Ivory Bangles

Plot Summary

Ivory Bangles is the story of a woman who loses her life after an attack by an angry bull elephant. The story unfolds with a flashback that recounts how the woman's husband, who is the chief's councillor, had visited a seer after seeing speckles of blood on the liver of a goat he had slaughtered. The seer had consulted his pebbles, and they said that someone, a wife, would die because the spirits were jealous of a happy wife who had never been molested by her husband since marriage until she became a grandmother. The only way to run away from this fate is by giving her a ritual beating.

The wife claims that this is a trick by the seer since he had wanted to marry her and even promised to put a spell on her. So, she hatches a plan to trick the spirits and make them believe that her husband has beaten her. She was supposed to go to her late parents' homestead, weeping while complaining that her husband had beaten her without any reason. She would then refuse to go back home until members of both their clans reconciled them. Her husband would then pay a fine, and the beer of reconciliation would be drunk. This would, according to her, trick the ancestors into believing that she had been given a ritual beating. 

As planned, she heard rumours about elephants coming down to the plains from the forest. Later, she hears cries from scouts perched on trees saying that six elephants, five cows and one bull had been spotted going down the hill at Sangeyo's. She hurries home from the marketplace and goes to her shamba to do some hoeing, after which she plans to go to her parents' home and execute her plan to trick the spirits. It's here that the bull elephant attacks her and tramples on her, burying her in a shallow grave.  

Episodes 

1. The seer and his prophecy

2. Love 

3. The plan to confuse the spirits 

4. The assault by the bull elephant 

Episode 1: The tribal seer and his prophecy 

• |The chief's councillor visits the tribal seer after seeing specks of blood in the liver of the goat he slaughters
• The seer is a priest of the people--they consult him whenever they are in trouble.
• The seer uses pebbles to foretell the future.
• The pebbles say that someone, a woman, is going to die--the woman in question is the chief's councillor's wife.
• He specifies that her death is a result of jealous spirits that do not like a happy wife who is unmolested until she becomes a grandmother.
• When the councillor knows it's his wife who's supposed to die, he wishes to know what he's supposed to do to prevent her death.
• The pebbles respond that only a thorough beating followed by sending her to her parents would save her. 
• He offers any number of goats instead of a thorough beating for his wife.
• The councillor believes in the seer and refers to him as the mouthpiece of their departed fathers. 
• But his wife brushes aside the seer's prophecy and claims he had once wanted to marry her and promised to put a spell on her. 

Episode 2: Love between the councillor and his wife 

• The councillor and his wife are madly in love despite their old age.
• The councillor shows a readiness to do anything possible to avoid giving his wife a ritual beating.
• He says he's ready to give any number of goats instead of beating her.
• He praises his wife for being a good cook: 'You cook, woman' p.22
• His wife unstraps his sandals and bathes him.
• He refuses to take another wife despite being the chief's councillor. 
• Even when everyone talks about him being monogamous despite being a small chief, he insists on remaining with only one wife.
• The councillor carves twenty-four ivory bangles for his wife after killing an elephant with a poisoned arrow: "A loved woman emblazoned with ivory" p.24 
• They become sexually intimate until they forget that they were supposed to talk about the seer's message. 
• She buys some snuff for the councillor from the market.
• The woman cooks for her husband and carefully covers his food. 

Episode 3: The plan to confuse the spirits 

• The woman plans to make the spirits believe that she was given a ritual beating.
• She, without fearing that her life is on the line, tells her husband the plan to evade the ritual beating, but realizes that he has fallen asleep.
• The next day, she thinks about the plan and how to execute it.
• She was to go to her parents' homestead, weeping and complaining that her husband had beaten her for no reason.
• She was then to stay in her parents' homestead until her clan and her husband's clan met to reconcile them.
• Her husband would then pay a fine, and reconciliation beer would be drunk.
• In her thoughts, this scheme would fool the spirits into allowing their life to continue undisturbed. 

