Under the Udala Trees

How do foods symbolize characters? What foods appear at significant moments and how do they define relationships?

Deaths bookend the novel: Uzo dies as it opens and Ijeoma miscarries at its close. What are the symbolic similarities and differences of these deaths?

Explore Okparanta’s use of lists of metaphorical descriptions. What triggers characters to create these running lists of comparisons instead of settling on one image? What is the effect of these lists on the reader?

How are characters’ actions and opinions influenced by their dreams? What does a character’s response to his or her dreams say about their personality?

Compare and contrast the novel’s use of Bible verses and Nigerian folktales. Does the written text conflict or meld with oral tradition?

How do Ijeoma’s opinions about gay and lesbian lives change over the course of the novel? Why does she undergo this change?

Compare the wartime violence to the violence that occurs after the war. How are they similar? How are they different?

Ijeoma ponders the nature of God and Christianity throughout the novel. How do her theological ideas develop over time?