SETTING ANALYSIS OF ‘HIS MOTHER’S BLOOD’ BY OBIORA UDEGUNAM

The novel is set in Ozalla, a non fictitious village in the Eastern region of Nigeria. Ozalla is situated in Nkanu, Enugu, Nigeria. A serene environment nearly untouched by modernization. Yes, there is a car that knocks Ndubisi’s mother down and a hospital she is rushed to. Such could be a sign of a little modernization but certain traditional practices they are skewed in, could portend civilization was yet to fully visit Ozalla.

Yet, a snake- infested environment as it is beleaguered with by bushes where children exercise their hunting skills; Ndubisi is most unfortunate to have endured snake bites on a regular interval. The author puts;

 “They had pursued a squirrel to the bush and now it had turned bad. Ndubisi was down with a snake bite” (Chapter 1, line 2&3). And on the second occasion;

“Ndubisi was the first to dig, it turned out to be a lengthier tunnel than they had estimated. And it widened as it got deeper. “Be careful”, the boys kept reminding him …At a point, Ndubisi bent and poked his left hand into the tunnel…..You can get bitten that way….Ndubisi insisted there was nothing to worry about. He bent again and poked in a hand…On the third occasion, he snatched it back violently. He announced that something had bitten him. He sat back and started examining his pricked finger”. This is evident in Chapter 3, line 57 to 72.

 It is a village where people live a very simple lifestyle and the communal relationship that binds them defines the ‘communal love’ of those days’. Activities that are mentioned, define the time setting to be that moment that people of Ozalla were exceedingly living in peace and harmony in the absence of urban obligations. When festivals such as New Yam Festival was highly regarded. Natives of such land usually travel from the city to mark it. In Ozalla, the Afor arena becomes crowded as many people from far and wide will have to come and grace the occasion (New Yam Festival). Such was the moment that Ginika who is now Ndubisi’s mother arrived from Onitsha where Job of Feast had his furniture training to visit him. As the author tells through flashback;

“A moment later they were strolling down towards the Afor arena where an acrobatic group was performing ….He located her in the crowd and made introductions”.

Ozalla could also be assumed a helpless environment. How people get in and out of crime could be nauseating. For instance, when Nwafor stabs Evangelist Gabriel, if it were in a community where security is tight and law highly enforced, a single man would not be bold to commit such a bestial act. And when he (Nwafor) and his bicycle got knocked down by a hit-and-run driver. Though, he might be serving a comeuppance; paying for his murder of Gabriel, the driver was not permitted to kill him either. Bushes surround every house such that evils can be easily buried. This is evident in the murder of Gabriel. The author puts;

“Nwafor wrestled him down again and worked on him until the back was fully pinned to the ground. Nwafor then started stabbing..It was the bloody knife that later helped Ozalla people connect him with the murder of Angel Gabriel. It was strapped on his body, which was discovered in the roadside bush”(Chapter Six).

Subsequently, Nwafor equally gave up the ghost in a roadside bush after involving in a motorcar accident.

Women are assumed to dominate Christian religion as during the evangelism; they are seen parading alone while the men hide in watch. Hence, the people practise more than one religion as Job of Feast as fondly called by his wife, Ndubisi’s father, is still a loyal son to the ancestors. Not a surprise, as his own father, Nwafor once nursed hatred towards Gabriel who had always wakened him by an early morning-preaching. This is evident thus:

“And I should go to bed eh?...Nwafor clenched and unclenched his fists, and staggered back to the bed… He still wondered why the early morning preaching could not be concluded except it had been brought to Nwafor’s ear” At the hearing of voice, he would always grimace.

Between the living and great beyond, there is intermediary; Achukwu the night masquerades would always visit by the time the spirit beings are offended or maybe when there’s an urgent message to be conveyed across to the people. The author puts;

“Achukwu finally got to the edge of Job of feast’s compound and stopped. The Ogene stopped too. And the stifled voice of the leader masquerades rose in greetings to the house”. That moment the gods remember Job of feast.

The author mentions some minor settings such as Kano, Port Harcourt as well as Onitsha thereby expounding the development of the story by narrating some of the characters’ past life. Kaliki and Steve for instance. Steve once had worked in Port Harcourt before his transfer to Ozalla, Job of Feast had equally once sojourned in Kano during the Kano riot. He returned to Ozalla then Onitsha where he obtained his furniture training. Ifite where Kate hails from which is also a neigbouring village to Ozalla and so on.

 The author adopts this approach, the use of both minor and major settings which enables him to create a ‘world’ from a bricolage of the characters respective past and present life. The use of these various settings brings about the multitudinous characters in the novel. The single story he is expected to tell by the appearance of the title, ‘His Mother’s Blood’ could be surmised as a ‘tight love-bond’ between a mother and a son but he has rather killed a thousand birds with a single stone.

Ozalla is almost a complete peaceful village only the attacks from snake and august visit of the Masquerades which interrupts the joy of Job of Feast’s house especially, though sometimes, Ndubisi’s stubbornness has caused it. There is the Afor Market where the people buy and sell to define the sociability of Ozalla. Plus other shared responsibilities, the people survive even among some distinct beliefs.

It is yet a community that houses dauntless personality, that society where even a child dares the den of a lion. The masquerades visit should be a kind of burgundy to children but they would rather familiarize with them more than adults. Imagine the visit of the Ogene Masquerades and Achukwu to Job of Feast’s house. Spirit beings said to have come from the land of the dead to visit the living-such could arouse a great horror in the heart of the civilized child/adult.

Children dare the heart of any bush or forest at the sight of any animal. Ndubisi, Osita, Nnamdi, Nduka etc are in this category.