His Only Wife

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-10

Chapters 11-13

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 11-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 11 Summary

Olivia comes to stay with Afi after her son, Selorm, is born. Afi is glad for Olivia’s help throughout the first 12 months because she does not want a maid to raise Selorm. Olivia’s presence also gives Afi time to work. Meanwhile, Eli, Yaya, and Aunty fall in love with the baby. Richard, Fred, and Cecelia start spending more time at the Accra house, too.

Since Selorm’s birth, Afi has opened her boutique. The business is growing and thriving. Sarah has supported Afi, and she now has five tailors working for her and her own workshop near the boutique. Over time, Afi has begun to “attract the right kind of customers” (236). Wealthy women are attracted to her beaded designs. Afi has even seen copies of her designs throughout the city.

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Meanwhile, Afi continues to stay in contact with Evelyn but remains confused about her friend’s relationship with Richard. Richard is now seeing a woman who works at the local hospital. His mother and family approve of her, and Richard parades her around at public gatherings. During a visit, Evelyn tells Afi that she does not mind Richard’s relationship. She always knew she and Richard could not have a future while Aunty was alive. Besides, she confides in Afi that she has another boyfriend now too. Afi tries to make sense of the dynamic. She still does not like that Eli has not ended his relationship with Muna. She and Eli never discuss the arrangement, but Eli is often away from home. Afi has not brought it up because Eli has let Afi redecorate the house according to her taste. Evelyn reminds her that this is an accomplishment and toasts her for getting the man she wants and setting her own boundaries. Afi silently considers the irony of Evelyn’s toast, given that Evelyn has not accomplished the same things in her relationship. She dismisses these concerns thereafter because she wants to focus on planning Selorm’s upcoming party and convincing Eli to let Selorm and Ivy meet.

Chapter 12 Summary

Afi and Eli host a lavish party for Selorm’s birthday including live music, photography, clowns, animals, and catering. Friends and family attend. Eli and his brothers take charge and make sure everything is in order. Afi realizes there is little for her to do, puts Selorm in Olivia’s care, and goes upstairs to get ready. She chooses the outfit Evelyn gave her for Selorm to wear. She wishes Evelyn could be there but understands that she cannot attend given her dynamic with Richard. Afi reflects on their last conversation while getting dressed. They talked about Ivy and Muna. Evelyn was critical of the situation, but Afi has come to understand Eli’s love for his daughter.

At the party, Afi catches up with Fred, Cecelia, Chris, Ade, and the other guests. Everyone congratulates Afi on her boutique’s success and her ability to balance business and family. When Mawusi arrives, she and Afi discuss Mawusi’s relationship with Yao. Mawusi hopes to get married soon and asks Afi if she is still planning to have a traditional wedding. She thinks the ceremony and marriage certificate are important. Afi has not been thinking about it recently but tells Mawusi she is right. At the end of the night, Afi feels overwhelmed by happiness.

Chapter 13 Summary

Afi and Eli make plans to visit Paris in two weeks. Afi plans to do some business while there and explore the boutiques throughout the city. Meanwhile, Afi and Evelyn make plans for their upcoming fashion shoot in Ada. Evelyn has been helping Afi with her advertising. Because Olivia is unavailable, Afi has to take Selorm to the shoot, which is located at “someone’s house in a gated beachside community” (254). Afi is satisfied with the production throughout the afternoon. She is pleased with the models and how her designs look.

An issue with the photographer disrupts her thoughts. The photographer hit a child on the beach who was distracting him from his work. Afi reprimands him for his behavior and goes to the house where the child and her mother live. The mother opens the door when Afi arrives. Afi is taken by her beauty. She apologizes for her photographer’s behavior. The woman is forgiving. A man’s voice interrupts the women’s conversation. Afi is shocked when Eli appears behind her. She realizes that the woman is Muna, and the little girl is Ivy.

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Suddenly, Evelyn appears behind Afi and urges her to leave. Afi accuses Evelyn of knowing that the shoot was near Muna’s house, and that Eli would be there. Evelyn insists that she did not know. Afi still cannot calm down. She is furious that her in-laws lied to her about Muna. She is not ugly, mean, or a bad mother.

Afi locks herself in the bathroom when she gets home. Eli comes back and asks to speak with her. She refuses to see him but takes the baby to calm him down. Selorm is playing with Eli’s phone, which Afi takes from him. She scrolls through Eli’s messages to Muna, discovering that he texts her dozens of times a day. Afi realizes that Muna has not done anything to manipulate Eli; he simply wants to be with her.

