Jumping Monkey Hill
1) The story opens with two robberies at the narrator’s house. The first one was when her family home was robbed by their neighbour, Osita, a ‘lithe and handsome’ popular young man whose father was a professor. He took the VCR, TV and some American videos. The second robbery was committed by the narrator’s brother Nnamabia, while their parents were visiting the grandparents in another town. In this he faked a robbery, stole the mother’s gold jeweler and after denying that it was him, disappeared for two weeks. Upon his return, Nnamabia confessed to his parents.
2) The narrator looks back on her brother’s life, outlining his many misdemeanors for which there were no repercussions and his light skinned good looking face, giving nothing away, wondering if he ever felt any remorse for what he did. So we can outline the characters personality.
3) The family drives to the police station and bribe the police to see Nnamabia bringing him food. At first he services them with talk of his cell mates and their brutality. Gradually several shocking incidents start to knock the confidence out of him and his physical beauty is marred by a multitude of bug bites. Initially the family visit him every day, with the narrator’s parents withdrawing more and more into themselves, ‘as if refusing to criticize the police as usual would somehow make Nnamabia’s freedom imminent’ (p. 13). During the second week, the narrator refuses to visit, even breaking the windscreen of the car to avoid going. When the family visits Nnamabia the following day, they sense a change in him. He speaks in Igbo, not English and tells them about an old man who was locked up with them because the police could not find his son who was wanted for armed robbery. As the days go on, Nnamabia focuses less on himself and more and more on the injustice of plight of the old man.
4) The police finally realize that Nnamabia is not a ‘cult boy’, his family return to Enugu to bring him home again. As they arrive they see a
2) The narrator looks back on her brother’s life, outlining his many misdemeanors for which there were no repercussions and his light skinned good looking face, giving nothing away, wondering if he ever felt any remorse for what he did. So we can outline the characters personality.
3) The family drives to the police station and bribe the police to see Nnamabia bringing him food. At first he services them with talk of his cell mates and their brutality. Gradually several shocking incidents start to knock the confidence out of him and his physical beauty is marred by a multitude of bug bites. Initially the family visit him every day, with the narrator’s parents withdrawing more and more into themselves, ‘as if refusing to criticize the police as usual would somehow make Nnamabia’s freedom imminent’ (p. 13). During the second week, the narrator refuses to visit, even breaking the windscreen of the car to avoid going. When the family visits Nnamabia the following day, they sense a change in him. He speaks in Igbo, not English and tells them about an old man who was locked up with them because the police could not find his son who was wanted for armed robbery. As the days go on, Nnamabia focuses less on himself and more and more on the injustice of plight of the old man.
4) The police finally realize that Nnamabia is not a ‘cult boy’, his family return to Enugu to bring him home again. As they arrive they see a