Half of a Yellow Sun

This chapter shifts back to the viewpoint of Ugwu. He is not dead, as is presumed by his loved ones, but he is wounded badly and has been taken to a military medical center. A priest named Father Damian visits with Ugwu, and Ugwu recognizes him and makes him promise to notify Odenigbo of his whereabouts. Within a few days, Richard arrives and drives the wounded Ugwu to a more robust hospital. During his recovery, Ugwu constantly mutters Eberechi’s name while he is passed out.

After recovering a bit more, Ugwu makes it back to Odenigbo and Olanna’s residence. Ugwu is surprised when the couple hugs him, and he spends the first hours of their meeting tearfully relaying his combat experiences. To ease his sorrow, Ugwu takes to writing out his experiences and he notices that his nightmares decrease in correlation with the amount that he writes per day. Ugwu watches Kainene banish a priest from the refugee camp for manipulating young girls into sex, and Ugwu despairs, as he knows his caretakers would despise him if they knew how he had raped a girl. 

One day Harrison is listening to the radio as Colonel Ojukwu is about to make a speech to the Biafran people, but Ugwu wants no part in listening to it. Ugwu steps outside and sees four children pretending they are in combat. On the previous day there had been five children in the group; one has died overnight from starvation. The chapter closes as Ugwu begins digging a grave for the deceased child. 

The chapter opens with the group of Kainene, Olanna, Odenigbo, and Richard enjoying an evening together. Recently, things have returned to a semblance of normalcy, and the four individuals are getting along better. Kainene announces her intention to cross over into Nigeria to collect some necessary supplies, but Odenigbo warns that she should not do something so dangerous. The next day, Kainene stops a crowd from harassing a soldier who has been accused of stealing food rations, says goodbye to Richard, and departs for the border. Richard stays out on business all day, but when he returns, he is upset to find that Kainene is still gone. 

Richard rounds up Olanna and Odenigbo, and they search through the local refugee camp for Kainene; however, they are unable to find her. Two more days come and go, and Richard becomes increasingly upset at Kainene’s absence. Olanna and Richard drive around town and ask passersby if they have seen Kainene, but again their search is fruitless. The chapter ends as Richard breaks down on their drive home; Olanna shouts at him to stop crying, as she maintains Kainene will indeed be returning soon. 

Several days have passed since the events of Chapter 33, and Kainene has still not returned from her trip to Nigeria. Rumors begin to circulate throughout Biafra that Colonel Ojukwu has fled the country, and thus morale amongst the Biafrans is poor. The group continues to search for Kainene, but no new developments occur. Everyone’s world seems to turn upside down when a woman bursts onto Odenigbo’s property and declares that the war is over, as the Biafrans have surrendered. 

The roads to Nigeria are blocked for several days, so, in the meantime, the group prepares to go search for Kainene at the first opportunity. Nigerian soldiers reach the town, but, for the most part, they are respectful and no violent incidents occur. Life begins to return to normal for the locals, as food resources and basic amenities begin to flood back into the town. As soon as the roads to Nigeria are opened, Richard departs to search for Kainene’s whereabouts, while Odenigbo, Olanna, Baby, and Ugwu travel to their old residence in Nsukka. 

Upon arriving there, the family learns that Odenigbo’s mother has been buried in the yard by a relative. The group progresses further into Nsukka until they are halted by a Nigerian military official, who makes Ugwu and Odenigbo get out and begin performing manual labor. After a little further harassment, the soldier releases the family and the chapter ends.  

This chapter shifts to the viewpoint of Ugwu. The family has entered their old Nsukka residence only to find that it has been completely ransacked during their absence. Most of Odenigbo’s academic documents have been destroyed, and the house is littered with waste. After helping to secure his masters’ house, Ugwu travels back to his home village and visits with his father, who tells his son that his mother passed away during the war as a result of an illness. Ugwu is devastated at this news, and he collapses to the ground. 

Later Ugwu visits with Nnesinachi, who is pregnant with a Hausa soldier’s child. Nnesinachi relays to Ugwu that Anulika was raped by a group of Nigerian soldiers some weeks ago, and this news only serves to further devastate Ugwu. Ugwu eventually returns to Nsukka, though he remains silent as to what he has learned in Opi. He visits Freedom Square where he hears murmurings that the Nigerians have vowed to round up and kill a certain number of the resident scholars of Nsukka. One day someone bangs on the house’s door and Ugwu thinks that it is militants, but it only turns out to be Miss Adebayo. 

Several days later, there is another knock on the door, and Ugwu believes it to be only Miss Adebayo again. Nigerian soldiers burst in and force everyone present to the floor. After eating some food that was left out in the kitchen, the soldiers depart, to everyone’s great relief. A short time later, Ugwu encounters Richard, who makes the comment that Ugwu’s writings are very good. Richard claims that he is going to go search for Kainene in several cities, and that he will be leaving shortly. Ugwu asks Richard to ask around about Eberechi, and Richard affirms that he will. The chapter closes with Ugwu asking Richard if he is currently writing his manuscript, but he claims that he has ceased working on it. 

This chapter utilizes the viewpoint of Richard. It opens with Richard returning to his previous residence in Nsukka, though the woman that currently lives there will not permit him to enter. He passes through Port Harcourt and finds nothing, so he proceeds to Umuahia to ask about Eberechi for Ugwu. He meets a woman there who relays that Eberechi had been killed by an artillery bombardment during the war. He then travels to the Nigerian capital of Lagos to meet with Kainene’s mother and father. 

Madu is staying with Kainene’s parents, and the two begin discussing Kainene. Richard presses Madu as to whether he had romantic feelings for Kainene, and Madu affirms that he did. Richard becomes enraged and so he punches Madu in the face, and Madu promptly knocks Richard to the floor. The two stop fighting, and, as Madu helps Richard up, once again Richard comes to the conclusion that Kainene is dead and he will never find her.  

The final chapter of the book opens with a description of Olanna’s emotional state, which swings between optimism and depression. She makes a fire and uses it to destroy last of the Biafran currency that was lying around the house. Her bank account has been closed by the Nigerian authorities, and thus she is utterly broke at this point. Odenigbo passes the time by delving back into academics, while Olanna spends her days pondering Kainene’s disappearance. 

Olanna tries to find clues to Kainene’s whereabouts in trivial everyday occurrences, but she eventually consults with a local medicine man for his opinion on her situation. Odenigbo says that Olanna is wasting her time with the medicine man, but Olanna is undeterred, as she comes to the conclusion that she will have the opportunity to be with Kainene again in her next life. The novel ends with the words of the dedication located at the beginning of the book The World Was Silent When We Died. It is revealed that Ugwu is the book’s writer, and the book is dedicated to “Master, my good man” (540).