In the Shadow of War

The old Grundig German-made radio is Omovo’s only evident source of news regarding the Nigerian civil war. The only reason his family owns the radio, in fact, is because of the war: “[H]is father had bought [it] cheaply from a family that had to escape the city when the war broke out” (3). Omovo’s father commands Omovo to turn it off when he leaves the house, believing “it’s bad for a child to listen to news of war” (4), but Omovo turns it back on as soon as his father departs. As a child, Omovo does not fully comprehend the implications or gravity of continuous bombings and casualties, but his desire to listen to news he does not understand demonstrates a likely awareness that the war is important. The power the announcements hold is evidenced by the father’s treatment of the radio: “[H]e had covered [it] with a white cloth and made it look like a household fetish,” or an object that is believed to have supernatural powers (3). Symbolically, the radio has the power of ending the war, as this is the only means Omovo and his father have of knowing when the violence will end.