Dream Count

Zikora is another one of the novel’s primary characters. Part 2, titled “Zikora,” traces episodes from Zikora’s storyline. Unlike Chia’s sections, Zikora’s section is written from the third-person limited point of view. This third-person narrator thus inhabits Zikora’s consciousness and describes the narrative world according to her perception of it; but Zikora doesn’t tell her story in her own words. This formal choice enacts Zikora’s separation from herself. In the wake of Kwame’s abandonment, Zikora feels entirely unmoored. She’s not only heartbroken over her lost love, but she starts to question the meaning of her life and to doubt the value of her personhood. The third-person limited perspective used in her section enacts these facets of her emotional and psychological experience and shows how disappointment and heartbreak might influence how the individual sees herself (particularly for women).

Zikora’s storyline primarily focuses on Zikora’s attempts to reconcile with Kwame’s absence and to orient to motherhood. Since Zikora was young, she has wanted to get married and start a family. She doesn’t seek out the ideal partner in her youth, and instead pursues her own educational and vocational ambitions first, assuming that the right might man will come along in the meantime. She moves from Nigeria to the United States, attends law school, and secures a prestigious position at the law firm Watkins Dunn. When the years pass and Zikora is still single, she begins to despair. She even calls Chia when she turns 31 to cry about her seemingly hopeless circumstances. Chia is shocked by Zikora’s despair because “Zikora [is] not a crier” (32). Via Chia’s perspective of Zikora’s situation, the reader gains insight into Zikora’s character: “Zikora crying because she was not married at thirty-one—crying so much she had to blow her nose a few times, choking on her tears, heaving as she spoke—[feels to Chia] like something that happened somewhere else, with other people who [are] not [her] closest friend” (33, 34). Zikora’s rare display of emotion thus underscores how disappointed she feels that her dreams haven’t come true.

For these reasons, Zikora’s sense of self falters when Kwame leaves her, and thus further undermines her hopes for the future. Without Kwame, Zikora can’t imagine raising a child on her own. All through her pregnancy and labor, Zikora stews over her relationship with Kwame and everything she might have done wrong to push him away. Her obsessive thought processes capture how Zikora has defined herself according to her romantic entanglements. Once she lets Kwame go, she is better able to engage with her mom (who’s there at the birth) and with her newborn son. In turn, she realizes that the love she shares with her mom is more precious than what she shared with other men and that she might in turn offer this love to Chidera.

Kadiatou—referred to as Kadi throughout the novel and this guide—is another of the novel’s main characters. Part 3, “Kadiatou,” follows Kadi’s storyline from her childhood in Nigeria through her adult life in America in the narrative present. As is true of Zikora’s section, Kadi’s section is written from the third-person limited point of view. This narrative vantage point similarly enacts Kadi’s separation from herself and the difficulties she faces in trying to claim her identity, experience, and voice.

While Kadi is a strong and resilient character, she is also deferential and reserved. These aspects of her character are especially prominent in her childhood. Kadi grows up in a small Nigerian village with her sister Binta. In comparison to Kadi, Binta is effervescent, adventurous, and fearless. Kadi sometimes tries to be like Binta, but she secretly has no interest in attending school, exploring new places, or moving away from her family. What she really wants is to get married and raise a family near her relatives in the place she has known since she was little. Her perspective on her life changes when Binta dies at a young age. Kadi in turn tries to resist her uncle’s arranged marriage for her, but ends up legally bound to a man she didn’t choose anyway. She is pregnant when her husband dies under suspicious circumstances, compelling Kadi to flee to her aunt’s house. In the months and years following, Kadi discovers her own self-possession and strength. She raises her daughter Binta largely on her own and works hard to provide for her.

Despite Kadi’s strong will, she also longs to be loved and taken care of. She therefore agrees to relocate to America when her childhood love Amadou returns to Nigeria and they rekindle their youthful connection. In the United States, Kadi is hopeful that her life will change for the better, but things don’t go according to her dreams. (She struggles to maintain work, Amadou is arrested and imprisoned, and she’s forced to relocate to DC to support herself and Binta.) Then one day, Kadi is raped by a guest at the hotel where she works. This act of violence further disrupts Kadi’s life. She must rely on her friends Chia, Zikora, and Omelogor for help but ultimately she becomes a victim of the American justice system.

As Adichie writes in her author’s note, Kadi’s character and story are inspired by Nafissatou Diallo, “a Guinean immigrant who cleaned rooms at a prestigious hotel in New York City” where she was raped by “a hotel guest” (395). Adichie translated Nafissatou’s story into Kadi’s story to expose the injustices an immigrant woman experienced at the hands of the American legal and justice system.