Nene Atang Character Analysis

Nnaemeka’s fiancée. At the beginning of the story, Nene is eager to for Nnaemeka to share the news of their engagement with his father, Okeke, believing that the man will be thrilled. Her naivete, however, does not allow her to anticipate Okeke’s firm resistance to their marriage. As a woman who grew up in the cosmopolitan culture of Lagos, Nene struggles to grasp the different norms and ideas that govern rural life, and has trouble understanding how sidestepping these conventions in a community that so greatly values tradition can be a serious offense. Thus, she urges her husband to talk to his father, convinced and optimistic that Okeke’s love for his son will supersede any anger and disappointment. Nevertheless, she must grapple with the fact that her ethnic identity and role as a teacher are enough to disqualify her as a suitable wife for Nnaemeka when she realizes that Okeke has harshly cut her out of her own wedding picture. This does not stop her from trying to win him and others over, which speaks to her persistence. She eventually wins over the Ibo community in Lagos by showing how capable of a wife she is, and people begin to respect how happy her marriage is as well. In her persistence, she sends a letter to Okeke about what his absence in her son’s (his grandchildren’s) lives are costing them as a family, a move that points to an eventual resolution within the family.