Cursed Daughters: Questions and Answers

1. Why does Monife bury Golden Boy’s handkerchief under the iroko tree?

Monife buries the handkerchief as a private ritual to protect her love from the family curse. She cannot explain the compulsion to her skeptical cousin Ebun, describing it simply as a manifestation of her love. The act blends superstition with sincere hope—she wants to keep something of Golden Boy safe and symbolically anchor their bond to the Falodun home. This moment (Chapter 38) foreshadows her later willingness to use juju when fear of losing him intensifies.

2. What does the black kite’s entrance into the living room foretell?

The black kite crashes through the living room, shattering a picture of Monife, and cannot be caught. Monife herself bursts into laughter at the chaos. Her mother interprets the bird as a bad omen, and later Monife realises the barred windows should have made entry impossible. This bizarre incident (Chapter 43) mirrors the coming intrusion of Golden Boy’s family and the curse into Monife’s life—a chaotic force that cannot be contained and literally breaks her image.

3. Why does Ebun refuse to believe Eniiyi is Monife’s reincarnation?

Ebun’s denial is rooted in grief and the need to protect her daughter from the family’s tragic expectations. When Aunty Bunmi insists the newborn is Monife returned, Ebun points to a birthmark Monife lacked. Later (Chapter 33), she angrily dismisses her mother’s observation that a burn on Eniiyi’s thigh matches Monife’s scar. Ebun clings to rational differences because accepting the reincarnation idea would mean Monife’s doomed fate could repeat through Eniiyi.

4. How does the dream in Chapter 32 signal a psychological shift for Eniiyi?

For years Eniiyi has dreamed of Monife standing silently by the ocean. In this dream Monife turns, cries, and speaks using Eniiyi’s own voice: “Not again.” The break from silence indicates Eniiyi’s subconscious can no longer suppress a painful truth. The phrase hints at a cycle of trauma that is about to surface in her waking life, foreshadowing the discovery of Monife’s suicide and the weight of inherited grief.

5. What role does the iroko tree play as a symbol in the novel?

The iroko tree in the courtyard becomes a site of secret rituals. Monife buries Golden Boy’s handkerchief beneath it (Chapter 38) as an antidote against the curse. Later, Eniiyi buries Zubby’s bracelet under the same tree after she decides to break free from Monife’s influence. The tree connects the two generations: both women use the same spot to ritualistically let go of or anchor a relationship, showing how the curse compels repeated behaviour across time.

6. Why does Tolu blame Ebun for Monife’s death?

At a birthday party (Chapter 65), Tolu accuses Ebun of denying Monife’s child a father and implying Ebun’s secrecy contributed to the tragedy. Tolu also confesses later (Chapter 112) that he deleted a voicemail from Golden Boy who wanted the child. His anger stems from knowing Ebun and Grandma West forced Monife to have an abortion—a secret that directly led to Monife’s despair. Tolu redirects his guilt onto Ebun as the family’s scapegoat.

7. What is the significance of Eniiyi’s name being chosen by Ebun alone?

During the naming ceremony (Chapter 10), Aunty Bunmi suggests Motitunde (reincarnation) and Kemi suggests Abidemi (born without father). Ebun rejects both and names her daughter Eniiyi, meaning “woman of integrity.” This decision asserts Ebun’s vision for Eniiyi as an individual separate from Monife’s legacy and from patriarchal labels. It is Ebun’s first act of defiance against the family’s superstitious control.

8. How does Golden Boy’s discovery of the juju pad destroy their relationship?

In Chapter 74, Monife has stashed a menstrual pad with Golden Boy’s name pinned to it. When he discovers it, he accuses her of using manipulation instead of trust. Monife admits she considered juju but claims she didn’t go through with it. The revelation confirms his mother’s earlier warnings and breaks the trust between them. Golden Boy sees the pad as proof that she, like her family, relies on supernatural coercion.

9. What does the Falodun curse’s origin story reveal about its mechanism?

The curse begins when Feranmi seduces a wealthy city man, forcing a marriage, and the first wife curses all female descendants to love in vain (Chapter 8). The curse works through three elements: bride price as transaction, female rivalry, and patriarchal abandonment. It is not a simple supernatural hex—it encodes real social dynamics. Monife warns Ebun that the curse may affect her regardless of belief, showing it operates through inherited patterns of behaviour.

10. Why does Eniiyi decide to have sex with Funsho?

After discovering she resembles Monife and suspects she is reliving Monife’s obsession with Golden Boy (now Kalu, Zubby’s father), Eniiyi wants to prove she has free will. She goes to Funsho’s house (Chapter 107) and deliberately avoids thinking of Zubby during the encounter. She sees this as reclaiming agency, separating her desire from Monife’s ghost. The act is a desperate attempt to break the cycle, even though it leads to hurting Zubby.

11. How do the two near-drowning incidents (Chapters 66–67) connect mother and daughter?

First, six-year-old Eniiyi nearly drowns at a birthday party; Ebun, a non-swimmer, panics. Then Ebun forces Eniiyi into swimming lessons with a harsh coach (Chapter 67), believing learning to swim will save her from the water spirit Monife. Both incidents reflect Ebun’s maternal fear of losing her daughter to the same fate as Monife. The lessons create rupture between them, but also instil a survival skill Eniiyi uses later when she rescues a drowning man.

12. What does Afoke’s story (Chapter 75) illustrate about the curse’s self-fulfilling nature?

Afoke, terrified of spinsterhood, seduces her younger sister’s boyfriend and fakes a pregnancy to force marriage. After the wedding, she fails as a wife and gambles away household money. Her husband eventually throws her out. As she leaves, she imagines the curse waving at her through the window. Afoke’s desperate attempt to outrun the curse actually fulfils it—by relying on deception and manipulation, she replicates the pattern of loveless union and rejection.

13. How does the epilogue’s underwater battle resolve Eniiyi’s arc?

In the epilogue (Chapter 112), Eniiyi wrestles a beast‑like curse underwater until it expires in her arms. Simultaneously, she walks through an airplane to seat 52A as the plane takes off. The dual imagery of drowning the curse and flying away symbolises her liberation. The shadow of the curse remains underwater, acknowledging that the legacy is not erased but no longer controls her. The final line affirms she alone owns her body.

14. What causes Ebun to keep her pregnancy a secret (Chapters 84–97)?

Ebun refuses to name the baby’s father throughout her pregnancy. Later (Chapter 105), she admits to Osagie that she never told him because she feared the curse would leave him no choice but to abandon her. She also hides it from the family to avoid their interference. The secrecy isolates her and fuels Mo’s bitterness when Mo discovers Ebun never took the abortion pills, leading to a breakdown of trust between the cousins.

15. Why does Grandma West’s dementia cause her to mistake Eniiyi for Monife?

Grandma West (Bunmi) suffers from dementia with memory loss (Chapter 24). When Eniiyi visits, Grandma West calls her Monife and becomes upset. Eniiyi later learns that Grandma West held the belief that Eniiyi was Monife’s reincarnation, reinforced by their physical resemblance. The mistaken identity dramatises how the family’s unresolved grief and the curse narrative overwrite Eniiyi’s individuality, forcing her to live in Monife’s shadow.