Who Fears Death

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2010

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Part 3, Epilogue-Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Epilogue Summary

The narration shifts to the person who has been recording Onye’s story. At first the narrator refuses to leave Onye, but then Onye changes into a tiger, and she runs away. She realizes Onye could escape whenever she wants, but she won’t “Because of what she’d seen during her initiation. She was like a character locked in a story” (379).

The next time the narrator sees her is as they are burying Onye in the sand to be stoned to death. The people taunt her, and the narrator sees “a tall bearded [Nuru] man with a partially burned face, what looked like a severely mangled leg, and only one arm” (379); the narrator is certain it’s Daib based on Onye’s description.

As the rocks begin to hit Onye, a light flows from her and the sand around her body melts. The narrator refuses to say more, though: “Those things are only for those of us who were there, the witnesses” (380). Chaos erupts, and everyone runs away.

The narrator returns with their twin; they had been raised in Chassa as nonbelievers, as their parents believed all of their society was wrong. As they return to the site of Onye’s execution, the narrator’s sister finds herself floating in the air. Soon, they discover that many people had similar new abilities, all given to women: “In the death of herself and her child, Onye gave birth to us all” (381).

The twins remove Onye’s body, take it to the desert, and burn it on a funeral pyre. As they fill the hole, a vulture lands and watches. The narrator reveals at the end that the Seven Rivers Kingdom used to be part of the Kingdom of Sudan.

Chapter 61 Summary: “Peacock”

This chapter is a visual symbol of juju Nsibidi meaning “argument.”

Chapter 62 Summary: “Sola Speaks”

The narration switches to Sola. The Great Book has been rewritten. In the days that follow, the ghosts of the men whom Onye killed began to appear; some became living men again, while others disappeared forever. Sola also reveals that Daib is no longer able to “work the Mystic Points without suffering unheard of pain” (383). The sign of the peacock—the image of Chapter 61—was left scribbled in Onye’s cell; Sola tells the reader that “It means, ‘one is going to take action’” (383). He points out that Onye did die because “something must be written before it can be rewritten,” and points out that Onye would naturally want to live in the world she helped create (383).

Chapter 1 Summary: “Rewritten”

The story shifts to the collective perspective of Sola, Aro, and Najeeba. Onye is in her cell, having just scribbled the peacock, awaiting her execution. The men arrive to take her; Onye throws them back and changes into a Kponyungo. She then torches the cell and the men, then shoots off into the sky. She believes she will find Mwita in the green place and takes off; below her, Okeke, Nuru, and Ewu are together.

Epilogue-Chapter 1 Analyses

The final few chapters of the novel are a rebirth for both the characters and the world. The novel is in part about tearing up the roots of a problematic society; like a wheel, the novel ends by beginning again with Chapter 1. In some ways, we have a hopeful ending: Onye simultaneously dies and does not die by stoning, and we get hope that she may be reunited with Mwita. More importantly, though, she is successful in rewriting the Book, and as she flies she passes over lands where Nuru, Okeke, and Ewu all peacefully coexist. It is interesting and prescient, though, that the novel makes a point to remind us that the change is not immediate, and may not even be fully felt: while this is a novel about fundamental change, it is reminding us that even that kind of change takes time to come into existence and, therefore, requires some patience, and may not even be immediately obvious. This doesn’t make it any less real, however.