Stephanie
asked:
What is an ogbanje? I am only 40 pages in and am confused as to what has actually happened to Ada? on page 19 it says"The air cracked and we remembered. It was the sound ofo ur brothersisters, the children ofo ur mother, the ones who had not come across with us. Ndi otu. Ogbanje." So are they themselves ogbanje? The things inside Ada? How did they get there?
To answer questions about
Freshwater,
please sign up.
Derick Ofodirinwa
An Ogbanje is a reincarnating spirit that causes grief or pain. They're most often children that die stillborn, or children that die before they're married (marriage in Igbo culture makes one 'complete'). This spirit comes through the mother over and over, torturing her and her family. This is the most common understanding.
Ogbanje that don't die the during infancy are believed to grow up to be very attractive and rebellious. Often troubled or troublesome children that will ultimately die early if measures aren't taken. Because of this, many rebellious or vain children are called 'ogbanje'. They're also 'special' children while alive, often having a higher level of spiritual intuition than others. Nobody really knows if a child is Ogbanje unless they pass, and there's a history of pre-mature death in the family.
I haven't read the book so I don't know how it's used in this context but that's the most 'cannon' definition I can give based on Igbo cosmology and thought. I do know that the protagonist is an Ogbanje and has multiple spirits communicating in her which is an interpretation I haven't heard before.
Ogbanje that don't die the during infancy are believed to grow up to be very attractive and rebellious. Often troubled or troublesome children that will ultimately die early if measures aren't taken. Because of this, many rebellious or vain children are called 'ogbanje'. They're also 'special' children while alive, often having a higher level of spiritual intuition than others. Nobody really knows if a child is Ogbanje unless they pass, and there's a history of pre-mature death in the family.
I haven't read the book so I don't know how it's used in this context but that's the most 'cannon' definition I can give based on Igbo cosmology and thought. I do know that the protagonist is an Ogbanje and has multiple spirits communicating in her which is an interpretation I haven't heard before.
Tolani
Here's my answer, as a Nigerian. Ogbanjes are spirits believed to inhabit people and are held responsible for infant deaths. A child suspected to be an ogbanje won't live long and as a result, may bring bad luck and sorrow to their parents. Exorcisms may be performed to get rid of this bad spirit. They are also called repeating children as they are able to reincarnate after dying. For a better context, I suggest reading Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
Catherine Onyemelukwe
Tolani's answer is good. Ogbanje is an Igbo word - Igbo is the majority ethnic group in southeastern Nigeria. An ogbanje belongs to the spirit world and is born as a human but has to go back to the spirit world. There is a totem that the ogbanje hides, usually by burying, which tells them where to come back to when they are reborn. The hold of the ogbanje can be broken if the totem is found and destroyed. My husband had a sibling die as an infant. His father worried that others might be ogbanje, so he took all the children to a dibia (shaman) who declared two were. The dibia found the totems which he destroyed. See my book Breaking Kola: An Inside View of African Customs.
Sally Whitmore
think of the ogbanje as like bad spirits. I don't know if evil is the correct term...she's not posessed in the christian sense of how most people think....but I'd like to think of the ogbanje as dark aspects of her personality that are working to protect the innocent/good/pure version of Ada.
Farther along in the book they explain more how they got there or what they are doing wrong and a bit about these promises they've made.
It seems that there was some error with how the "gates" worked...when they were incarnated they forgot to close some aspect of the gates so they really understood that they weren't just Ada herself (that's my take on it).
But in all, the reader is never clued in to what the gates mean.
Farther along in the book they explain more how they got there or what they are doing wrong and a bit about these promises they've made.
It seems that there was some error with how the "gates" worked...when they were incarnated they forgot to close some aspect of the gates so they really understood that they weren't just Ada herself (that's my take on it).
But in all, the reader is never clued in to what the gates mean.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more