Apollo

Apollo is a colloquial Nigerian term for conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye. Allegedly, it gained this nickname because the first major epidemic of conjunctivitis in West Africa happened to coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landing. In the story, Apollo functions as a motif illuminating the changing relationship dynamics between Okenwa and Raphael. When Raphael comes down with Apollo, it heralds a shift in the boys’ interactions with each other. Okenwa, who before saw Raphael as wise and authoritative, learns that Raphael has a weakness: He can’t put the eye drops in his own eyes. Thus, the Apollo provides the perfect situation for the boys to grow closer. It forces Raphael into the state of a helpless child and gives Okenwa a reason to come into his room—a place where Okenwa has never been before—and be close to him. When Raphael’s Apollo clears up, Okenwa even “wishe[s] he had not healed so quickly” (57). When Okenwa comes down with Apollo himself, he assumes that Raphael will come to visit him. In his mind, Raphael owes him not only an apology for giving him Apollo but also care in exchange for the help Okenwa provided him. The fact that Raphael does not help take care of Okenwa while he has Apollo reflects the one-sided romance between them.

Apollo also resonates symbolically in ways that deepen its connection to the boys’ relationship. As a communicable disease, it indicates the physical closeness of the boys, which both their shared gender and their different social statuses render taboo. When Okenwa’s parents guess that he caught Apollo from Raphael, Okenwa is therefore quick to claim he got it at school. He cannot, however, conceal the implications from himself, “fear[ing] that something inside [him] [is] thawing that was not supposed to thaw” when he wakes with Apollo (58). That Apollo is also an eye disease—one that obscures vision—suggests Okenwa’s misreading of Raphael and the story’s broader interest in Perception, Transformation, and Loss of Innocence.