Half of a Yellow Sun: Part 4, Chapter 31 Summary & Analysis

Olanna becomes desperate with worry about Ugwu, and is always fearing to see his body somewhere. She gets an old package from Mohammed containing soap, underwear, and chocolate. Mohammed writes about his polo game, which infuriates Olanna. Olanna hears shouting outside and sees some militia members pushing two women along, calling them saboteurs.

Mama Oji, who is with Olanna, says that Olanna should be careful of Alice. Olanna assures her that Alice isn’t a saboteur, and Mama Oji tells Olanna that Alice sits with Odenigbo when Olanna is away. Olanna is surprised at this, but she still trusts Odenigbo.

Olanna goes to see Alice, and finds that her former admiration for her has turned to jealousy and dislike. Olanna then sees Mrs. Muokelu, who vaguely warns her to find petrol for her car, as Umuahia may fall. Mrs. Muokelo cannot say this straightforwardly, as it could be grounds to accuse her of being a saboteur. Olanna is shaken by the fact that the fervently patriotic Mrs. Muokelo has lost her faith in Biafra.

There is no petrol at the station, and Olanna tells Odenigbo that they need to find some on the black market. He changes the subject, and is clearly drunk. Olanna remembers how he used to drink some in Nsukka – there the alcohol had sharpened his mind and given him confidence, but here it makes him silent and depressed.

Olanna uses the rest of the money her mother sent her and buys some petrol from a man in an outhouse. When she gets home there is an army jeep outside, and Kainene tells her that Ugwu has died. Olanna can only say “no” and shake her head. Kainene says that Madu told her that Ugwu’s body wasn’t found, but there were very few survivors in Ugwu’s unit and he wasn’t among them.

Olanna immediately goes to the bar, pours Odenigbo’s drink onto the floor, and tells him that Ugwu has died. She yells and runs away when the bar owner comes to hug her. The next few days pass in a blur. Odenigbo stays home and takes care of Baby, and Olanna sleeps on a mat outside. She doesn’t cry, except for when she tells Eberechi about Ugwu, and Eberechi screams and calls her a liar.

The people in the building sing for Ugwu in the yard, and Alice brings out her piano. Olanna is repulsed by Odenigbo’s presence, and feels that his drinking is somehow complicit in Ugwu’s death. The couple speaks to each other only about necessities. Olanna finds that she still cannot accept the reality of Ugwu’s death, and she still believes him to be alive but wounded somewhere.

One day a man comes to see Alice. He says that he is from her hometown, and he tells how the “vandals” captured it weeks before. They made everyone come out and say “One Nigeria,” claiming that they would give them rice if they did this. Instead the vandals shot them all, even the children. There is no one left in Alice’s family now.

Alice throws herself on the ground and rolls around in grief. She won’t let anyone come near her, and she thrashes with such force that the stones in the road cut her. Odenigbo comes out and picks her up, and she starts to cry on his shoulder. Olanna thinks Odenigbo holds Alice like someone who has held her before.

Alice finally calms down, and the man who delivered the message says he will take her with him, as there are some people from the village in his compound. Odenigbo asks Olanna to go get the Alice’s things, but Olanna refuses and goes into her room. She eventually falls asleep.

Olanna wakes up to the sound of shelling. She and Odenigbo hurry to the car, but it won’t start. Everyone else in the building evacuates, and Olanna won’t let anyone into their car. Odenigbo tells Olanna to start walking with Baby, but then the car finally starts. As they drive Olanna asks Odenigbo if he slept with Alice. He is silent, but then denies it. They are quiet for the rest of the drive.

They reach Kainene’s house in Orlu and unpack their things. They have dinner with Kainene and Richard. Richard offers Odenigbo some brandy – it is the first time they have spoken since Odenigbo told Richard to stop coming to his house – but Odenigbo declines and goes to bed. Olanna follows, but the couple barely speak to each other.

Olanna then comes back out and talks to Kainene. She tells her that Odenigbo “has become somebody else,” drinking all day and possibly sleeping with Alice. She says she can’t stand to have him near her now. Kainene says that this is good, as Olanna’s previous blind devotion was “very lazy.”

In the morning Kainene and Olanna share some face cream and then go to the refugee camp. The children there are playing with pieces of shrapnel, and when Baby finds some Olanna angrily takes it away. Kainene asks her to give it back, saying that Olanna tries to protect Baby too much from life. She says that their own parents protected them too much from life.

Kainene then asks Olanna why she was always so eager to please their parents. Olanna says she supposes she felt sorry for them, and Kainene says that Olanna has always felt sorry for people who didn’t need it. Olanna realizes that this is an old resentment for Kainene. In the past she would have talked to Odenigbo about it, but now he has found a new bar and hardly ever leaves it.

Olanna refuses to worry about Odenigbo, but she worries about Baby and the other children. Their starvation makes them start losing their memories, and their hair starts falling out. Kainene tries to start a garden, but the soil is too dry and nothing grows. The well dries up and the doctor stops visiting. A young girl gets pregnant but won’t say who the father is.

Olanna and Kainene always walk home together, discussing Odenigbo and the war. Kainene affirms that Biafra will win, and Olanna believes it more when Kainene says it. Sometimes Richard joins the sisters as they sit outside, but Odenigbo never does. One evening Dr. Nwala arrives to say that Okeoma has been killed. Okeoma had said that he was writing new poems with Olanna as his muse, but no one has found any copies of them.

Olanna starts to scream and she grabs at Odenigbo. They enter their room and have grief-stricken sex. Afterward Odenigbo tells Olanna that she is “so strong,” which is something he has never said before. Olanna feels a “sad and unsettling peace.”