Black Sunday

From the start of Black Sunday, Ariyike is bolder and more willing to do what she needs in order to achieve her goals than her twin sister Bibike. In the first chapter, Bibike describes Ariyike by saying she is “the friendlier one. My sister talks to strangers because she likes people, she likes to hear their stories, she likes to make people feel comfortable, welcome” (6). Ariyike would not necessarily agree with this description because she more pessimistically views people than Bibike realizes, thinking people generally are “completely evil and irredeemable” (162) However, Ariyike is still willing to be extroverted because it helps her to achieve her goals. She does this when she auditions for Chill FM and when she goes to see Pastor David after her radio show is cancelled.

Religion plays a huge role in Ariyike’s life and development. She is first drawn to religion before her parents leave, and her knowledge of scripture impresses Dexter enough that he gives her a job (though Pastor David told him to hire her). Later, even Ariyike believes that reconciliation is imminent, suggesting that in embracing her faith more, she has been able to move past her belief that people are beyond redemption.

More than that, however, faith facilitates her ability to accept her own importance in life. While Bibike thinks Ariyike likes to be welcoming, Ariyike eventually realizes that’s not why she is drawn to the church. In her final chapter, she says:

These days, I am more accepting of the fact that I became a Christian to help myself. I am a Christian because I believe I am God’s most important project. This is the foundation of Christianity, it seems to me; to believe that Jesus died to save my soul is to believe that I am important enough, that I am deserving of the highest kind of love and the sacrifice of an innocent (255).

This realization empowers her to stand up to Pastor David, and while she is unsure what the future holds because she lives in a patriarchal society, she demonstrates her belief in herself at the end of the novel.

Andrew is heavily influenced by his father’s departure and the sense of being orphaned permeates his narrative. In his first chapter, Andrew and Peter set out to build a chicken coop so they can earn money, touching on the theme of survival that each of the children feel. Andrew is constantly plagued by the question of who he is without his parents. When he remembers his father saying that “a son of a lion is a lion,” he asks himself, “[a] son of a foolish man who loses all his money to fraudsters is what? A son of a poor man whose wife leaves him is what? A son of a man who runs away, leaving his children with his mother, is what?” (56) This leads him to feel out of control of his own life and destiny.

This sensation further develops when he’s paired with Ricky at school and though he learns to hide it, he is deeply hurt each time his school father calls him a “bastard” (116). Later in the same chapter, Andrew’s guilt for leaving Nadia to be raped by Ricky and the other man manifests in the appearance of his father, Ricky, and Nadia’s father, all dancing in Andrew’s dream. He isn’t able to bring himself to tell them to go away because he has “forgotten how to talk to fathers” (128).

While Andrew never sees his father again, he is able to find some comfort in Stacy after his mother returns. She grounds him and gives him back control by quoting a song. He is in control of his life and has learned to live without his mother—a fact that will not change because she has returned.

Stacy also serves as Andrew’s reminder that as a man, he has certain privileges and is lucky to have his mother back. His life did not change in the same way hers did when her mother left. As a woman, she had to resort to using her body and her sexuality to make money. Andrew’s sisters provided for him.

As the youngest, Peter believes he is the one who becomes the bearer of his family’s hopes for the future. He discovers this when he permanently loses feeling in his right hand and everyone tells him that he will be alright, even if they don’t necessarily believe this. This fact is evident too when his mother requests he accompany her to the market and subsequently reveals all that has happened to her.

Much of Peter’s character also comes out in his chapter “How to Be the Teacher’s Pet.” In this chapter, he reveals to Miss Abigail:

When you are like me, people give you what they have, and you are supposed to be grateful, say thank you, sir, thank you, madam. This is going to be my whole life, isn’t it, being thankful for things other children don’t have to be? (144).

Like his siblings, Peter has been defined by his parents’ departure—not just by himself but by others as well, which is out of his control.

In his final section, Peter reckons with his place in the world. At first, he is angry and only wishes to disappoint his mother and her hopes for reconciliation. From Andrew’s chapter in Part 3, the reader understands that his siblings have forgiven her to some extent, and Peter remains as the last and as the holder of her “most precious unacknowledged hopes” (70). Eventually, he recognizes that it’s not his mother he hates but rather America because that is where she chose to flee. There, she became someone entirely different from the mother he once knew and loved. 

Grandmother is the primary parental figure in the novel after her son and his wife both depart. Her stories permeate the narrative—either as she tells them or as her grandchildren remember them. She also expresses her concern for Ariyike in marrying Pastor David (and even for her Christian beliefs) because she believes the Christian church can be hypocritical, providing continued foreshadowing for Pastor David’s role in facilitating the governor’s affair with Alex.

Pastor David is one of many men in the novel who exploits the twins. Ariyike, however, understands what she is getting into by marrying him. She long hoped to provide for herself and her family, which she can do through the act of marriage. His leadership of the church is emblematic of both the patriarchal and religious themes throughout Black Sunday. He stands in for the hypocrisy Grandmother experienced by allowing politicians to take advantage of young girls. He also plays a major role in Ariyike’s own faith development—and disillusionment.