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46 pages 1 hour read

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Viviana Mazza

Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018

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Part 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3, Chapters 140-148 Summary: “Fanne,” “Two Drops of Water,” “The First Time,” “Last Night,” “Delicious,” “Advice,” “Silver,” “Life of a Wife,” “Osama”

One of the lead women at the new camp, Fanne, greets the girls with their first delicious meal in weeks and promises their lives will improve. Ya Ta knows that the first camp was worse but does not see this new life as much better, particularly because she is trapped with a man who wears a mask and barely speaks. On her first night, she sees him staring at her in their tent, and the words of her mother, principal, and pastor come into her mind, warning her against the way that men may want to use women. Ya Ta tries to flee but is stopped by Fanne, and then her husband captures her and rapes her. The next morning, Ya Ta approaches Sarah, who seems happy and flirts with her new husband. Fanne tells the girls to keep their husbands happy, and Ya Ta finds herself in a new type of enslavement. She knows little about her husband, except that he calls himself Osama, after his hero. Ya Ta does not understand the reference because she does not know who Osama bin Laden is.

Part 3, Chapters 149-158 Summary: “Scar,” “Mesmerized,” “Singing,” “Mind of a Fly,” “Laughing,” “Showing Off,” “His Favorite,” “Buttermint,” “New Strength,” “Memories”

Sarah and her husband seem to be getting to know one another, and Sarah tells Ya Ta stories about her husband and the violence he commits. One night, Ya Ta even hears him singing to Sarah, and he frequently gives her gifts. Meanwhile, Ya Ta still knows little about her own husband. Some nights, after he rapes her, he turns on his laptop and watches videos. Ya Ta secretly watches from behind him and sees a video of a boy Jacob’s age killing a man at the leader’s command. Another shows Boko Haram taking over the Gwoza local government. On another night, Ya Ta’s husband watches his favorite video: footage of the 9/11 attacks. Ya Ta does not know about the event or how it connects to her husband’s name. One day, Ya Ta mentions to Sarah that they should try to escape, but Sarah doesn’t reply. Ya Ta finds she can no longer envision her future but still has vivid memories of her past and loved ones.

Part 3, Chapters 159-167 Summary: “Watching Men,” “Like Milam Zwindila,” “Bugle,” “Jihad,” “Outside World,” “Lucky Bride,” “Good Looks,” “Trying to Be Happy,” “A New Friend”

Ya Ta hears from Sarah that her husband has acquired hundreds of guns and other weapons, as well as armored vehicles. Ya Ta wonders where it all comes from. The girls begin a new phase of training, where they are slowly convinced that they must fight on behalf of Boko Haram and kill women who resist since men are forbidden to do so. When the leader comes in the night and makes a speech about spreading their message, Ya Ta stays up to listen. She hopes the men will go on another jihad (i.e., a raid against people who do not follow Islam) so that the camp will have more food. One night, Ya Ta looks at her husband while his mask is off and sees that he has attractive features. She wonders even more why he chooses to wear a mask, and wonders if he does love her in some way. Sarah starts to drift away from Ya Ta and spend more time with Fanne.

Part 3, Chapters 168-179 Summary: “Decision,” “Gossip,” “In-Laws,” “Still Wondering About It,” “Training,” “A New Teacher,” “Argument,” “Growing Up,” “Tattoo,” “For the Fifth Day in a Row,” “Fonder,” “Day Seventeen”

Ya Ta decides to try and be happy for Sarah. When Sarah gets her period, she feels sad because she was hoping to become pregnant and take a trip to the city to meet her husband’s family. Ya Ta wonders if she should do the same. Meanwhile, Fanne begins training the girls to be soldiers, and Sarah starts to believe that Boko Haram is fighting for a just cause. Ya Ta tries to remind her that Boko Haram does not represent Islam, but Sarah no longer sees that logic. Sarah even has her husband’s name tattooed on her stomach and shows it to Ya Ta proudly. When the men go off on another jihad, Ya Ta is grateful while Sarah longs for her husband’s return and hopes he will die and be replaced by someone better.

Part 3, Chapters 180-188 Summary: “Today’s Lesson,” “Gossip,” “My Intelligence,” “Finished,” “Day Thirty-Two,” “Victory,” “Comforter,” “Morning After,” “Spoils of War”

The girls are taught how to shoot guns and properly burn down buildings, as well as how to loot houses during raids. When Sarah defends the Boko Haram army, who are taking children as young as four off to be trained as soldiers, Ya Ta starts to realize that her intelligence, which was once a prized gift, is now the holding her back from being happy like Sarah. When the men return, Ya Ta is immediately raped, and Sarah celebrates another Boko Haram victory. Ya Ta’s husband cries the following night, grieving the loss of his family that was killed by the Nigerian resistance. Ya Ta feels lost and shocked by his sudden humanity; she comforts him and they cry together. The next morning, however, Osama is once again cold and callous toward her. When the girls are given new clothes, Ya Ta wonders if the girls they were stolen from survived or died, while Sarah is just excited to get new things.

