Question

The main theme from the short story My Father’s head by Okwiri Oduor

Answer 1

Okwiri Oduor’s My Father’s Head is of memoirs of her centre figured character Simbi and Simbi’s   remembrance of her father and different tensions characterised by her after the death of him and her dwindled state of mind. She exposes her mental stability and Africans fondness towards food. It stands as a unique piece of writing because unlike other writers she does not manifold African slavery or suppression. She tries to bring out the liveliness and inner bond of relationships between their families. She deals with different types of state of mind from old age homes to the inner feeling of a child. Her reference of foods is dominant in the story. For instance “Every day after work, I bought an ear of street-roasted maize and chewed it one kernel at night…”. While expressing her solitudeness or vacuum created after the death of her father she states “Everyone has people that belong to them”. She unfolds the truth that spirit which we name as ghost is just an illusion created by memories.

Answer 2

The major theme is the theme of traditions and superstitions.Tradition has been portrayed as the factor hindering development in this society.This does not fall far from our society today.The life style of people in this community revolves around traditional practices.They gather together to carry out rituals on the narrator's sister."The following day the entire village gathered outside our house for yet another ritual meant to cure my sister."As with tradition,smelly feet moves in with the narrator mother after the father go missing."My mother and smelly foot,the man who had moved in with my mother....."

Again superstitions apply most to the villagers.They refer to what is affecting the narrators sister as the 'thing'.There was once ,at least according to the elders,a glimpse of these sangomas healing.The tobacco,meat and matches that had been put in the rondavel for the ancestors to take at night,in one of the many rituals ,were not there by morning ,leading them to believe that the ancestors had healed her .
The narrator mumbles a short prayer to God and to the ancestors every time the thing leaves her sister."Every time i left,I stretched my arms out in all directions ,Mumbled two short prayers,one to God and another to the ancestors...."

When the rituals don't seem to work,the mother to the narrator makes a decision to take the sick daughter to Nkusi."I had heard of how Nkunzi had baked people.He would make fire from cow dung and wood,and once the fire burned red,he would tie the demon possessed person and the person would recover from burns a week later.I had not heard of any one who had died but but i had not heard of anyone who had lived either.