Breaking Gods
After returning from Palm Sunday Mass, the family places fresh palm fronds on the dining table. Jaja refuses communion, saying the wafer gives him bad breath and the priest’s touch makes him nauseated. Papa, upset, questions Jaja, calls the communion “the host,” and warns him that refusing the body of Christ is death. He flings his leather‑bound missal across the room; the missal hits the glass étagère, shattering it and scattering the ceramic ballet‑dancer figurines. Mama enters, changes from her Sunday wrapper to a plain tie‑dye one, kneels, and begins picking up the broken figurines while the fan whirs. She tells the narrator (the “Nne”) to change clothes and comments on the cold tea. Papa quietly pours tea, offering “love sips” but says nothing as the family watches. The narrator observes the yard, the cashew tree, frangipani, hibiscus, and government men in a pickup. Later, Mama calls the narrator for lunch; the narrator apologizes for the broken figurines. At lunch, the family eats fufu and onugbu soup in silence. Papa asks for salt, the family reaches together, and then Papa asks Jaja why he has not spoken. Jaja replies in Igbo that he has no words. Papa repeatedly pressures him, and Jaja finally thanks the Lord, Papa, and Mama before attempting to leave the table. Papa tries to stand, then slumps; the narrator chokes on the watery cashew juice, coughing violently. Papa and Mama rush to her, thump her back, and soothe her while she drinks the soup. That evening she stays in bed, develops a cough, vomits, and is cared for by Mama. She learns Jaja has retreated to his room and will not join dinner. Mama refuses to replace the broken figurines. The narrator reflects on past memories, recalling that the family’s silence began in Nsukka, where Aunty Ifeoma’s garden of purple hibiscus symbolized a different kind of freedom. This chapter reveals the growing rupture between Jaja and Papa, the narrator’s physical illness, and the looming influence of Nsukka’s dissent on the family dynamics.