Episode 4: The woman is assaulted by the bull elephant 

• The sighting of the six elephants starts as a rumour.
• Cries from scouts perched on trees are then heard--they escort the elephants out of populated areas.
• At some point, the five cows are separated from the bull: "The five she elephants are now in your banana grove! The bull is on the path coming from the stream" p.25
• The woman hurries home and convinces herself that the elephants are now far away since the cries are fainter.
• When she's done cooking and is hoeing, the bull elephant suddenly appears in her shamba and attacks her.
• It bashes her on trees and banana plants, stamps her repeatedly and leaves her with shattered ivory bangles and blood all over her body, buried in a shallow grave. 

Themes

1. Conflict between animals and humans

The conflict between elephants and the community in the story is not new. It has existed for some time since the councillor had killed an elephant with a poisoned arrow some time back and carved his wife's bangles from the tusks, and gave the other to the chief. Presently, the villagers are armed with poisoned arrows in readiness to attack the elephants. Scouts are perched on trees to avoid direct contact with the elephants. The climax of this conflict is when the bull elephant kills the councillor's wife while she is hoeing in her shamba. 

2. Superstition 

In the story, the characters believe in the cause-and-effect relationship between some natural occurrences. For example, they hold that when specks of blood are sighted on the liver of a slaughtered goat, death is inevitable. When the councillor sees specks of blood in the liver of a goat he slaughters, he goes to consult the seer. These people also believe in the existence of spirits and the ability of spirits to influence worldly occurrences. When the seer informs the councillor that his wife will die, he fears for his wife's life and promises to give anything to appease the spirits. The wife also believes in the existence of spirits and decides to create a scheme to fool the spirits.  

3. Wife molesting/wife battery/domestic violence 

The community in this story promotes violence against women by making ritual beating a requirement for every married woman. Every married woman must be beaten and sent to her parents' home. Leveri's husband beats her "to a fingernail's distance to her grave" p.25.  

4. Culture and tradition

The writer brings out the culture and traditions of the community in the story through the various activities they do. One of the traditions of the community is hereditary chieftaincy. The current chief's father was the chief before his son succeeded him. Another aspect of traditions is polygamy, especially among prominent people. No wonder everyone talks about the councillor for choosing to have only one wife: "...but also much talked about because he had only one wife...whoever heard of a chief with one wife?" p.22.

Customs and traditions also require that whenever a warrior kills an elephant, he is supposed to take one of the tusks to the chief: "I brought you one of the tusks as is the custom: p.23.

Naming ceremonies are also a major aspect of culture in this story. The chief is said to have presented twenty-four ivory bangles to his wife during their son's naming ceremony. 

It's also their culture to appease their ancestors. They believe that when the spirits of their ancestors are unhappy with them, they bring evil upon them. The woman is supposed to be given a ritual beating because the spirits are displeased with the fact that she has never been beaten by her husband during all the years they have stayed together. 

Ritual beatings are another component of their culture. Whenever a man marries a woman, he is supposed to give her a ritual beating and send her to her parents. A fine and reconciliation beer then follows before they make up the relationship. The councillor is supposed to beat his wife and send her to her parents' homestead. However, because of his love for her, he has to find a way around this custom. 

It's also customary for the eldest son to take over the homestead when his parents die. The woman's elder brother takes over his parents' homestead as required by their customs. So, the woman plans to go to her brother, who represents their father.  

5. Love and marriage

The love between the councillor and his wife is very conspicuous. He refuses to marry another wife despite the pressure mounted on him by the chief and his community. He gives a blind ear to those who say a chief's councillor should not have one wife. The love the councillor has for the woman makes him reject the idea of giving her a ritual beating. He tries to convince the seer to look for another way to appease the spirits. When the seer insists that he must just beat his wife, he consults her and, together, they agree to fool the spirits. Another show of love is gifting his wife with twenty-four ivory bangles. Besides, he romantically refers to her as a girl, yet she is an old woman. Appreciating her cooking is another show of love. On her part, she shows him love by unstrapping his sandals, bathing him and rubbing him with a sharp-smelling unguent. Love is also evident when they sit facing each other around the hearth and later have a moment of romance.  

