37 pages • 1 hour read
Akwaeke EmeziThe Death of Vivek Oji
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Kavita’s Dowry/Vivek’s Ganesh Charm
In Chapter 2, a third-person narrator describes a young Vivek wearing the jewelry that comprises Kavita’s dowry. This is the first glimpse of Vivek alive. Osita watches Vivek dripping in jewelry, which makes him “hard with desire” (26), an attraction that angers and frightens Osita, who snaps at Vivek to remove the jewelry. In retrospect, Osita wishes he could see Vivek one more time wearing the jewelry, “alive and covered with wealth” (26). This jewelry scene symbolizes Vivek’s willingness to step into his own glory while Osita shrinks away from his desire and identity, even mistreating Vivek in order to avoid his own shame.
Throughout The Death of Vivek Oji, Vivek’s Ganesh charm, which was part of Kavita’s dowry, reappears as a point of connection and a catalyst for the narrative. Since Vivek rarely removed the charm, Kavita fixates on finding it upon Vivek’s death. Osita helps her search, knowing full well that they will not find it. Later, the reader discovers that Osita had pulled the charm from Nnemdi’s dead body and kept it. Throughout Vivek’s death, the charm represents his embrace of his femininity. Osita often recalls it on Vivek’s body as a sign of his beauty and a symbol for Osita’s admiration for him. Upon Vivek’s death, Osita keeps the charm as a remembrance, and he plans to move to a city where he can wear it freely, representing Osita’s final embrace of his sexuality.
Cultural Difference
Cultural difference is pronounced in how the many characters in The Death of Vivek Oji come together. In the beginning of the novel, the reader is told that Kavita is finally let into Osita’s rented room “because she was Indian and angry” (57). Here, Kavita’s cultural difference benefits her. However, in retelling Kavita’s backstory, the anonymous narrator states that Kavita was shunned in her family due to her father’s caste, thus showing the social stigma of multicultural identity and cultural difference. Later, Kavita also grows worried that Vivek will be targeted because he is Igbo—a visible member of the southeastern Nigerian community. However, her neighbor points out that Vivek looks Hausa or Fulani, indicating that Vivek’s multicultural background might actually benefit him socially. Even Juju, Somto, Olunne, and Vivek’s friendship is predicated on a gathering of foreign mothers and their multicultural children.
Vivek’s Hair
Vivek’s hair is a source of both conflict and kinship. From Chapter 7 onwards, Vivek’s hair becomes a polarizing issue among family members. While Mary and Ekene see Vivek’s hair as a sign of illness, Somto and Olunne remark on its beauty. Asking his mother to lather it in coconut oil or plait it, Vivek sees his hair as a point of pride, a link to his true identity. For Osita, seeing Vivek’s long hair tossed across his cheek brings up a surge of attraction, forcing him to look at the spectrum of his sexual desire. The growth and upkeep of Vivek’s hair serves as a timeline of Vivek’s grasping towards a more authentic self, Nnemdi. However, as Vivek embraces his hair, his endangerment increases in proportion to his growing femininity.
Political Unrest
Much of the novel is set amidst the transition of Abacha’s rule to his successor Abdusalam Abubakar in June 1998. Though Abacha had promised democratic rule, in his five-year rule he banned political activity, controlled the press, and created his own private security force. In Chapter 11, Vivek and Chika encounter protests in the wake of Abacha’s death as Vivek returns home from college; this foreshadows Vivek’s own death. The seven o’clock curfew imposed as a result of the election also impedes Vivek’s walks, his one small freedom. Without his walks, Vivek feels caged and insists on sleeping outside in the plumeria tree. Political upheaval also colors Vivek’s first meaningful encounter with childhood peer Tobechukwu in adulthood, who saves Vivek from being injured in the riots. This leads to their sexual encounter at the “boy’s quarters” in Chapter 12.
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