Our Sister Killjoy

Marija is a young, white, Bavarian mother who befriends Sissie while she is doing a volunteer program in a small German town. Marija has one son, a boy called Adolf, and a husband, also called Adolf. This name is a reference to Germany’s complicated relationship with its recent history: In the 1960s, the country was reckoning with its responsibility for the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler’s leadership. In her role as a mother and housewife, Marija is an almost stereotypical representation of a German woman in the 1960s. She wants Sissie to love Germany, begging her to visit Munich and constantly showing her affection by feeding Sissie typical German foods. 

Although she seems at first glance to fit into her cultural context, Marija is unusual because she is more vocally accepting of, and friendly toward, people of color than most people around her. She is also unusual because she develops and acts on romantic feelings for Sissie, and because she is not always enthusiastic about being a mother. She is a very lonely character, experiencing The Effects of Isolation and Alienation, which make her want to reach out to Sissie. The two characters are foils: Although their backgrounds could not be more different, they are both alienated from the expectations of their cultural contexts. Marija is unable to fully embody the expectations placed on her as a German housewife and mother. She seems thoroughly uninterested at times in both her child and her husband. Similarly, Sissie chafes against expectations placed on her both as a woman and as someone from Africa. 

Only Sissie is able to resolve this tension toward the end of the story, as Marija disappears from the narrative, leaving readers uncertain whether her loneliness will ever end. The two women never fully recognize the similarities between them, and even during their friendship, Sissie is never truly able to expel Marija’s loneliness. Although Sissie is intrigued by Marija, she always keeps her at arm’s length. She also develops feelings for Marija but is not willing to express them. She does not tell Marija she is leaving until the last minute, which Marija finds very hurtful. Although Sissie has hurt her, Marija gives her food as a parting gift and kisses her on the cheek.

Kunle is the relative of one of Sissie’s friends. He is from an unspecified part of West Africa, but he has been living in London for the past seven years. Kunle is the epitome of Hypocrisy and Shame in Sissie’s eyes. He refuses to return home because the pressure to take care of his family and to have accomplished enough to justify his time abroad is too great.

Kunle also praises the white South African doctor who performs the first successful heart transplants. He sees these transplants as not just an extraordinary step forward in medicine, but also as having the potential to end racism. Sissie never fully understands how, exactly, he thinks that heart transplants will liberate the people of Africa, and she thoroughly disagrees with his assessment. When he dies in a car crash and does not have his heart used in a transplant, Sissie reinforces his hypocrisy and her disgust at his adoration of European accomplishments.

Kunle has a very different relationship to Post-Colonial African Identity than Sissie does. He thinks of himself as progressive and well-informed, which is why he finds Sissie’s angry dismissal of his views so frustrating and confronting. Kunle has accepted a lot of European ideas about Africa, seemingly without questioning them. He and his unnamed relative are uninterested in talking about the Biafran War because they see Africa as a site of unending and ultimately unremarkable tragedy. He has also internalized the idea that European standards are the best in the world, and that the best way for Africans to get a seat at the table is to play by European rules and to prove that they can be just as good as Europeans. Sissie disagrees fundamentally with his way of looking at things. She thinks it is a symptom of a colonial mindset to see European culture as the default or the highest standard. Instead, she thinks African countries should shift their focus to their own people and their own struggles.