6. The place of women/plight of women

Women in this community are mistreated. They work on all domestic chores, including cooking for their husbands and are beaten instead of being appreciated for their good work. Beating them is a normal thing because the community and the spirits approve of it. The chief's wife faces death because she has never been molested by her husband, and the spirits do not like it. The only way to evade this impending death is by giving her a ritual beating. 

The councillor's son beats his wife, Leveri, to a fingernail's distance to her grave, but no punitive action is taken against her, not even by his parents. The only thing his mother does about it is to wonder why he is not as gentle as his father.  

The councillor's wife attends to all domestic chores alone. She goes to the market to buy all the items she needs to prepare meals, and then cooks for her husband. She tends her crops without her husband's or son's help. It's only a fellow woman, Leveri, who helps, but presently, she can't because she was thoroughly beaten by her husband. So, she is likely nursing the injuries she got from the beating. 

A similar theme is highlighted The Sins of the Fathers, where women and girls are not valued. They cannot inherit property, and their opinions do not count. 

7. Fate/ man vs Fate

The woman fights her fate by trying to fool the spirits, but fails. Her fate is already predetermined, though a way out is prescribed. Her attempt to trick fate by ostensibly weeping and reporting to her brother that her husband had beaten her for no reason fails before it kicks off, and she loses to her fate: death. 

Styles 

Euphemism

The councillor steps out to "relieve himself". This phrase is used instead of "urinating", which would have been rather harsh and offensive. 

Simile

"When it came, it was like an intricate tattoo on a drum" p.23. This simile describes the sudden appearance and disappearance of the sexual urge when the councillor and his wife become intimate. 

Metaphor

The elephant is said to be a dark house. This description draws an image of a huge dark thing; too big for the woman to even imagine fighting back or running away. 

Vivid description

The woman is described as "...tall and still firmly built. As she moved, the twenty-four bangles she wore clanked like many castanets. She was remarkable in them: eight in either hand, four heavy ones on each leg. The ones on her hands were etched with mnemonic marks..." p. 23. This description creates a mental image of the woman's beauty.  

Hyperbole

The councillor's son beats his wife to "a fingernail's distance to her grave". The description of the beating is exaggerated to show how thorough it was. 

Rhetorical questions

"What can I do to avert this?" p.22. The question demonstrates the confusion the councillor faces when he's told that his wife will die if he does not beat her. 

"Dying slowly?" p.23. This question refers to the uncertainty of the cause of the woman's hotness. The councillor doesn't know what makes the woman so hot when she places her hand on his chest. 

Characters and Characterization

The chief's councillor

He is loving and caring. He loves his wife so much that he can't imagine beating her up even when traditions demand so. Gifting his wife twenty-four ivory bangles also shows the love he has for her. 

He is brave because he killed an elephant by himself. 

He is wise. He wisely defends his monogamy before the king using a riddle. 

He is superstitious because he believes in the seer's assertion that not beating his wife would lead to her death. 

He is conservative. He observes the tradition of taking a tusk to the chief whenever one kills an elephant.

He is firm. When he is forced to marry another wife, he does not budge. He defends his position firmly. 

The woman

She is crafty--she tries to trick fate. She comes up with a scheme to fool the spirits into believing that her husband beat her. 

She is intelligent. She knows that her husband has gone to the seer even before he tells her. 

She is caring. She takes care of her husband--she cooks, washes him and even rubs him with unguent. 

Read: A Silent song and interct with Mbane, a blind and lame street beggar, whose life takes a turn when his wealthy preacher brother, Ezekiel, offers him a new path.