A Private Experience

Chika is the protagonist of “A Private Experience.” The narrative unfolds through her eyes and shares her past, present, and future. She is Igbo, and although she is not religious, she is Christian and wears a silver finger rosary. She is light-complexioned due to her Igbo heritage, and her clothing reveals her privileged background: She is wearing a denim skirt and a red Statue of Liberty T-shirt that she purchased in New York, and she lost a Burberry handbag during the riot. A medical student in the city of Lagos, Chika is well-educated though squeamish about touching others and invading their privacy.

While Chika is well-traveled and politically informed thanks to her sister, she is shocked by the reality of the riot, thinking, “[S]he and her sister should not be affected by the riot. Riots like this were what she read about in newspapers. Riots like this were what happened to other people” (47). Likewise, she views herself as separate from (and superior to) the woman who rescues her. Her initial opinions about her are initially quite dismissive. She doubts, for example, that the woman can grasp political concepts or understand how universities operate, conflating education and intelligence, and is surprised when her assumptions turn out to be incorrect.