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Dramatic Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Emenike’s Success:
Obinze’s meal with Emenike in Chapter 29 comes wrapped with situational irony. By the time Emenike meets him at the restaurant, Obinze finds a smooth-spoken man scarcely recognizable from the classmate from his memories:
“Oh, I think he’ll like it,” Emenike said. Self-satisfaction, that was the difference in him. He was married to a British woman, lived in a British home, worked at a British job, traveled on a British passport, said “exercise” to refer to a mental rather than a physical activity. He had longed for this life, and never quite believed he would have it. Now his backbone was stiff with self-satisfaction. He was sated. In the restaurant in Kensington, a candle glowed on the table, and the blond waiter, who seemed too tall and handsome to be a waiter, served tiny bowls of what looked like green jelly.
Urbane and polished, Emenike has dramatically remade his former self—succeeded beyond even his wildest expectations. At school, Emenike's classmates used to treat him condescendingly, humoring his pathetic fictions and imaginings. He “made up stories of rich parents that everyone knew he didn’t have, so immersed in his need to invent a life that was not his.” He would stroke Kayode’s Swiss leather shoes, imagine applying for a visa, and speak of family members who are “making it” abroad. Now, every one of his dreams has come to to fruition. The “sharp,” shameless social striver has almost willed his fortunes to change in exactly the way he had hoped for. He inflects his every word with “self-satisfaction,” married a wealthy White woman, and worked himself right into Britain’s upper classes. The school outcast has become a British success story just as Obinze finds himself sliding in the opposite direction.
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