Ukamaka Character Analysis

In "The Shivering," Ukamaka is a graduate student at Princeton who's trying to piece her life back together after a sudden breakup with her boyfriend, Udenna. Ukamaka spent the three years she and Udenna were together shaping her life around his; she planned to live in the city he preferred after she finished school, and she cooked with hot peppers even though she doesn't like them. Udenna insisted that Ukamaka think and behave in ways that met his standards and disregard her own desires, and as such, Ukamaka is lost and alone without his forceful presence in her life. She returns to the Catholic Church following the breakup and struggles to understand how and why God does what he does. She thinks of God as a person with human reasoning.