Table of Contents
READ ALSO: Half of Yellow Sun Summary: Chapters 26-37
Half of a Yellow Sun Summary: Chapter 21
Richard and Olanna wake up the next morning and do not speak about what happened the night before. Richard determines that Kainene will never find out.
That weekend, Richard does not go to Port Harcourt as usual but instead goes to Lagos to attend a memorial for Winston Churchill at the British High Commission.
At that event, he sits with Susan, who tells him that she had an affair with a close friend’s husband, that she has heard about his Nigerian girlfriend, and is generally disparaging things about Nigerians.
Half of a Yellow Sun Summary: Chapter 22
Odenigbo’s mother and Amala come to visit Odenigbo.
His mother is happy about her soon to be grandchild, but Odenigbo and Ugwu are not.
Odenigbo tells his mother that Amala cannot stay at his home because he hopes that Olanna will come back.
Amala tries to induce an abortion of her pregnancy by eating a lot of peppers.
Olanna comes to visit Odenigbo and they have a lover’s spat. She says that Odenigbo must take responsibility for his actions, but he still blames the occurrence on his mother’s machinations.
Ugwu tells Olanna that he did indeed see Odenigbo’s mother put something in Odenigbo’s food as well as rub something on Amala’s body before the incident.
Although, Olanna dismisses what Ugwu has told her as rubbish, she and Odenigbo have sex.
Half a Yellow Sun Summary: Chapter 23
Olanna and Richard decide not to tell anyone what happened between them, but then Olanna tells Odenigbo.
Odenigbo asks Richard not to come by his house again.
Amala gives birth to a baby girl and neither Amala nor Odenigbo’s mother want to keep the child.
Olanna decides that she and Odenigbo will keep the child, much to Olanna’s Mom and Kainene’s consternation.
Richard eventually also tells Kainene what happened between him and Olanna. Kainene tells Olanna that what she did was unforgivable.
Half of a Yellow Sun Summary by Chapter: Chapter 24
It turns out that Richard did not tell Kainene about what happened between him and Olanna voluntarily.
Rather, he ended up telling her because Harrison mentioned the rift between Odenigbo and Richard and Kainene asked more about it.
Of course, Kainene is angry at Richard, and all Richard hopes is that she will not end their relationship.
Olanna, along with Odenigbo, comes to Port Harcourt to seek forgiveness from Kainene. She is not willing to forgive.
In vengence, Kainene burns Richard’s manuscript of The Basket of Hands.
Richard is somewhat relieved by this because he reasons that if Kainene took the time to hurt him, then she would not be ending the relationship.
Chapter 25
The war continues to rage on and supplies in Biafra are low.
Baby gets sick but the antibiotics she needs are unavailable.
Olanna asks her friend Mrs. Muokelu to help her source some, which she does.
Baby stops eating and Olanna and Odenigbo fear that she might die. Eventually Mrs. Muokelu brings Baby some dried egg yolk to eat and Baby loves it.
Olanna then begins going to the relief center to get food, especially the dried egg yolk. Rations are low and its tricky to get what she came for.
The supervisor at the relief center, Okoromadu, recognizes Olanna from before the war and remembers a good deed she did for his mother.
He helps Olanna to get the rations she needs that are not available to others.
One day he gives her a tin of corned beef that gets forcefully stolen from her by a group of five men.
Olanna is emotionally fatigued by the war.
There are a lot of air raids in the area and Olanna lives in constant fear, until one day the futility of it all gets her mad and then she starts to fight back.
Photo credits: HarrySally