Part 3, Chapters 189-199 Summary: “Bracelet,” “Through the Window of My Niqab,” “Caution,” “Boarding School,” “Expert,” “Special Vest,” “Gold Ring,” “Boys,” “Jacob,” “Two Husbands,” “Blasphemy”

Fanne warns the girls to be extra kind to their husbands, lest they choose a new girl to marry instead. Ya Ta dreams of university and learns how to make herself numb when her husband rapes her. She starts to feel afraid of leaving, worried about what the unknown might hold, and grows dependent upon what this life provides her. The girls are given a “special vest” (250) to try on and told that when they use it, they will instantly be sent to paradise. In one of her husband’s videos, Ya Ta sees a group of boys practicing killing and shooting and recognizes her brother, Jacob, amongst them. She cries to Sarah about what she saw, but Sarah only says she should be grateful that Jacob is being trained. Ya Ta finally loses her patience and tells Sarah that Boko Haram, including her husband, are betraying Islam and that they will be punished by Allah for their disgrace. Sarah calls it blasphemy and then tells Ya Ta’s husband what she said.

Part 3, Chapters 200-208 Summary: “Betrayal,” “Disgraced,” “Old Friend,” “Thinking about Zainab,” “Paradise,” “Superstar,” “I Must Try,” “Heartbroken,” “Boom”

Osama beats and rapes Ya Ta upon hearing what she said about Boko Haram, and Ya Ta cannot believe that Sarah would betray her. Afterward, none of the girls or women will talk to Ya Ta , including Sarah, who now spends her free time with Fanne. Ya Ta feels angry at Sarah and misses her best friend, and when Sarah is chosen to go to jihad and wear a bomb vest, she is delighted and others congratulate her. Ya Ta tries to tell her not to go, but Fanne slaps her and tells her to leave Sarah alone. Sarah leaves, and Ya Ta is certain she will die. The following night, Ya Ta awakes to loud booming sounds getting closer in the forest. Her husband wakes up panicked and begins rushing about the camp along with other men, gathering supplies. He tells Ya Ta to pack what she can and put it in a truck, so she follows instructions and then uses the opportunity to flee (many other girls do the same). As she runs, Ya Ta hears her husband calling and threatening to find her wherever she goes. Fanne and other loyal followers leave with the Boko Haram men as the men throw stones at the remaining women. When the Nigerian tanks pull into the camp, many of the women throw themselves on them, grateful to be saved.

Part 3 Analysis

Part 3 elaborates on Boko Haram’s indoctrination and grooming tactics, highlighting The Effects of Abuse and Subjugation on Women and Girls. When the girls arrive at the new camp and are forced into marriage, they are enticed with their first decent meal in weeks and a promise of a better life. It is part of a long-term tactic to first dehumanize and break their spirits, and then tempt them with something better. At this point, almost anything seems better than the life they had before, but Ya Ta still knows better: “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” (190). She admits that the new camp is safer from wild animals, but not much else has changed. Ya Ta was once a slave to Boko Haram, and now she is a slave to her husband. He sexually abuses her and refuses to show her his humanity, so she is left feeling as though she is trapped with an animal. She starts to forget her future and stops dreaming of a different life, instead succumbing to the possibility of being in the Sambisa forest forever.

Boko Haram’s connections to Oppression, Terrorism, and Religious Extremism become more obvious the longer Ya Ta lives with them. Because Ya Ta is unaware of who Osama bin Laden is, she does not know why her husband chooses to call himself Osama or why he likes to watch a video of buildings being struck by airplanes. She has some sense that these things are connected but does not know how. Ya Ta’s tolerance for her circumstances runs out when she sees her brother in a military training video for Boko Haram. And when she sees that Sarah is moving to the other side, Ya Ta can no longer manage to feel Gratitude in the Face of Adversity. This reaction comes after weeks of trying to be happy for Sarah and even being jealous of Sarah for not being intelligent enough to see that she is being manipulated: “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” (236). Ya Ta constantly tries to remind Sarah that Boko Haram has killed hundreds of innocent people and displaced many more, but Sarah only defends their actions, including those against Jacob.

When Sarah agrees to wear the “special vest,” Ya Ta realizes she can no longer connect with her friend. With the 9/11 foreshadowing and the girls’ indoctrination about sacrificing themselves in the name of Islam, the narrative suggests that Sarah will not return from this mission. The narrative also shows the importance of choice: If Sarah had been more open to Ya Ta’s pleading, she could have joined Ya Ta and the other girls who escaped when the Nigerian army arrived.

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