Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

Author Wole Soyinka relates his childhood, beginning from the tender age of three. He is born and raised on a parsonage compound in a town called Ake in Nigeria, Africa. The master of the parsonage is called Canon, Reverend, or Pa Delumo (depending on who one asks), and he has a multiple-story house in the compound. The only other multiple-story building is the BishopsCourt, which houses the girl students. Between BishopsCourt and the school playground is a place with many plants and fruit trees called the Orchard. Wole becomes convinced from a very young age that the succulent and rare pomegranate is the "apple" mentioned in the Bible that tempted Adam and Eve.

Wole's young life is an indistinguishable blend of tribal spiritual beliefs and Christianity. He believes that, outside of the parsonage's walls in the forest, creatures called ghommids roam...