Little Rot

Aima is Kalu’s girlfriend and Ijendu’s best friend. At the novel’s start, she has returned to New Lagos with Kalu, after spending several years in Houston, Texas, working a “cushy finance job” (13). Aima grew up a devout Christian, but in Texas, she “felt like God wasn’t as loud” (82), and her religious life became more subdued and private. Kalu wasn’t religious, but this didn’t bother Aima until she moved back to Nigeria, where “God was loud again” (82). She and Kalu began having terrible fights because she believed they were committing a sin by having sex out of wedlock. When he repeatedly refuses to marry her, Aima decides to stop “wasting time” and move to London, where her parents live. However, at the last minute, Aima chooses not to leave New Lagos and stays with Ijendu, her best friend from childhood. As a distraction from Aima’s distress over Kalu, Ijendu suggests Aima go clubbing with her friends. Aima does not usually enter the “godless places” that Ijendu moves in, but, devastated by the end of her relationship with Kalu, she decides to let go for the night.

Aima’s character illustrates the degree to which individual identity and morality depend on social