Half of a Yellow Sun: Part 4, Chapter 27 Summary & Analysis

Richard is at home when Harrison appears at his door, covered in blood. Richard panics and offers to take him to the hospital, but Harrison reveals that the red liquid is beet juice – only wounded men are allowed to leave with the women and children. Richard asks about his manuscript “In the Time of Roped Pots,” and Harrison says he buried it in a box in the garden.

Harrison hopes he can stay with Richard and Kainene, and Richard agrees, as only one of Kainene’s stewards is left, a man named Ikejide. People on the Nigerian radio say that Port Harcourt will fall soon, which would mean that Biafra itself would lose.

Richard was surprised when a few weeks earlier Madu had asked him to write for the Propaganda Directorate. Richard is excited to be an “insider,” but he is confused because he feels Madu hates him. He calls Madu and accuses him of only asking him because he is white. Madu says of course this is the case, but foreigners will take his writing more seriously because he is white.

Madu says that the Biafran cause doesn’t really belong to Richard, as he could easily be evacuated by the British government if he wanted to. So if he really wants to help, he should use his whiteness to aid Biafra and write articles about the atrocities going on. Richard agrees to do it.

Richard’s first article is about the fall of Onitsha, where the Nigerian soldiers defecated on the altar of the Catholic church and then killed two hundred civilians. Madu is pleased with article, and Richard is glad he is doing this. He imagines himself as a young Winston Churchill. Weeks have passed since then, and Richard has written many articles. He has even met Ojukwu, who thanked him for his good work.

Richard calls Madu to ask about Port Harcourt, but Madu assures him that Port Harcourt will not fall. Richard feels especially attached to the town, as it is the place where he and Kainene have been happy together.

Kainene comes home and laughs at Harrison’s beet story. She says she got a letter from her mother in London, which contained some cleverly disguised money. Richard asks Kainene about Port Harcourt, and though she assures him it won’t fall she sounds wary, and she and Richard have started building a new house in Orlu as a backup.

Richard doesn’t want to leave Port Harcourt, but he is sent to Uli to write an article about Nigerian planes shooting at vehicles on major roads. Richard reaches the small, secret Biafran airstrip and interviews the man in charge there. Then a white man emerges from the nearby building, and Richard recognizes him as Count Von Rosen, an elderly Swedish aristocrat who has been fighting for Biafra with his own small plane.

Count Von Rosen greets Richard and offers him some cheese. He says he has heard about Kainene, and Richard shows him a picture of her and then of the roped pot, saying “I fell in love with Igbo-Ukwu art and then fell in love with her.” Richard asks the Count why he is fighting for Biafra, and as a response the Count says that he had also fought in Ethiopa and brought food to the Warsaw ghetto.

Count Von Rosen leaves to go on a mission, and Richard compares him to the German mercenary also fighting for the Biafrans. The German acted as though “here finally were black people he could like.” On his way back to Port Harcourt, Richard hears gunfire and gets worried.

Richard and Kainene go to visit their new house being built in Orlu, and on their way out an air raid siren goes off. They take cover, but it is a false alarm. A trader with a nearby booth gets robbed while she is hiding. Richard and Kainene keep going, and they are stopped at a checkpoint to be searched. Kainene asks about a nearby man being turned back, and the civil defender says that they are turning back anyone with furniture, so as not to cause a panic.

As they drive on Kainene criticizes the Biafran propaganda, which whips up paranoia about saboteurs and bombs being hidden in household items. Richard defends Ojukwu, but Kainene says Ojukwu has invented all the saboteurs so as to get rid of his enemies or take their wives. She says that when Biafra is established, Ojukwu will have to be deposed.

Richard and Kainene return to Port Harcourt, and Madu calls. He says people have been attacking British people because the British supplied warships to Nigeria, so Richard should be careful. Madu says that Richard should write about the French ambassador’s quote praising the heroic Biafrans.

Richard asks Madu about Port Harcourt, and Madu says there have been some non-Igbo saboteurs. Richard thinks about how blasphemous it would be to betray Biafra, and he remembers talking to some non-Igbo Biafrans who thought that the Igbo would dominate them when the country was established. Richard tried to explain that “a country born from the ashes of injustice would limit its practice of injustice,” but they didn’t believe him.

Richard stays inside for a few days, and when he tries to leave Port Harcourt there is an armed soldier preventing people leaving, nervously saying “there is no cause for alarm!” Later that day Richard hears shelling nearby, and he and Kainene decide to evacuate. Richard cannot find the notes for his latest article about the ogbunigwe, and he has to leave them behind.

Harrison and Ikejide drag their suitcases outside as an air raid begins in Port Harcourt. Richard and Kainene hide under an orange tree and Harrison falls flat on the ground, but Ikejide starts running. A piece of shrapnel suddenly cuts off Ikejide’s head, while the other three watch in horror. When the planes leave they get in the car and drive to Orlu.

They reach their house but the carpentry work still isn’t finished. Kainene finds a new carpenter, but the man wants to be paid in food. He says money has no value in “this Biafra.” Kainene tells Richard about Olanna’s experience with the woman carrying her daughter’s head, and Kainene says she wants to go see Olanna. At night she tries to dream about Ikejide, but she cannot.

Kainene becomes the food supplier for the refugee camp in Orlu, and she seems to gain energy from her constant busyness. She meets many new selfless, fervently patriotic people. One day a non-Igbo doctor arrives to treat the sick, and one of her patients spits at her and calls her a “saboteur.” Kainene slaps the patient and says that “we are all Biafrans.”