44 pages • 1 hour read
Flora NwapaEfuru
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1966A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary
When the chapter opens, Ossai is very ill. Efuru and Ajanupu tend to her, but they cannot help. A dibia comes and tells Ossai that she is ill from not seeing her son: When Adizua comes home, she will feel better. He tells Ossai that Adizua is in one of the towns on the Great River, but he does not know exactly where. He says that Adizua is unhappy because his new wife has left him.
After the dibia goes, the gossip Omirima mentions that Efuru has been worshipping Uhamiri. Gilbert’s mother is upset because Efuru and Gilbert did not consult her before they made the decision. Omirima insists that it is unlikely that Efuru will conceive again, so they must find another bride for Gilbert. Omirima hints to Gilbert’s mother that Efuru wants to go back to Adizua, even though this is not true; as evidence, Omirima cites the fact that Efuru continues to associate with Ossai and Ajanupu. Omirima stresses that even though Efuru is beautiful, industrious, and wealthy, her childlessness makes her an inferior wife: “Your daughter-in-law is good, but she is childless. She is beautiful but we cannot eat beauty. She is wealthy but riches cannot go on errands for us” (Chapter 10, Location 3035).
Ajanupu discusses the possibility of Gilbert marrying a second wife with Efuru, and Efuru agrees. She feels hurt, though, because the marriage means that she is considered barren. That night she dreams of Uhamiri looking beautiful in the deep waters of the lake.
Chapter 11 Summary
Chapter 11 switches to the perspective of Nwosu and Nwabata. When the chapter opens, they are arguing about the farm and their lack of funds. Nwosu took a title, which requires payment, instead of returning the money they borrowed from Efuru. Nwosu reprimands him for taking the title to impress the members of his age group when they needed the money for practical things.
Nwabata looks back on her 15-year marriage with Nwosu and realizes that it has been nothing but suffering. They have always been impoverished to the point of starvation, only barely managing to get by. They are both hard workers, but their hard work did not bring them security.
Nwabata and Nwosu visit Efuru with the purpose of asking her for another loan. They need money to hire workers for planting season, and they ask for Efuru’s help even though they have not repaid their previous loan. After upbraiding them, Efuru gives them the money.
Next, Nnona comes to Efuru’s house, weeping because thieves have stolen the little bit of money she has been saving. Efuru gives her the money, telling her she will keep it at her own house, which is what Nnona requests. When Nnona leaves, Ogea tells Efuru that people will take advantage of her if she continues to lend money so freely. Efuru agrees but says that it is hard for her to deny people who ask for her help.
The next day, Efuru speaks with Gilbert about marrying a second wife. It is four years into their marriage, and Efuru has not gotten pregnant. Gilbert assures Efuru that he does not care about having children, but Efuru insists that all men care about having offspring. Gilbert agrees to the arrangement, even though it makes him uncomfortable.
While Efuru and Gilbert are at the stream, Omirima spreads gossip about them. She faults Efuru for being childless and Gilbert for not marrying a second wife when there are plenty of girls to choose from. She says that Gilbert is to blame for letting a woman (Efuru) rule him (Chapter 11, Location 3264).
Chapter 12 Summary
Nwosu and Nwabata suffer more bad fortune: Thieves break into their home and steal all of their food and belongings. People from town, including Efuru and Ajanupu, come to sympathize. Nwabata thinks most of them have come to collect gossip and revel in her misfortune. She is happy, however, when Efuru and Ajanupu arrive.
Nwabata reveals that Nwosu was asleep when the robbers came. She chased them away, but they had already taken everything. Nwabata tells Efuru that she hid the 10-pound loan that Efuru gave her, so thankfully, the thieves did not take it. Nwabata asks Efuru to keep the money for them because now that everything has been stolen, they have nothing to take to the farm.
That evening, Efuru talks to Amede about a young woman named Nkoyeni Eneke, who she thinks will be a suitable husband for Gilbert. Amede refuses her because Nkoyeni’s family is cursed due to a murder that occurred. They discuss other prospects and decide to look into a girl named Nwasobi, who is a singer.
Omirima arrives and begins to question Amede about Gilbert marrying a second wife. Amede asks her frankly why she is so insistent about the matter, and Omirima says it is because they share a distant relative. Amede politely tells her that Efuru and Gilbert are handling the matter. Omirima is relieved. She rejects several of the young women Amede mentions because she says they have bad families. She is likely exaggerating, but Amede believes her and worries that she has been remiss in not gathering this information herself.
Chapters 10-12 Analysis
These chapters focus on the issue of Gilbert marrying a second wife. For this to happen, the family has to be sure that Efuru will not have more children. They come to this conclusion, and the process of finding a new wife begins. Efuru is not jealous, or at least she does not admit to being so. She takes charge of the affair to show that she is not opposed to the idea and perhaps to demonstrate that she does not feel slighted.
The focus on Nwosu and Nwabata illustrates a theme that is prevalent in these chapters, which is that it is better to have people than it is to have money. Multiple tragedies and hardships befall Nwosu and Nwabata, but people are always there to help. Efuru lends them money and takes care of Ogea, and the community helps them with their house and farm. Meanwhile, Efuru has money and many other good qualities, but everyone—especially Omirima—focuses on her childlessness, which lowers her in their esteem.
The novel is multivoiced; though the narrative mostly follows Efuru, Nwapa sometimes switches the perspective to other characters, allowing the reader to experience the story from their side. This technique is effective in the case of Nwosu and Nwabata because from the outside, they may seem cantankerous and irresponsible. In fact, they have always been hardworking, and Nwosu has been a good husband and father. Nwabata thinks she must have offended the ancestors and blames their chi, or fate, for their bad luck. This earlier surfaces as a possible explanation for Efuru’s bad luck, but the similarity underscores the differences between the characters’ situations. Nwabata and Nwosu serve as a counterpoint to Efuru, whose childlessness isolates her from her family even as the community respects her as a benefactor. Gilbert’s late nights have increased, and echoes of Adizua’s behavior surface in the narrative, creating a source of tension and foreshadowing.
Because the novel is multivoiced, for most of the narrative it does not have a clear antagonist. The closest is Omirima because she bears ill will toward Efuru for reasons that are unclear. However, ill will alone does not make a character an antagonist; the antagonist is a character who keeps the protagonist from achieving their objective. In this respect, Omirima’s accusation of adultery will prove the most damaging act anyone undertakes against Efuru because it unfairly impugns her character and leads to her leaving Gilbert. Efuru’s overarching objective is to have another child, however, which has nothing to do with Omirima. The ability to bear a child is out of Efuru’s—or anyone else’s—hands. This is the fundamental question at the heart of the novel: How can something that is out of a woman’s control, i.e., the ability to conceive, be the sole metric by which her womanhood is judged? The text offers no answers, and instead, we see Efuru replaced by a younger woman who is able to give Gilbert children.
