Language

It is important to note the significance of the English language that it has in the story, and how infatuated Chike becomes with learning the language despite not knowing what most of it even means. He studies the dictionary and is fascinated by big words like “periwinkle” (829) which he has no idea what the meaning is, but just more excited about the sounding of the word and we can see that in the end when he turns it into a song. Chike takes much relation to upbringing in that sense, because he was brought up 'in the ways of a white man' and although he went to a religious school, he was still able to comprehend "the mysteries of white man's learning" (829). Chike knew that the world was going towards the English language, and so he did have some struggles with his native background, but nonetheless he still managed to learn and make the best of the new language.