The Udala Tree is a very important symbol in this text, it not only appears in the title, but reappears in various passages. It imposes the question of the significance of the Udala Tree to the progression of the plot.
Because of the multiplicity of issues evident in the text, the Udala Tree in this text, means multiple things that lead to a clear insight when its deep meaning is grasped. Udala is the Igbo word for what is popularly known as cherry. In the text this tree is said to be a patronage of fertility. Unborn children gather at the feet of the tree ready to immerse into a needy womb. Okparanta (2015) states that,
Legend has it that spirit children, tired of floating aimlessly between the world of the living and that of the dead, take to gathering above udala trees. In exchange for the dwelling, they cause to be exceptionally fertile any female who comes and stays, for even the briefest period of time, under any one of the trees. They cause her to bear sons and daughters, as many as her heart desires…
While this is in accordance with the Igbo belief system, it is myopic to think the significance of this tree ends on such surface level. The purpose of fertility to a community is to birth unto that community to foster a growing lineage and retain communal values.
In the community, fertility is not just a state of be-ing for a woman it is the fate of her being. A woman is expected to bear children because that is her community prescribed role. To fulfill this role, she is expected to marry. The Udala tree represents the community and hence, it’s values, expectations, and even taboos.
The Udala tree is a big tree that amongst the Igbo cosmology, is usually grown near the market square, no one has knowledge of the planter of tree or how it was planted, hence it is viewed as a community tree. In some places in Igbo land, the fruit is not harvested, it is waited for to drop on the ground because the tree is community owned. The Udala tree becomes synonymous with the community.
It is very significant to this text that starts on the sociopolitical status of war. The Biafra war was one that left so many people dead, hungry, displaced and the immediate community became the only welcoming comfort for so many people.
Despite the horrors, the community sheltered its own. It is told that during the Biafra war, so many Igbos retuned back home. In the text Adaora was only sustained in her new habitat because the community rebuilds her house.
The woman cried with excitement. “Welcome, Adaora,” she said. “Nno!” “This is no home to return—” Mama was saying. The woman interrupted, saying, “Not to worry. Your father’s land greets you. I tell you, don’t worry. All will be well again. Together we will fix up the place. One person alone cannot move an elephant, but an entire village, that is a different story”… The villagers helped her rebuild the bungalow, its roof, its windows, its doors (p. 56).
This community is one that values companionship and intimacy. This companionship is marked by the meeting of two war affected children, Amina and Ijeoma under the udala tree.
I found a large rock near where an udala tree stood and sat down there. I waited on the rock, hoping that the shadow would continue along, but it did not. Instead, it sat across from me, on another rock, eyes bright, like a pair of light bulbs. She was no longer a shadow. She had skin as light as mine…
…I found Amina off by herself, leaning on an udala tree behind one of the school buildings. I approached her under the tree. She was holding her head down, refusing to look at me. At first neither of us said a word, but after some time I cleared my throat and asked, “Will you really marry him?” She nodded, still not looking at me. “You really want to marry him?” Again she nodded, still averting her eyes…
The two passages above are narration of both the first meeting and final separation of Ijeoma and Amina.
While the community allows for companionship it forbids any companionship that does not function within the status quo of the society, hence it was also under the udala tree Amina affirmed her marriage to an Hausa man to Ijeoma. The community expects a male and female companionship, the community frowns at and Igbo/Hausa relationship.
Ijeoma is bound to the community and hence she is under the Udala tree. While this communal relationship favours her mother and even Chibundu, her husband, it destroys her. Her actions does not align with the expectations of the society, hence she feels the community choking and impounding on her with labeling her desires taboo and abomination.
Ijeoma tries to recant her identity but this worsens her self loss. She dreams about the Udala Tree once more and this time it is clearly expressed the burden that has been placed upon her by being sheltered in a regressive society. It is a burden that threatens to destroy her relationship with her child, Chidinma.
The Udala tree does not translate to negativity. The community is not a negative space, it is a space for family, love and growth, but when it ostracizes certain individual for their individuality the community becomes stifling. It becomes a shade that kills rather than protects. This ambiguity of the Udala Tree is expressed in the text. This is revealed in the dream that Ijeoma has towards the ending of the text.