Under the udala trees sparknotes

But the book revolves more on Ijeoma’s life and the repercussions of the war follow as a social commentary in the background.

To be honest, I was expecting more details of the civil war, after being fascinated by the descriptions in Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun. We follow Ijeoma into adulthood and how she succumbs to pressures to live in a country that criminalizes homosexual relationships. Later we see the Bible study classes Ijeoma has with her mother for redemption from the ‘abominable act’ she has committed. She falls in love with Amina and their young love is discovered by the elders. Here she meets Amina, a young girl from a different tribe and religion who will become a turning point in Ijeoma’s life. Nigeria is shaken up by the civil war and so is Ijeoma’s household – her father has died in the war and her mother sends her away to stay as a servant girl in the house of an old friend. Under the Udala Trees is the story of Ijeoma, a young lesbian woman who comes of age in the 1960s. Under the Udala Trees is a coming of age story set in Nigeria in the midst of the civil war of 1960s.