Poultry Farm

Chinonso’s poultry farm symbolizes the connections between love and loss. Chinonso loves his work and the birds he owns. Thus, he experiences pain whenever one of his birds is harmed by a predator. Moreover, his love of birds is connected to a pet gosling he had as a boy, which was stolen from him. Chinonso eventually loses the farm when he sells it to afford school fees.

The Orchestra of Minorities

The birds’ aggrieved crying—which Chinonso’s father dubbed ‘the orchestra of minorities’—symbolizes the pain suffered by humans at the hands of other humans. Whenever one of Chinonso’s birds is harmed or is selected for slaughter, all of the birds cry out in apparent anguish. Ndali likens this phenomenon to the anguish of humans who are harmed/oppressed by other humans.

Chinonso’s Chi

Chinonso’s chi symbolizes the vagaries of...