Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree

“Back at home, the men and boys know everything, but here in school, I know more than all the boys. Salt may laugh at shea butter when the sun shines, but when the rain falls, it must hide its head.”

Ya Ta uses a metaphor to describe her position as a girl in a world where boys and men are always trying to place themselves above her. At school, she always knows the answer and feels like it is one place where her gender does not affect her ability to succeed or stand out.

“There is something for everyone in the baobab tree, whether man, woman, boy, or girl. Something for beasts and spirits, even.”

The baobab tree is a key symbol in the novel and in the life of the Hausa people in northern Nigeria. It is used as a food and medicine source, as well as a gathering place and way to seek shade in the heat of northern Africa. Ya Ta has many happy memories involving the baobab tree, and one gruesome memory in which she witnesses the beloved tree turned into a mass grave site.

“I thank god for Papa. Unlike many other girls in our village whose parents do not think that sending a girl to school is important since she will end up getting married and taking all her father’s years of investment to another man’s house, Papa wants me educated.”

Ya Ta is one of few girls in Borno to be able to attend school and dream about the prospect of a secondary education. She knows how precious and rare this is and is always Grateful to her papa for being one of few fathers to prioritize education in his daughter’s life.

“Like a baobab tree among the trees of the forest, so is he among all the young men in the world. I delight to sit in his shade, and his alone, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.”

Ya Ta begins to fall in love with Success and compares the possibility of being with him to the sweetness of the baobab tree’s fruit. Like this tree, Success is unique and precious to Ya Ta.

“Their Islam is from inside their heads, not the holy Quran.”

As Ya Ta learns about Boko Haram, it is clear that they are a living example of Oppression, Terrorism, and Religious Extremism. Aisha argues that Boko Haram does not represent Islam in its true form because Islam promotes peace and acceptance, not the violent acts of hatred that they commit.

“Do they have horns and hooves?

Are their teeth sharp and pointed?

Do their nails grow long and curl around their fingers?

Are their eyes slit and red?”

Ya Ta starts to wonder if the members of Boko Haram are not human at all because the acts they commit are crueler than she would expect of any person. She already has an instinct that alerts her to the danger of this group and explains it in the form of a short poem.

“Bang!

No time for me to think or feel as Papa drops to the floor.”

One moment, Ya Ta is living an ordinary life on an ordinary day; the next, she and her village are being attacked by Boko Haram militants. Her father is killed in front of her, and she does not have time to process what she is seeing as more shots ring out around her.

“We are like dead people mourning other people who are dead. We are like ghosts stuck between the land of humans and the land of spirits.”

In this simile, the girls’ state upon being captured is compared to those who are already dead and floating between both worlds. Many sit in stunned silence, others stop eating, and others slowly submit to the demands placed upon them. These are some of The Effects of Abuse and Subjugation on Women and Girls.

“In a way, Mama’s prediction came to pass. Papa and his radio left this world together.”

Ya Ta considers the dark irony in how her mother used to joke about Papa and his attachment to his radio. One of Ya Ta’s strongest memories of her father is this connection, and the radio was more like a friend than an electronic device to the family.

“I can smell when Al-Bakura approaches, and when he has been joined by one or two of his cohorts. I can smell when he is creeping into our sleeping area in the middle of the night. I can smell him on the women who return early in the morning with marks on their skin.”

The loathing and disgust that Ya Ta feels for Boko Haram and its leaders is clear in the way she describes them. Just as she thought that Boko Haram sounded more like animals than humans when she first heard of them, she now knows that they smell and act more like animals, too.

“He tells us that we are not part of Nigeria

He tells us that Islam is the only true religion.

He tells us that the Quran is the only book worth reading.

He tells us that our fathers and brothers deserved to die because they were infidels who did not believe in Allah.”

Some of the chapters in the novel are structured more like poems than prose. In this passage, Ya Ta lists off the lies that the leader of Boko Haram tells the girls. These lies are meant to disconnect the girls from their heritage, families, and loyalty to their country so they will submit to the new regime.

“I now know what became of the elderly soldier, Magdalene, and the girl who slumped during Quranic class.”

