The Death of Vivek Oji

In Chapter 16, an omniscient narrator introduces a new character Ebenezer, a vulcanizer. This story, too, takes place before Vivek’s death.

Though Ebenezer married his wife, Chisom, partly for her independence and her commitment to her work as a trader at the market, after six years he resents her for not giving him a son—though he himself won’t deign to see a doctor and only insists that Chisom see one (a hypocrisy Chisom points out to him). Ebenezer’s family looks down on Chisom for her independence and blames her for not producing children. Ebenezer tells his family about his marital troubles, which also worsens the rift in his marriage.

Ebenezer becomes interested in other women, including a tall woman with long fine hair who Ebenezer’s colleagues speculate is “half-caste” (a derogatory term for “multiracial”). Ebenezer begins an affair with a woman, Mama Ben, who runs a food stall. When violence erupts at the market, Mama Ben urges Ebenezer to seek safety with her. Instead, Ebenezer fights through the stampede of people to find his wife at the market. On his way to Chisom, Ebenezer passes the tall woman being shaken by a man who is holding her arm.