Half of a Yellow Sun: Part 2, Chapter 17 Summary & Analysis

Olanna is at Odenigbo’s house in Abba. Odenigbo’s mother now acts civilly toward Olanna and has started showing affection for Baby, which Olanna can’t help resenting. At first Olanna had been bitter about the things she had to leave behind, but then she joined the other refugees in focusing totally on the “win-the-war effort.” She tries to imagine the Biafrans driving back the “vandals” in Nsukka.

The family will move again the next week, to Umuahia where Odenigbo will work for the “Manpower Directorate.” Olanna wonders how Baby will handle the move, and hopes that she will have “the right kind of children to play with” in Umuahia. Odenigbo comes home and says Abba may be evacuated soon, but he laughs off these rumors. He asks Olanna to marry him again, as the stakes of their relationship are now higher, and Olanna agrees.

The next morning Olanna’s mother drives up. She says that the war is not going well, and that she and her husband are planning to go to London. She says they have made passports for Olanna and Kainene, and she hopes they will come. Olanna respectfully declines the offer, saying that the war will be over soon and she will return to Nsukka.

Olanna’s mother gives Olanna a letter from Mohammed, which she already checked to see if it had anything “dangerous” in it, as Mohammed is now the enemy. She thanks God that Olanna didn’t marry him. Olanna reads the sparse letter and says nothing. Her mother repeats her offer and then drives off.

Later that morning all of Abba gathers for a mandatory meeting, where the dibia (medicine man) gives an inspirational speech. He says that Abba has never been defeated, and never will be. Olanna is inspired, and she realizes she likes these “mass movements” of hope and defiance.

After the meeting Olanna tries to sympathize with Odenigbo about Mohammed, but Odenigbo gets angry and says Mohammed is complicit in all of the Hausa’s crimes. Olanna is shocked, and to prove his point Odenigbo describes the horror of the rape and massacre of Olanna’s family in Kano. Olanna leaves without a word, and she doesn’t speak to Odenigbo for days after that. She gets angry at the entitlement she hears in his apologies. Olanna is summoned by a family member and she goes off to her grandfather’s compound without Odenigbo.

Olanna is called before a gathering of her family to describe what she saw in Kano. Most of them are expecting the bad news, but Aunty Ifeka’s sister angrily accuses Olanna of lying. Afterward Olanna walks back to her car in the rain, thinking about how she has just made four deaths into a reality for a whole village.