Poppy Pov
I put away my textbook and head to my next class, English. It was a needed breather after chemistry class. It was not that I hated it, but I didn't particularly love it either. And Mr. Barnes didn't help matters either as he proved every single time, that there was a new way of making the subject more boring.
As I opened the door, a loud drone of noise waved at me as everyone was chatting around, gushing about what they did during the weekends. I usually sat at the back corner close to the window in English class. Sarah, Lucy and I marked this as our corner since the beginning of the school year.
"Guys you would not believe what just happened near the teacher's office." Sarah says as she sits next to me. Our teacher Miss Anthony started writing on the marker board then. "Never mind, I'll tell you during lunch."
In today's class, we were going to discuss a one of the classic novels from Nigeria, Half of a yellow sun. The book was not in our recommended reading list for college, but Miss Anthony said we needed to broaden our horizons. Before this we read Love in the time of cholera, which was a Spanish novel.
The bell rang and Miss Anthony clapped, drawing our attention to the front of the room. "So let's begin the discussion. Can anyone tell me some of the themes this book?"
I felt confident enough today to raise my hand as soon as the discussion began. I didn't really like being the center of attention. I usually got flustered and never had anything smart to say.
"One of the themes is the influence of race and culture on society. Much of the conflict in Nigerian politics and between the characters has to do with that. The root cause of this is the racist, oppressive colonization of Nigeria by the British Empire. We can see this in characters like Susan who sees all Africans as inferior and less civilized to white people. Colonialism also made worse the cultural conflicts as multiple cultural groups were forced together under a unified region. The characters also represent the different races and culture. Olanna and Kainne are upper class Igbos, Odenigbo is middle class, Ugwu is a poor boy from a bush village and Richard is a white expatriate. So the author portrayal of conflict between race and culture shows the common humanity of all."
"Interesting point Poppy," Miss Anthony said smiling. "Does anyone have anything else to contribute?"
Someone else raised their hand. "The book also talks about love. The romantic relationships between…"
I opened to the mentioned page of the book on my tablet and followed. The conversation continued for about ten more minutes before we are asked to split ourselves into groups. Naturally Sarah, Lucy and I formed one team. Across the room, I could see Colin, Dan Brown and Phoebe McAdams having their own meeting.
"Okay, so I haven't read any of it yet apart from the title." Lucy admits when Miss Anthony moved away from us. "I had to work late in the coffee shop yesterday and Sarah Huggins didn't show up meaning I had to do the work of two people. I was so tired when I got home."
"I glanced through it but it felt boring since I really didn't understand. And also, Riverdale was showing yesterday and God knows Cole Sprouse is more important," Sarah said scratching her head. She looked at me with her best cute face, as she called it, so I knew where this was going. "Poppy, would you be so kind and explain it to us?"
I sighed deeply, unsurprised. We all had our strengths. I am good at studying, Lucy is an amazing fashion designer and Sarah well…is Sarah.
"So you basically want…for dummies?"
Both of them nodded vigorously. "Dumb it down as much as possible."
I sighed again but nodded. "All right. The book is an imagined story about the disastrous war between Nigeria and Biafra. Shortly after Nigeria gained independence from Britain, the Igbo tribes of the South-East seceded-"
"Hold up hold up. What does seceded mean?" Sarah asked
I rolled my eyes. "Seceded means to become independent. Now don't interrupt me. The Igbo tries seceded and established the republic of Biafra. Three years of civil war followed as Biafra was slowly strangled into submission by violence and famine. This novel follows the course of the civil war that took place between 1967 and 1970 through the experiences of four ethically ibo characters who are Olanna, Odenigbo, Kainene and Ugwu. Ugwu is the houseboy of Odenigbo who has fallen in love with Olanna, the daughter of a wealthy Nigerian. On the other hand, Richard leaves his girlfriend Susan for Kainene who is Olanna's twin. It is a remarkable novel about moral responsibility, the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class and race and the ways which love can complicate--" I looked at Sarah and Lucy and they were pretending to be asleep. "Guys seriously?"
"I said dumb it down, not to bore us to death." Sarah tore out a sheet of paper from her notebook. "Write down everything you just said."
I just shook my head and proceeded to do as she asked because there was no point complaining.
"I love you," Sarah said blowing me a kiss. "I don't know how we would have survived eleventh grade English without you. I don't think I am ever going to read a book again."
I kicked her under the table and she winced. "That is the exact opposite of what you should do. Please read a book."
She waves a hand nonchalantly. "We'll see. I will though if Cole Sprouse tells me to. In a heartbeat."
Lucy is examining her nails. "Why do we even read this stuff? The names are hard to pronounce and it is not like we need it for college or anything."
I started to explain. "Well they won't be so hard to pronounce if you actually read the book and also-"
"Jesus Poppy," Lucy exclaims. "That was a rhetorical question. Don't be such a nerd."
We decided on various questions and topics of discussion for our homework just before the bell rang. We stood up and headed for lunch. As we were at the door, Miss Anthony said, "Poppy", can I see you for a second?"
"We'll go ahead. We'll keep a seat for you at the table," Sarah said.