The author has a way of exposing disturbing situations without directly describing them. She implies enough to complete the reader’s understanding of what is going on but does not demonstrate any need to describe these horrors in graphic detail. This is a respectful approach to a story that deals in fact, rather than pure fiction.

“What was gracious about taking girls away in the middle of the night? What was merciful about stabbing a girl who was singing about Jesus’s love for her?”

Ya Ta starts to see the hypocrisy in Boko Haram’s claims of being promoters of Islam. In her old life, she witnessed Islam practiced by Aisha and her husband and saw that they were both peaceful and respectful of one another. Now, she is expected to believe that Boko Haram, who promote war, are believers in the same religion.

“Al-Bakura’s tales by moonlight are definitely not the same as Papa’s. His bring sorrow instead of laughter and learning.”

The contrast between Ya Ta’s old life and her new one is both extreme and disturbing. Where once she was surrounded by family as she listened to folktales under the moonlight, these moonlight stories are now about the promotion of murder and capture.

“The difference between this new camp and the previous one is the difference between a drop of sewer water and a drop of puddle water.”

When Ya Ta is kidnapped and made a slave, she is eventually taken to another camp and made a bridge to a member of Boko Haram. In both situations, she is trapped, powerless, and vulnerable to all forms of abuse.

“You are a woman. From now on, you must be very careful of men.”

Ya Ta remembers her mother’s warning about men when she spends her first night in the tent with her new husband. She can tell his motivations by the way he looks at her, and sure enough, he rapes her shortly after. Ya Ta always dreamed of having a loving relationship with Success and is now trapped in a forced marriage with a stranger. Forced marriage is one of many forms of Subjugation against women and children.

“Like two lumps of dung that confuse the mind of a fly, I struggle to decide whether being married is better than being a slave.”

Ya Ta metaphorically compares her current choices of being a slave or a wife to a jihadist to piles of dung. Neither option is desirable; instead, both are horrible and render her unable to fulfill her dreams or see her family again. The Effects of Abuse and Subjugation on Women and Girls is an issue commonly seen in extremist environments like the Boko Haram camp.

“A sack full of precious stones will only slow down your trek through the wilderness, after all, and is better dumped by the wayside or exchanged for a cup of water.”

The protagonist often uses metaphors to explain her reasoning. The longer that she is in the camp, the more she starts to see her intelligence as a useless burden, where before it was a precious gift. While Sarah is happy in her new life, Ya Ta cannot bring herself to accept it.

“Maybe inside the Sambisa forest is better. Maybe the life I know is better than the one I do not know. Maybe my dreams of a different life are just a waste of time.”

Ya Ta starts to doubt her ability to live outside the camp after being there for so long. She forgets her dreams of a future and does not trust her ability to survive on her own. Her thoughts swerve in all directions as she tries to decide what to do.

“Only special ones can arrive in paradise so quickly and easily.”

Fanne attempts to entice the girls into wearing suicide bomb vests by telling them they will be rewarded for their acts immediately upon death. This tactic is used to convince vulnerable people in captivity to surrender their logic and agree to whatever they are being told.

“There is nothing brave about this jihad! They are all monsters! Killers and murderers!”

Ya Ta cannot stand the sight of her friend turning over to Boko Haram and makes a desperate attempt to change her mind. She knows that Boko Haram are proponents of religious extremism. Instead, Sarah rejects Ya Ta as a blasphemer, and Ya Ta never sees her best friend again.

“I wonder if she decided to stay back or if her husband pushed her out of the truck.”

Ya Ta cannot know the thoughts or experiences of other girls beyond what she sees and what they tell her. Instead, she is left wondering about their stories and what led them to the refugee camp. One such girl, Amira, was previously a supporter of Boko Haram and trained the girls in becoming Muslim brides.

“What if a doctor’s child does not bother going to university to learn? Will it automatically also become skilled in treating complicated diseases?

Why, then, is the case of Boko Haram children different?

How is it possible that they inherit their parents’ beliefs?”

The logic behind Ya Ta’s thoughts is often revealed in her inner monologue that employs rhetorical questions. When she has fears about her future child, she uses reasoning to arrive at the truth. Her thoughts also reflect a wider principle that exists throughout humanity, which is to view children as innocent and capable of being better than those who bore them.