Analysis of "Our Husband Is Dead" by Chinasa Ekeoma

Synopsis:

The story centers on Mazi Ojiako’s family, a polygamous family in a traditional Igbo society called Nkelu. Mazi Ojiako has two wives, Chioma (alias Mama Udo) and Chinonso (alias Mama Nkeiru). He also has two brothers, Mba and Udeh. Mbah is their eldest brother while Udeh is the youngest. Udeh, the youngest, is caught sleeping with Mama Nkeiru, Ojiako’s wife. The news spreads in the village to the extent the umuada (i.e. the first daughters of the clan) plans to wade into the matter by first setting a trap to catch them in the act and second by subjecting Mama Nkeiru to swearing of oath. Before the execution of the plan by the umuada, Nkeiru, her daughter, accosts Mama Nkeiru and warns her to desist from sleeping with Mazi Udeh. At the same time, Mama Nkeiru visits Agbarakwe, the Chief Priest of their clan, to give her love medicine she will use to attract her husband’s love as she feels that Ojiako loves her co-wife, Mama Udoh, more than he loves her. Agbarakwe refuses her request and warns her to desist from sleeping with Udeh, her brother-in-law, an act the community considers an abomination. Instead of harkening to Agbarakwe’s advice, she visits another traditional medicine man, Nkikwere, and obtains the same love medicine Agbarakwe refuses to give her. As she does not cook for her husband, she administers the love medicine to Ojiako through the food prepared by Mama Udoh. Nkikwere asks her to administer little of the love medicine, but out of fear of being caught she pours in a large quantity of it which kills Ojiako and implicates Mama Udoh.

Plot:

• Exposition:
  The story opens at Ojiako’s compound when Mama Nkeiru asks Mama Udo to help her take care of her son, Ndubueze, as she is leaving for market. It also shows Ojiako telling Mama Udoh to go to his brothers’ houses (Mbah and Udeh) and invite them for an important discussion.

• Complication/Conflict:
  Conflict is introduced when Mama Udoh visits Udeh’s house to invite him to a meeting with Ojiako. At Udeh’s house, she catches Mama Nkeiru and Mazi Udeh in “a fierce romance.” A man sleeping with his brother’s wife is an abomination in Nkelu, especially if the woman’s husband is still alive.

• Rising Action:
  At being exposed, Mama Nkeiru and Udeh try to cover their abominable behaviour so that Ojiako will not hear of it. Mama Nkeiru pleads with Mama Udoh not to expose them, but Udeh refuses to humble himself to plead; instead, he threatens Mama Udoh. Unknown to them, it is not only Mama Udoh that knows about their adultery, almost the entire village and Agbarakwe, the Chief Priest, are aware of it, including the umuada.
  Rising action also includes when Nkeiru runs to Agbarakwe and Nkikere to ask for love medicine that will make Ojiako love her.

• Climax:
  This is when the love medicine Mama Nkeiru put in Ojiako’s food kills him. The reader at this point knows that Mama Nkeiru has two crime cases on her head. One is the case of adultery which is already fermenting; the second is the murder of her husband. The reader at this point wants to know how she will handle the two cases.

• Resolution:
  The two crimes are reported to the Eze of Nkelu Community. Following the tradition and custom of the Igbo society, Mama Udoh and Mama Nkeiru (the wives of Ojiako) are asked to swear an oath which will be performed by the chief priest, Agbarakwe. Agbarakwe exposes Mama Nkeiru’s act of putting love medicine in Ojiako’s food which causes his death. He also exposes Mama Nkeiru’s extra-marital affairs, which she later acknowledges. At the end, after Eberenta pleaded that Mama Nkeiru be not put to death, Mama Nkeiru is banished from the community.

Setting:

• Setting in Place:
  The immediate setting is in Nkelu community, a traditional Igbo society, where customs and traditions of the people are upheld as one of the instruments of acts and behaviours. The traditional Igbo society relies on Chief Priests and the Eze to judge cases. In the Igbo culture, sending a wife back home or recommending that she be banished or punished if she is found guilty of some abominable acts is one of the ways to control social ills in some communities.

• Setting in Time:
  The story is contemporary, as similar events still occur in rural areas of the Igbo society. In rural settings, Chief Priests, the Eze, and the umuada are still working hand in glove to safeguard the tradition and customs of their communities as well as ensuring that the moral values of the land are not truncated.

Themes:

• Abomination:
  In traditional and contemporary societies, some cases are classified as abomination and whoever commits them is severely punished so as to deter others from such acts. Mama Nkeiru’s extra-marital act and the murder of her husband are against the moral values of the Igbo society, hence the need to punish her.

• Illegitimate Relationship:
  The story is weaved around the illegitimate relationship between Udeh and Mama Nkeiru. Their relationship is illegitimate because the custom and tradition of Nkelu community does not allow married women to sleep with their brothers-in-law.

Sociological Importance:

Family and family relationships are crucial aspects of every society’s structure that calls for serious attention. Customs and traditions stipulate norms on establishing, maintaining, and protecting families which in turn help to promote moral values and peace in the community. So when a family is established through marriage, the marriage parties are expected to be faithful to each other. In traditional African societies, men are allowed to marry more than one wife, so polygamy is not an abomination but, women are not given such privilege; hence they are expected to remain faithful to their husbands. Thus, the sexual relationship between Udeh and Mama Nkeiru is not only immoral but threatens the peace Ojiako tries to maintain in their family when he suggests they share their farmland to avoid conflict. The abominable act also threatens the norm of Nkelu.

The society owes it as a duty to protect peace in families and by extension in societies; hence there are norms and regulations guiding family relationships. The society also sets up some offices or groups that would help in protecting family relationships. Such offices or groups include the Eze, Chief Priests, the umuada, etc.

Murder also has a social effect. No society welcomes murder, whether intentional or inadvertent. To protect people from being murdered by others, there are severe punishments attached to murder cases, hence the Eze banned Mama Nkeiru from the clan.