Afterlives

Afiya is the younger sister of Ilyas. Only 10 years old when she enters the story, Afiya is an orphan who was delivered by her dying father to an aunt and uncle. Afiya’s life reflects the novel’s thematic preoccupation with The Subordination of Women. Her early years leave her at the mercy of men. She is abused by her uncle and sexually harassed by her male cousin, and only finds reprieve through the rescue efforts of other men: first her brother Ilyas, and then Khalifa.

Afiya’s life changes dramatically from the moment her brother takes her to Tanga. She learns to read and write and acquires many friends among the girls of the community. After being rescued by Khalifa, she is treated with love and respect by her adoptive family. However, Afiya encounters difficulties again as she becomes a young woman. Asha becomes very controlling and strict with Afiya’s behavior, forcing Afiya to conform to the standards of modesty expected by their patriarchal society. Afiya also comes under intense pressure to marry, receiving Asha’s disapproval when Afiya turns down marriage proposals.

In her relationship with Hamza, Afiya defies social conventions by taking the initiative. She contrives a way to visit him in his room in secret, where she confesses her love to him and even sexually consummates their relationship. When Hamza proposes, she insists on the wedding taking place immediately. In this way, Afiya succeeds in exercising greater agency in her own life. As she matures as a wife and mother, she grows in confidence and becomes the household’s competent matriarch after Asha’s death.

Though he is central to the narrative, Hamza does not appear until Part 2. Initially, the reader receives few details of Hamza’s background. As the narrative progresses, it is revealed that he is not 21 when he joins the askari, as he said, but only 17. He signs up for the mercenary group because he has nowhere else to go after escaping from a life of slavery.

Quiet and withdrawn, Hamza becomes the subject of the abuse meted out by the German officers and the Tanzanian soldiers alike. During the war years, Hamza loyally remains with his unit of the askari, managing to avoid direct combat even as the unit is decimated. His experiences of discrimination and abuse reflect The Oppression of Colonized People. As the conflict grows worse for the German side, Hamza endures increasing deprivation as well as increasing persecution from the Feldwebel, the irrational German sergeant who hates all the askari and particularly Hamza. Finally, during an irrational outburst, the Feldwebel slashes Hamza’s hip with his saber, a potentially mortal blow. When the lieutenant delivers the desperately wounded Hamza to a missionary doctor, he explains why he is so invested in Hamza’s welfare: Hamza reminds the lieutenant of his younger brother who died in combat.

Arriving penniless in Tanga, Hamza lands a job with Nassor working under the supervision of Khalifa. Both Nassor and Khalifa work to improve Hamza’s economic and social standing. Khalifa makes certain that Hamza and Afiya encounter one another casually, anticipating they may be a perfect match. When their feelings are revealed, Khalifa counsels Hamza not to wait too long to propose. Their relationship is one of the few lasting, fulfilling ones in the novel.

Hamza grows in his skills, social graces, and confidence, becoming an astute craftsman and dependable husband. By the novel’s closing chapters, he has become the head of the household, ensuring that Khalifa can continue living in the house and becoming even more successful in his career. His efforts also help Afiya at last learn the fate of her brother.

Asha is Khalifa’s wife. She is the niece of Amur and Nassor’s cousin. She is significant to the narrative in that she experiences multiple examples of The Subordination of Women. When her father and mother die, as their only child, the house they lived in should belong to Asha. Her uncle, however, claims the right to it because of loans that Asha’s father accepted from Amur and could not repay. Seizing his brother’s property, Asha realizes, has been Amur’s intent from the beginning.

Not only is Asha’s house not her property, but she is also treated like her uncle’s property. Amur arranges the marriage between Asha and Khalifa without her consent—she does not even meet Khalifa until after the marriage has already taken place. As a woman in a deeply conservative and patriarchal society, Asha is powerless to choose her own fate.  

Asha accepts Afiya and raises her as if she were her own daughter. As Afiya grows into womanhood, Asha becomes more controlling of her behavior and becomes determined to arrange a marriage for her. In behaving in this manner, Asha represents the ways in which The Subordination of Women manifests itself both in external constraints and in internalized behavioral norms. While Afiya suspects that Asha is jealous of her, they do eventually find common ground again once Asha nurses Afiya back to health after a miscarriage. Just as Hamza eventually takes over from Khalifa as the household patriarch, so too does Afiya replace Asha as the matriarch after Asha’s death. The greater freedom and agency Afiya exercises in her own life in comparison to Asha suggests that things may be changing, slowly but surely, from one generation of Tanzanian women to the next.