The novel mirrors the real life of the people of Nigeria as the characters are subjected to a number of forms of subjugation.
-While staying with Aunty Ifeoma in Nsukka, Jaja and Kambili experience a heat wave without electricity to power any type of air conditioning. Except for the elite of the country, a class the wealthy Eugene most definitely belongs to, Nigerians are often are forced to go without modern necessities.
-Aunty Ifeoma contends with a lack of an adequate fuel supply.Midway through the novel, Obiora asks “‘Will the fuel make it, Mom?’” (Adichie 132). A woman then stops her car and walks towards Ifeoma’s to say that her “…My own car stopped near Easter Shop yesterday…My son sucked one liter from my husband’s car this morning, just so I can get to the market. O di egwu. I hope fuel comes soon”(133).
-Another scene sees Kambili remarking on spoiled meat from Aunt Ifeoma’s freezer due to frequent electricity outages. “‘So much wasted meat,’” Kambili says (246).Ifeoma responds: “Wasted, kwa? I will boil it well with spices and cook away the spoilage’” (246). Not only is Ifeoma used to an unreliable power supply, but she is also used to living with a scarcity of food. As well, the Nigeria she lives in suffers from a “poor supply of potable water” (Okuyade 251).
