Title:              My Lost Hero

Author:                     Ebere M. Amala

Title of Book:          The Betrothed

Editors:                     Ebere M. Amala et al

Publisher:                Literaseed

Genre:                       Short Story

Synopsis

This short story recounts the struggles of Nma, a young pretty girl from the village of Alaezi.  Being the first daughter in a family of many children of poor parents, Nma struggles to go through school despite her brilliance. She meets a young man, Gerald, who admires her resilience and promises to see her through her tertiary education.

Nma’s ordeal increases as she loses her aunt who had promised to train her. Nma’s father, on hearing and later seeing the condition of his dead sister’s abandoned corpse suffers a stroke. Nma is left to manage her mother’s petty trading and take care of her siblings while her mother nurses her husband.

Nma’s situation is worsened when Gerald, who has been of immense help, suffers a setback in his job and has to secure another job in a different state. She finally yields to her mother’s pressure to marry Paul, a much older man, but who is willing to help rescue the family from their financial misfortune. Despite his promise to train her in the university, it is not so as she is left to bear children for him. Though financially stable and married with children to a man who has raised the family’s living standard, Nma regrets not marrying Gerald, the love of her life and not acquiring the needed higher education to become a lawyer.

Plot

Exposition:  The story opens with Nma lying beside her husband while she recounts her ordeals in life. The reader is taken down memory lane from Nma’s childhood to her struggles before getting married to Paul whom she doesn’t love, though he bears the in-law’s financial responsibilities. The reader is made to be aware that the unfortunate experiences and unfulfilled ambition make Nma constantly live in regret.

Complication / Conflict:

Conflict arises when Aunty Kate, Nma’s aunt, who promises to train Nma in the university, dies during child-birth, after Nma’s Jamb exam. More complication arises when Nma’s father suffers a stroke on seeing his late younger sister’s corpse after she is abandoned by her husband.

Gerald, a source of help to Nma has a problem in the pharmaceutical company where he works and relocates to another city to secure a job.

Climax: Nma is convinced by her mother to marry Paul who she does not love and who is much older than her, but can help them out of their financial difficulties. Paul promises to send her to the university after marriage but fails in his promise.

Falling Action

Although Nma’s father suffers a second spell of stroke and dies, Paul single- handedly handles the burial expenses. He further sends one of Nma’s younger brothers overseas. The latter finds his feet after a few years and begins to train his younger ones and invites Nma’s mum occasionally to the United States for visits.

Resolution: Nma’s family is lifted out of poverty as a result of Nma’s marriage  to a wealthy man.

Setting in place: The story is set in Alaezi, a village in Nigeria.

Setting in Time: It is a contemporary story as the events that shape the storyline occur in reality. Poverty is still a deciding factor in the choice of marriage partners, in contemporary Nigerian society.

Themes

Unfulfilled Dream

Nma’s dream of going to the university to study law in order to defend the cause of women is dashed by a number of factors, namely; the death of her aunt, Gerald’s loss of job and relocation to another city, her family’s financial woes. She also loses the love of her life and helper, Gerald, when he loses his job in the pharmaceutical company and has to relocate to another state, where he secures a job. Thus, her hope of getting married to Gerald  eventually is squashed.

Poverty: The story explores poverty as an underlying factor in Nma’s and her family’s  predicaments. Nma cannot be trained in the university because her parents are poor. This poverty leads her mother to coax her to marry a much older man who Nma does not love, to save the family from the financial mess.

Family Love/Honour: It is the love that Nma has for her family that drives her into agreeing to marry Paul so that he can foot the father’s medical bills as well as help in taking care of the family.