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Afi confronts Eli about their situation. She demands answers about his relationship with Muna. She wants to know if he loves Muna or her. He argues that he loves them both but cannot officially marry Afi. She realizes that Eli plans to marry Muna after Aunty’s death and keep them both as wives. Afi sets an ultimatum: If Eli does not choose between them, she is going to leave him. Eli begs her not to do this, but Afi does not change her mind.

The next morning, Afi tells Eli she wants a divorce. He begs her to reconsider, but she does not budge. Mawusi similarly tries to change Afi’s perspective on her situation when Afi calls to tell her the news. Mawusi thinks Afi’s life is otherwise good and that she will ruin her reputation if she divorces. Afi argues that she will be okay and can make the life she wants for herself and Selorm without Eli.

Yaya and Richard visit Afi and try to convince her not to divorce Eli. Afi refuses to listen to them. Furious, Yaya calls Afi trash and insists that she would be nothing without their family. Richard begs Yaya not to be so harsh.

After the divorce, Afi moves into her workshop. Over the next five months, she builds an addition to the workshop for her and Selorm. She maintains her business and lets Eli visit his son. However, whenever he comes by, she excuses herself, because she still loves him and wishes they could be together.

Chapters 11-13 Analysis

In the final chapters of the novel, Afi confronts the Intersection of Tradition and Personal Desire head-on and chooses to pursue her personal desires and the Empowerment of Women over adhering to the tradition. Even before Afi decides to end her marriage with Eli, she begins to take control of her life via her work. Just weeks after giving birth, she returns to work and devotes her time and energy to her growing business. Within a year of opening the boutique, she “hires five tailors,” employs “three young people to assist the tailors,” and establishes her name in the Accra fashion community (235). The boutique is a manifestation of everything that Afi has ever wanted. The business grants her a sense of purpose, accomplishment, and stability. Although Eli is still financially involved in the endeavor, the business is Afi’s vision and thus a symbol of her passions and desires, and it is steadily growing toward providing her with financial independence. Therefore, establishing the business in the months before her divorce affords Afi the social and economic foundation that she needs to create an independent life for herself thereafter. With the help of other autonomous and empowered women like Sarah and Evelyn, Afi uses her business as a gateway to liberation from the dependencies inherent to an arranged marriage.

Meeting Muna in Chapter 13 changes Afi’s perspective on the Dynamics of Arranged Marriage. Until that moment, Afi had reached a stable if unsatisfying equilibrium in her marriage. Though Muna’s continuing presence in Eli’s life unsettled Afi, she had learned to tolerate her discomfort in favor of focusing on Eli’s affection for his son and continuing attention to her. This dynamic conforms with the traditional expectations of an arranged marriage, in which wives are expected to ignore men’s extramarital relationships and their own desire for loyalty. Still, for Afi, the tension between tradition and her personal desire for a monogamous relationship leads to the climax of the novel, in which she accidentally goes to Muna’s house and finds Eli there. In the wake of this unexpected encounter, Afi is compelled to reconsider her life and arrangement with Eli and to fight for what she wants. When she sees Eli at home with Muna, she begins to understand that everything the Ganyos have been telling her about Muna and Eli’s relationship with her has been a lie. Muna is neither manipulative nor wicked, neither cruel nor negligent. At the same time, Eli is not indebted to Muna. Rather, he “adore[s] her” and feels “blessed to have her” and to love her (262). Afi’s encounter with Muna and her subsequent scroll through Eli’s phone present Afi with a new version of reality. Afi can no longer lie to herself about her marriage in the wake of these incidents. Now that she knows who Muna is and how Eli feels about her, she cannot pretend that Muna is an unstable, demonic force in Eli’s life. She also cannot convince herself that Eli only wants to be with her. When these deceptions begin to fall apart, Afi decides to seize control of her life and fate once and for all. She starts to accept the reality of her situation that she has always feared, and to react to it accordingly.

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Afi’s refusal to cater her desires and needs to others’ expectations underscores her character’s dynamic qualities. Afi has always tried to please her family and fulfill her responsibilities to them. She has tried to be the faithful daughter, the obedient daughter-in-law, the demure and affectionate wife, and the diligent mother and woman she has learned to be. However, by the end of the novel, Afi understands that satisfying all of these familial and societal expectations leaves no room for her to be herself and pursue her own independent and autonomous future. Though she has tried to conform to and then adjust to the Dynamics of Arranged Marriage to make room for her needs, she ultimately has to confront the fact that Eli simply will never be willing to be the husband she needs. Therefore, even when Eli, Evelyn, Mawusi, Richard, and Yaya beg Afi to change her mind about divorcing Eli, Afi does not listen. Her refusal to give in is a form of resistance. To remake herself as an empowered woman, she must break free of her constricting marital dynamic and redefine female and maternal independence on her own terms. She must prioritize her happiness over the indulgence of her husband’s desires and her family’s demands.