Apollo

“Apollo” is a short story by the Nigerian-born author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. First published in The New Yorker on April 15, 2015, the story centers on a young Nigerian man, Okenwa, as a chance conversation with his aging parents launches him into memories of his first childhood crush and the devastating betrayal that followed. Its themes include The Heartbreak of First Love; The Different Forms of Guilt; Perception, Transformation, and Loss of Innocence; and Class Differences and Cross-Class Relationships.

A critically acclaimed author with multiple degrees and awards, Adichie grew up during the tumultuous period following the Nigerian Civil War, and her parents both worked at the University of Nigeria. Adichie’s works tend to explore themes of family and relationships, transformation and change, the power of storytelling, and cultural identity in the wake of colonialism and civil war.

This guide refers to the version published in The New Yorker; all citations correspond to paragraphs.

Content Warning: This study guide references anti-LGBT bias and persecution.

Told through a first-person point of view, the story begins with the narrator, Okenwa, explaining that he visits his elderly parents twice a month in their hometown of Enugu. His parents were formerly university professors but are now retired and in their late eighties. Despite being very rational and intellectual when they were younger, in their old age they have become much more superstitious and almost childlike. They watch Animal Planet with simple wonder and repeat fantastical rumors and theories they would once have “scoffed at” as facts. They also ask when Okenwa is going to introduce them to a girlfriend or give them a grandchild, but Okenwa cannot answer their questions. He worries that one of his parents will die each time he leaves them, and he reflects that if he did have a family, he would probably not visit his parents as much because he would not feel he needed to make up anything to them.

One day when his parents are discussing a recent rise in robberies, his mother mentions an incident in which a vigilante mob attacked a group of thieves. Okenwa expects her story to take a wild turn into the fantastical, but instead she reveals that the ringleader of the thieves was one of their former houseboys, Raphael. This stuns Okenwa and sends him spiraling back into long-buried memories.

The story flashes back to Okenwa’s childhood. Both of his parents are vibrant intellectuals and avid readers, and they try to instill the same love of books and learning in Okenwa. However, he is never particularly interested in books, and he simply repeats what he knows they want him to say whenever they put him on the spot. Nevertheless, he constantly fears he is disappointing them and “sometimes [feels] like an interloper in [their] house” (14). His parents—particularly his mother—also hold their hired houseboys to almost tyrannical standards; because of this, the houseboys always walk on eggshells to avoid the wrath of “Madam.”

Okenwa loves kung fu movies and is imitating Bruce Lee one day when the current houseboy, Raphael, spots him. Okenwa expects that Raphael will scold him for making a mess, but Raphael reveals that he too is a fan of Bruce Lee. Throughout the following weeks, Okenwa and Raphael develop an increasingly close friendship that goes unnoticed by Okenwa’s parents. They practice kung fu and watch Bruce Lee films together, and Okenwa looks up to Raphael as a wise mentor figure. His admiration for Raphael quickly turns into romantic attraction, though Okenwa does not seem to fully understand these new feelings.

One day, Okenwa’s parents notice that Raphael’s eyes are red, and they conclude that he has come down with conjunctivitis, colloquially referred to as “Apollo.” Because Apollo is extremely contagious, they quarantine Raphael in his room and forbid Okenwa from going near him. Okenwa’s father provides Raphael with eye drops but leaves Raphael to administer them himself. Later that evening, Okenwa sneaks into Raphael’s room to check on him, and Raphael confesses that he doesn’t dare put the eye drops in his own eyes. Okenwa offers to do it for him, and as he does, the boys share a moment of tender closeness.

Okenwa secretly returns to Raphael’s room every day to administer the eye drops, and their relationship reaches a new level of emotional intimacy. Eventually, to Okenwa’s regret, Raphael’s Apollo clears up. However, not long afterward, Okenwa himself comes down with Apollo. His mother blames Raphael for bringing it into the house, though Okenwa lies and says he got it from one of his classmates. Okenwa’s parents confine him to his room, but unlike with Raphael, they go out of their way to provide him with every convenience. Okenwa is uncomfortable with their attention: He “hope[s] they [will] not drag an armchair into [his] room, as they did every time [he] was sick with malaria, when […] [he] would will [him]self to get well quickly, to free them” (67).

While recovering, Okenwa longs for Raphael to visit him despite knowing his mother has forbidden it. He reasons that Raphael owes it to him after the way Okenwa took care of him. However, Raphael never comes. When Okenwa’s parents leave the house one day, he takes that opportunity to sneak downstairs to find Raphael. When he does, he discovers Raphael talking to a girl named Josephine, who works for one of their neighbors. The two of them are flirting, and Okenwa realizes that Raphael is more interested in her than in him.

Furious and betrayed, Okenwa orders Raphael to fetch him food, but his attempt at exerting authority only makes him look foolish. After Josephine leaves, he demands to know why Raphael never visited him, to which Raphael responds that he wasn’t allowed and apologizes for giving him Apollo. As Okenwa turns away in anger, he slips and falls just as his parents are returning to the house. Impulsively, Okenwa tells them that Raphael pushed him. He does not take back this lie, and his parents fire Raphael on the spot.