and pessimistic, and she describes herself and her twin sister Olanna as “meat” to be offered up to suitable bachelors.

Susan finally pulls Richard away, and she describes Chief Ozobia as uneducated and nouveau riche (newly rich and flashy). Richard is suddenly irritated by Susan, and he watches Kainene, her parents, and Olanna across the room. He and Kainene lock eyes once but Richard looks away.

A few days later Richard calls the operator and finds Kainene’s number. He asks her for a drink and she invites him to a hotel owned by her father. They meet at the balcony of a private suite and discuss their childhoods. Richard’s parents died when he was nine, and he was raised by his nanny Molly. He always felt out of place and often ran away from home.

Richard was deeply stirred by seeing an Igbo-Ukwu roped pot in a magazine once, which inspired him to want to come to Africa, but he decides not to tell Kainene this yet. He tells her that he has always been a “loner,” and he came to Nigeria to write. Kainene says he is an exception, as handsome people usually aren’t loners. Richard blushes and Kainene calls him a “modern-day explorer of the Dark Continent.”

Richard and Kainene meet for lunch for several days after that, and Richard feels a deep connection with her. One day Kainene kisses him. They undress each other, but Richard can’t get aroused. Kainene only shrugs, and they agree to meet next week. At their next meeting Kainene describes the new Nigerian upper class as “illiterates” who only discuss cars.

A few days later they try to have sex again, but this time Richard immediately climaxes. Richard apologizes, and Kainene invites him to dinner with her family that night. Richard agrees. Chief Ozobia asks Richard if he has any business connections in Nigeria, and when Richard says he doesn’t, Chief Ozobia ignores him for the rest of the night. Richard is charmed by Olanna, but she lacks “Kainene’s melancholy mystique.” He longs to know more about Kainene but fears he never will.

Richard worries about how to break up with Susan. He thinks of his relationship with Susan as a “reassuring stability,” while with Kainene he is alternatingly ecstatic and totally insecure. Richard keeps putting off telling Susan about Kainene, and he remembers one day as a child when his nanny Molly called him to dinner, and instead of coming to eat, Richard hid under a hedge until she found him. This short experience made him feel as if he was in total control of his life for a moment.

Finally Richard breaks up with Susan, saying that their “needs are different.” Susan first accuses him of sleeping with other English women, but then she admits that she pressured him into moving in with her. She apologizes and says he should go off to see more of Nigeria, as he originally wanted to. Richard doesn’t mention Kainene. He packs his things and leaves Susan’s house, feeling overjoyed.

The next day Richard again fails to have sex with Kainene, and he thinks about finding some African herbs to help him. They are both going to leave Lagos – Richard will go to Nsukka to write, and Kainene will go to her house in Port Harcourt. She agrees that Richard should visit her there. She tells Richard that she asked Olanna to introduce him to her “revolutionary lecturer lover.” Kainene mocks Odenigbo and the foolishness of his socialist ideas.

Richard tells Kainene that he has left Susan. She is silent for a while, then says that Richard will need a houseboy in Nsukka, and then she suddenly hugs him. Richard feels like a wall has crumbled between them with the hug.

A week later Richard leaves for Nsukka, and he stops at Igbo-Ukwu, the place where the roped pots were excavated. A young man named Emeka Anozie leads him to the patriarch, Pa Anozie, and translates for him. Pa Anozie describes how his brother found the pots twenty years ago, but many years after that some white men came and began an extensive dig.

During the excavation the men found many things, including the roped pots and a burial chamber. Richard marvels at the complexity of the Igbo-Ukwu art and civilization even as early as the ninth century. Emeka expects Richard to take photos like all the other white people, but Richard doesn’t even have a camera. Richard drives off, wondering what he is doing with his life and what he will write about.

Richard reaches the university and finds his new home. He is comforted by how sparse and soulless it looks inside. He goes to visit Olanna and Odenigbo and then gets his houseboy, who is a middle-aged man named Harrison. Harrison boasts about being able to cook English food, and insists on cooking it even though Richard wants Nigerian food. Harrison keeps making beets because they are rarely used in Nigerian cuisine, and finally Richard has to ask him to stop.

Odenigbo’s gardener Jomo also takes care of Richard’s yard, and one day Richard asks him about “herbs for men.” Jomo says he knows what he means, but they don’t work on white men. Richard walks away disappointed, but he reminds himself that “he [is], after all, the master.” Harrison is disappointed that Richard was talking to Jomo, as Harrison and Jomo don’t like each other.

Richard starts spending time with Odenigbo and Olanna, and sitting quietly while they and their friends argue about politics. Richard admires Odenigbo’s confidence, which makes him attractive even though he isn’t especially handsome. He keeps admiring Olanna’s beauty as well, and gets slightly jealous of Odenigbo.

Richard visits Kainene in Port Harcourt and she shows him into her spacious house and around the grounds. She seems disappointed that he likes Odenigbo and Olanna, but doesn’t say why. They walk through a grove of orange trees and Richard is inexplicably reminded of his childhood in England. He remembers a poem his father used to recite about “blue remembered hills.”

Richard is amazed at how busy Kainene is running her family business. She wants to do better than her father did. One day she introduces Richard to Madu Madu, a major in the army and a childhood friend of Kainene’s. Madu is huge and confident, and Richard feels immediately threatened by him. Richard feels that Madu is being condescending, criticizing British people and acting as if he was the host even though they are in Kainene’s house.

Madu invites his friend over, Major Ekechi Udodi, who is very drunk. Udodi criticizes Kainene for “following white men” and disgracing herself. Madu apologizes for him and takes him away. Richard is still irritated and keeps asking Kainene questions about Madu. He is jealous, but doesn’t want Kainene to know, as he feels their relationship is fragile. When he is with her he finally feels like he belongs somewhere.

The narrative now shifts to a description of a book called “The World Was Silent When We Died.” An unnamed “he” writes its prologue about a woman carrying the severed head of her little girl in a calabash (a gourd used as a container). “He” also mentions other instances of genocides where women carried body parts of their dead children. The book cover is a map of Nigeria, with a circle around the area that became Biafra for three years.