Sally Whitmore answers “What is an ogbanje? I am only 40 pages in...”

Stephanie asked this question about Freshwater:

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?

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 thin…morethink 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.(less)

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