Beatrice

Anthills of the Savannah

“Beatrice Nwanybuife did not know these traditions and legends of her people because they played but little part in her upbringing. She was born as we have seen into a world apart; was baptized and sent to schools which made much about the English and the Jews and the Hindu and practically everybody else but hardly put in a word for her forebears and the divinities with whom they had evolved. So she came to barely knowing who she was. Barely, we say though, because she did carry a vague sense more acute at certain critical moments than others of being two different people. Her father had deplored the soldier-girl who fell out of trees. Chris saw the quiet demure damsel whose still waters nonetheless could conceal deep overpowering eddies of passion that always almost sucked him into fatal depths. Perhaps Ikem alone came close to sensing the village priestess who will prophesy when her divinity rides her abandoning if need be her soup-pot on the fire, but returning again when the god departs to the domesticity of kitchen or the bargaining market-stool behind her little display of peppers and dry fish and green vegetables. He knew it better than Beatrice herself.

But knowing or not knowing does not save us from being known and even recruited and put to work. For, as a newly-minted proverb among her people has it, baptism (translated in their language as Water of God) is no antidote against possession by Agwu the capricious god of diviners and artists.”

Page 100:

Nwanybuife

• Beatrice’s other name means “A woman who is also something”.

• She does not like the ‘woman’ part of this, because she does not think there should be any difference between women and men.

• But she proves that she is something by being the only woman in the country to earn an English degree, and by taking on the role of a man at the naming ceremony.

• As seen in page 100, however, she only takes on the role of ‘something’ when it is required of her, and when the situation is over, she is still able to return to the role of a woman, hence she is “A woman who is also something”.

• From her position as a woman, she is able to see events from a unique perspective to that of Chris, Sam, or Ikem.

Beatrice and Chris

• For Bhen to write.• Both predict future events, Chris through reason, Beatrice through instinct.

• Beatrice expects Chris to look out for her, and is outraged that he sends her to the palace with Sam.

• When we first meet Beatrice, she is just Chris’ girlfriend. Then she starts to narrate the story.

• She is ‘jealous’ of Chris’ wife before she knows he doesn’t have one.

• These points suck. You can do better.

Beatrice and Ikem

• Beatrice was friends with Ikem before she knew Chris.• Both seem to be subject to ‘divine inspiration’, but

Beatrice is more of a “diviner” and Ikem an “artist”. (Also from page 100).

• Only Beatrice can see the the flaw in Ikem’s work when he does not count women as equals.

• Beatrice says Ikem is like her brother, and it can be seen that Ikem will go to great lengths to help her, such as catching a train at 3 0’clock in the morning to comfort her when she feels bad. (This might also be an example of Ikem’s over-enthusiastic-ness, causing an inconvenience to himself just for a gesture which in the long run will not help Beatrice).

Beatrice and Agatha

• Agatha is Beatrice’s maid/housewife.• She often refuses to do work because of her religion,

causing Beatrice to be more independent.• Although ‘unhelpful’, Beatrice is often stirred into action

by the very notion that Agatha might reach the door or the phone before her, and spread gossip.

• Beatrice says Agatha “is a prophetess of Jehovah” (God) and Chris says Beatrice is “of the house of Baal” (a Canaanite god whose name meant ‘lord’ and was often used as a substitute for God), to which Beatrice replies “or worse, of the unknown god.” (The Greeks had a temple to The Unknown God because they felt sure that there were more gods out there other than the ones already known to them. Paul said that God was the Unknown God so that Greeks would believe in Him.).

Beatrice and Herself

• Beatrice does not seem to know herself very well, although she has known her longer than the other characters in the book.

• She has a strong sense of traditionalism, but it seems to be submerged beneath her very modern upbringing.

• This can be seen in her hatred of the Desdemona complex.• She is strong but also gentle.• She is directed by an outside force, possibly Achebe (or in

some senses definitely Achebe) which she refers to at one point as her “middle ear”.

• She is too friendly to sustain a sense of urgency in her conversation, and she regrets giving Chris the opportunity to dismiss her warning. (See page 144).

THE

END

© Michael, Bhen, and Cameron. 2009 ©

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