44 pages • 1 hour read
Imbolo MbueHow Beautiful We Were
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary: “The Children”
The children imagine future songs about the day they defeated the soldiers. The fathers convinced Woja Beki to lie by threatening his family. As the children walk to school, they pass Jakani and Sakani’s hut, which they’ve been instructed never to look at. One twin was born with his right eye shut and the other his left. When Jakani started to hear voices and Sakani began to fix his playmates’ wounds, people knew they were special. They’ve always lived together, and rumors circulate about what they do in their hut; however, the children suspect they are more like mother and child than lovers. The children believe that Sakani gave their fathers a pre-battle potion and Jakani had the Spirit imbue them with fearlessness.
In class, the children know Teacher Penda is lying as he tells them how smart government officials are. Teacher Penda has taught the children some English. One time, a child yelled “hello, man” to a Pexton overseer; to the other kids’ surprise, the American man responded kindly. This only made the children more confused about the humanity of Pexton non-local employees: “How could they be happy when we were dying for their sake? Why wouldn’t they ask their friends at Pexton to stop killing us? Was it possible they knew nothing of our plight?” (72). The children go to Lusaka’s house to hear the hostages cry. Their mothers deliver food for the hostages and dream of spitting on their faces.
The government told the children’s grandparents that Pexton wouldn’t be in Kosawa for long and that Kosawa would become prosperous. The children’s grandfathers didn’t take the jobs that Pexton offered because they liked their lives; by the time the children’s fathers tried to get jobs, Pexton claimed there were none. Laborers came from faraway places; they built fancy houses above Kosawa and have access to better resources. Once, a father from Kosawa asked to bring his child to the laborers’ doctor, but “The Leader shook his head and said that it was best to keep the children separated—why confuse them about how the world works?” (75). The laborers repeat Pexton’s propaganda, becoming enemies to the people of Kosawa.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Bongo”
Bongo is burdened by his role as Yaya’s only son and the man of the house. He often thinks of what his brother Malabo would do in a situation. Death colors even the most beautiful thoughts: When Lusaka’s daughter Wanja approaches Bongo’s hut, he finds her beautiful, but then thinks of childbirth, which makes him think of dead children. After the uprising, Bongo became the new leader because of his commitment to the community; he longs to make Kosawa a clean, safe place for all children. Lusaka tells Bongo that the Sick One is dying. This news derails Bongo’s plan, which was to keep the men hostage until they told him the name of someone in Bezam who could help and then have the twins wipe the Pexton men’s memories of the event. The Leader has refused to eat or defecate since being taken hostage. The Sick One, whose name is Kumbum, begs to go home and tells Bongo that his nephew Austin is a journalist who can get Kosawa’s story to America.
The men bring the Sick One to Woja Beki’s house while they go to Bezam to find Austin. They know that Woja Beki will do anything in his power to keep the Sick One alive so that his reputation is not ruined. However, Konga warns that the men will fail to get help in Bezam—they are the only ones who can free themselves. On the bus, Bongo remembers Malabo acting as Bongo’s father figure growing up because their father was so sad. The first time they saw their father truly happy was when Thula was born.
As Bongo, the only one of the three who speaks English, talks to Austin, he realizes that the Pexton men have not been reported missing yet. Austin asks the trio many questions and promises to write up their story. He also agrees to come to Kosawa to take photos and write a longer article.
Chapters 3-4 Analysis
As Kosawa navigates the first major uprising against Pexton, the relationship between realism, oppression, and hopefulness is explored as the novel introduces the theme of Protest and Rebellion. Kosawa is filled with newfound hope as its people seek help from the systems that oppress them, namely officials in Bezam and Americans. Socially inferior outsider figures Tonka and Konga offer realistic perspectives, explaining how naive the villagers are “like people who were dropped from the sky and landed in this country only yesterday” (94). Tonka has a nihilistic and resigned point of view: “No one in Bezam cares about villagers like you, okay?” (94). Konga, meanwhile, believes that “we are the only ones who can free ourselves” (102)—a daunting but empowering message. The people of Kosawa are so desperate for change that these views are ignored. As villagers figure out who their real enemies are and who can and will help them, they make several mistakes: Not only do they reject Konga’s ideas, but they also hold out hope that government officials and far-away Americans could be potential sources of aid.
Throughout these chapters, the US is seen as a revered symbol of hope—an ironic twist on the damage done by American resource-extraction companies during the period of Neocolonialism and Foreign Aid that the novel depicts. English is the country’s lingua franca, or adopted language of choice, even though it is not a native African language: The children are overjoyed to get the attention of an American overseer by speaking English; likewise, when Bongo, Lusaka, and Tunis arrive in Bezam, a bodyguard treats them poorly until they reveal their relationship to Austin—a relationship they can only cultivate because Bongo speaks English. As Bongo interrogates the Pexton hostages, America is lauded as a morally superior country: While Kosawa’s country is a pitiless place where one can “lie on your belly and crawl from one end of it to the other and cry all the tears you have in your eyes and nothing will change for you” (95), the Sick One claims that “American people like to hear stories of what’s happening in faraway places” (97). This vision of the US is just as misleading as the promises of wealth when Pexton first came to the village; however, US soft propaganda in the form of pop culture and export goods is as inescapable as the lies Pexton tells its employees about Kosawa residents. The villagers firmly believe that getting their story to America will be their ticket to freedom.
The novel explores the role that gender expectations and norms play in Kosawa society through the character of Thula, who is uninterested in the games her peers play pretending to be mothers. Similarly, her physicality does not conform to Kosawa’s beauty standards—she is much thinner than is considered traditionally attractive for African women, linking her to the Western values she will eventually espouse by seeking higher education. While Austin’s long hair, skin, and clothing also do not conform to Kosawa’s standards for male appearance, he is judged less harshly because he is an American.
As the novel progresses, the psychological similarities between Thula, her father, and her grandfather become increasingly apparent, furthering the theme of Grief and Intergenerational Trauma. Bongo recalls asking Malabo why he did so many things for other people rather than enjoying himself: “Malabo had laughed and said that if everyone only did what they ought to do, who would do the things no one thought they had to do? What did enjoyment have to do with duty?” (106). In the wake of her father’s disappearance, Thula is also focused on keeping her family alive rather than searching for pleasure. Like her grandfather, she falls into a deep bout of depression.
