Under the Udala Trees

The novel is interested in multilingualism, code switching, and the class signifiers of different ways of speaking. Earlier sections of the novel included both Igbo and English, since Adaora and Ijeoma speak and read the Bible in both languages. At the boarding school, however, Ugochi and others speak a “mixture of proper English and pidgin” (139), moving between slang and grammatically correct sentences.

English is a signifier of being educated, but functions at a remove from everyday life. Their schoolwork includes a reference to Chinua Achebe’s famous novel Things Fall Apart; “Everyone knows the story of Okonkwo” (139). Both Achebe and Okparanta are Nigerian authors writing in English rather than Igbo, and the connection emphasizes English as a literary and global language.

Colloquial dialogue is more natural sounding: Its grammatical instability sounds musical. Igbo has a wide variety of spoken regional dialects and slang, while English is standardized through education and books (such as dictionaries). We can see that it is more grounded in the real world through Ugochi’s comments in pidgin: She suggests to Ijeoma that “one day [she’ll] find [a special man friend]” (136), foreshadowing Ijeoma’s marriage.

Amina and Ijeoma’s connection continues its strong physical component. Their emotional tie is made visibly manifest through the image of braids. When they reunite at the Girls’ Academy, Ijeoma thinks “back to the times when [she] used to braid” Amina’s hair at the grammar school teacher’s house (141). The breaking of this bond has a physical representation. Ijeoma “breathed in the scent of [Amina] as if to take in an excess of it, as if to build a reserve for that one day when she would be gone” (147). Remembering scent is like stockpiling goods.

Ijeoma attempts to define love in her first relationship. She thinks it might be a “combination of friendship and infatuation. A deeply felt affection accompanied by a certain sort of awe. And by gratitude. And by a desire for a lifetime of togetherness” (150). This definition clearly casts homosexual love in the same category as heterosexual love: long-term commitment and emotional connection that is deeper than just sexual desire. Defining love in this way is one method for countering the prejudice and ignorance of homophobia.