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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—The Hollows:
Eugene feels deeply guilty and responsible about Ade Coker’s torture and death at the hands of the Nigerian military. Because he was the one who published the offending material in The Standard, he walks around like a ghost following Coker’s death:
Weeks after Ade Coker died, the hollows were still carved under Papa’s eyes, and there was a slowness in his movements, as though his legs were too heavy to lift, his hands too heavy to swing.
The metaphor of hollows “carved” under Eugene’s eyes refers to the lasting and visible toll his emotional suffering is taking on his physical body. The choice of the word “carved” suggests permanence and deliberateness, as though he’s scraping the evidence of his guilt and shame into his face himself. The consequences of his actions have physically etched themselves onto his body. This imagery emphasizes the depth of his self-hatred but also points to his impotent fury with the new Nigerian political regime. The hollows under his eyes contain more than just pooled blood from physical exhaustion: they’re full of the psychological weight of his remorse and impotence.
Eugene’s body is rendered almost immobile by the emotional weight of his actions. Adichie extends the metaphor of the heavy bags under his eyes to the rest of his body, which has become too pendulous and painful to move. His movements are labored, as though burdened by an invisible weight. This “slowness” suggests that Eugene’s guilt affects even the most basic aspects of his existence; walking, seeing, eating, sleeping. The slowness of his movement also mirrors the emotional stagnation he experiences, struggling vainly to process Ade Coker’s death and his role in it. This passage reveals a rare moment of vulnerability in Eugene, whose rigid control over his household briefly ebbs away and is replaced by this grieving helplessness.
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