What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky

The title of this story invites readers to question who is “wild” (and in whose opinion), developing the themes of Patriarchal Control of Girls and Women and How Mothers Shape Their Children. The mothers of the two cousins explicitly compare them to one another, much to the cousins’ resentment. Ada’s “misbehavior” includes talking back to adults (the reason her status as valedictorian is rescinded) as well as using recreational drugs and kissing a boy in front of teachers. The cultural tension between American Ada and her Nigerian-born mother is evident as her mother drives her to the airport, saying, “They said since you were being raised without a father and in America of all places, if I didn’t beat you, you would go wild. And I didn’t listen” (25).

In the mind of Ada’s mother, Chinyere serves as a foil for Ada. She is stylish, polite, nice, and obedient, whereas Ada dresses for comfort, speaks her mind, and argues with her mother. Chinyere, however, is also an unwed mother, challenging Ada’s mother’s contention that Ada’s “wildness” is symptomatic of her American upbringing. Perhaps because she is a single mother, Ada’s mother proves hypocritical on this point. She chides Ada for assuming an unwed mother is “bad,” though she previously scolded Ada merely for kissing a boy in kindergarten: “You are not like these oyinbo girls, you can’t just do your body anyhow” (24). The comparison she draws between Ada and her classmates underscores that for Ada’s mother, the underlying “problem” is Ada’s Americanness rather than her behavior per se.

Ugo is critical of her daughter as well, but Ada soon realizes there is a key difference—Ugo’s “casual malice” toward Chinyere. Ada’s mother’s reprimands may or may not be misguided, but they are meant to keep her safe and on the right track; they are not an attempt to control her entirely or force her to do penance for a mistake. This realization allows Ada to feel some sympathy for Chinyere instead of resentment, as she thinks “of what it would feel like to have [her] mother despise [her], to have utter disappointment at the center of [their] relationship” (37). The eruption of Ugo’s anger, spilling over into a physical confrontation when Chinyere returns after the banquet, further underscores how unenviable Chinyere’s life is compared to the relative ease of Ada’s, which hits on the theme of How Privilege and Suffering Shape Perception.

However, it is not only the parallels (and differences) in the cousins’ home lives that draw them closer together. Much as each mother uses the idea of the other cousin in her battles with her daughter, Ada realizes that both she and Chinyere serve as proxies for their mothers in a conflict with Grace. First, Grace targets Chinyere, who withholds any retorts because “This was her mother’s battle, not hers, but in the way of these things, she had become collateral damage” (40). When Grace casts aspersions on Ada’s mother, Ada recognizes that “This was the closest [Grace] would get to drawing [Ada’s] mother’s blood” (41). The episode also gives Ada a newfound appreciation for what her mother has had to endure—how her reputation remains sullied in the community of her homeland—even as it underscores the idea that the actions of one generation inevitably affect the next, if not always intentionally.