Finding Self: Of Gods, Contestation and Containment

Freshwater, therefore, operates within the spirit realm where gods, goddesses and spirits alike contest not only for the soul of the Ada, the novel’s central human, but also for her body. Theirs is a contest that begins with the name to be given to Ada at birth. Although her second name given during her Christian baptism satisfies church protocol by translating to ‘God answered’, it is her first name, Akwaeke, which translates into the python’s egg; a most rare, treasured and precious item that resonates and invokes the stamp of the ancient gods on the child as theirs. Her life, consequently, is marked for continuous and concurrent dialogue between this world and the other world.

From this perspective, Freshwater is not simply the story of the Ada, but, more so, that of the spirit beings that reside in the human form of the Ada. The Ada being the Ogbanje child born to die and return over and over again, unless her iyi-uwa (the covenant stone binding her to her ndi otu, her ‘brothers and sisters’ in the spirit realm) is severed. Contrary to established Ogbanje protocol, which requires death before puberty, the Ada thrives and the spirit beings clinging to her vagina, womb, shoulder blades and mind are trapped, with an increasing propensity for mischief and a longing for home. They are unable to return as long as their host lives and unwilling (suicide is against the ethics of their patron goddess, Ala) and unable (despite an Asụghara-induced suicide attempt by the Ada) to kill her to channel themselves home, as death is their only key to the gate back home. These vagrant and volatile spirits, thrust into uncharted territory without an operational manual, can only be expected to be disruptive of all norms, ethics and boundaries.